We welcomed a new group of students taking part in the Pro Bono Scheme, celebrating 17 years of the partnership with Cardiff University.
Since 2006, the Law department of the School of Law and Politics at Cardiff University, supported by Hugh James, has provided a Pro Bono Scheme to over 1000 students focusing on NHS Continuing Healthcare.
Students taking part in this six-week placement scheme have an opportunity to work on dummy files and develop key practitioner skills within the Nursing Care department at Hugh James including client care, drafting and advocacy.
This year, we welcomed our largest cohort to date with 67 students who were successful and accepted onto the scheme. With a full group and the largest ever number of applicants, the first online session took place this week.
Lisa Morgan, Partner, and Head of Nursing Care has been the scheme’s supervising solicitor from the start. She said:
“We are excited to meet this year’s pro bono scheme. These 67 students have been shortlisted to take part this year, which is our biggest cohort yet. I am looking forward to the next six weeks working with the students to help them unlock their full potential and develop key practitioner skills.”
The scheme allows future lawyers to work directly with solicitors and provides students key employability skills. Many students secure future roles within Hugh James, just like Katie Morgan, Solicitor who joined as supervising solicitor in 2020.
About her time as a student taking part in the scheme, Katie said:
“As a student studying for my undergraduate law degree, I recognised the fantastic opportunities the scheme provided in terms of getting experience of “real” hands-on client work. I already had work experience working in small law firms for short periods of time but wanted to gain experience working on matters over a length of time and seeing a process through from beginning to end.
The scheme introduced me to the area of continuing healthcare, an area that I had no idea existed or that you could specialise in as a solicitor beforehand! After a short time away whilst I completed my training contract and gained experience in other areas of law, I returned to the Nursing Care Department as a newly qualified solicitor in 2018 and haven’t looked back.”
Hannah Marchant, Director of Employability, School of Law and Politics at Cardiff University said:
“We are hugely grateful to Hugh James’ Nursing Care team, and to Partner Lisa Morgan and Associate Katie Morgan in particular, for their continued willingness to provide crucial employability and pro bono opportunities to our students. They are extremely knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and passionate about their work, and are a source of inspiration for our students.
Students are extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to learn about this very important and niche area of law. They also learn valuable employability skills and we are delighted that some of our previous pro bono students are now working in Nursing Care as well as in other departments in Hugh James. We hope that this cohort of students enjoy the scheme as much as previous cohorts have.”
We look forward to catching up with the students when the scheme closes next month to see how they have found it and what they have learned during their time with Hugh James.
