Two of our partners, Rachel Damianou and John Porter, are part of a new mentoring scheme at Oldham College. As part of the national Career Ready programmes, Rachel and John will meet monthly with their students to help prepare them for life as a law professional.
An article detailing the scheme in Oldham Chronicle’s The Knowledge is printed below in full:
Rachel Damianou works for Oldham’s oldest law firm and is keen to pass on her experience to students. A partner and head of wills and probate at Wrigley Claydon solicitors, Rachel is now among staff members who have become mentors to law students at Oldham College.
She is looking forward to helping shape tomorrow’s law practitioners, “It’s all very well studying theory, but you need some practical knowledge too. Law is getting more and more competitive these days. We can also pass on what we are looking for in potential employees. So the mentoring benefits both the students and our company.”
During the year Rachel and her assigned student will meet every month to develop the student’s CV, promote networking, interviewing skills and general employability. While doing work experience at Wrigley Claydon students will have access to all areas of the legal profession.
The mentoring programme is part of Career Ready, a national initiative to get students ready for work, part of which is four weeks of work experience.
The college introduced the Career Ready programme to its finance department five years ago, and it also operates in the business leadership department.
College business manager Shazia Afzal said, “Mentoring is the best way to get into the field that interests them.”
Law student Ellie Webster, (19), from Diggle, is mentored by the firm’s John Porter, “John has aleady succeeded and achieved his goals, and he’ll be passing on his knowledge to me.” After the two-year course Ellie will receive a BTEC extended diploma – equivalent to three A-levels. She then plans to study law at university.
Latest posts by Rachel Damianou (see all)
- 7 Steps you need to take before creating a Will - 3rd September 2023
- Time to Make a Will? - 17th December 2020
- Making a Will during the pandemic - 4th September 2020
- A Helping Hand - 19th June 2020
- Dying to be heard - 14th May 2020
