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Developing talent and broadening access into law is something we feel strongly about – helping young people gain an insight into law and to pursue their career ambitions. That’s why we’re proud to support PRIME, an alliance of law firms and in-house legal teams across the UK that have made a commitment to improve access to, and socio-economic diversity within, the legal profession.
In this next article in our ‘sustainability allies’ series, we hear from Intellectual Property (IP) Partner Alex Brodie and Responsible Business Manager Georgina Houghton about how PRIME works, our involvement to date and some of the highlights from sessions with students over the last year.
You can read more individual stories from our allies who are making a difference across our ESG priorities by checking out other blogs in the series.
To find out more about our ESG initiatives, take a look at our Sustainability report 2024.
Your name and role at Gowling WLG:
Alex: Alex Brodie, IP Partner and Co-Chair of Global Tech at Gowling WLG.
Georgina: Georgina Houghton, Responsible Business Manager, Responsible Business team, Gowling WLG.
Tell us about your day job and how you got involved in PRIME?
Alex: My day job splits into two – patent litigation within the IP team and co-chairing the Tech sector group to deliver collaboration and support concerning client opportunities, business development and learning.
I got involved in PRIME because it is important to me that a career in law, and especially at our firm, is inclusive of all; in particular, to those from all socio-economic backgrounds. We should never put barriers in the way resulting from a person’s background or the school they went to; be that the most privileged or the most under-privileged. All of us are coming from the situation we were born into and the choices our carers made for us (or didn’t make for us), and that is, out of everything, something that none of us can possibly be accountable for. PRIME focuses on students from comprehensive school backgrounds. That is my background, so PRIME is particularly important to me.
Georgina: As Responsible Business Manager at Gowling WLG, one my responsibilities is to manage and develop our social mobility programme and, specifically, our PRIME Work Experience. PRIME is a commitment we have signed up to in order to help increase the socio-economic diversity of law firms. As part of our commitment, we offer work experience to Year 12 students from lower socio-economic backgrounds. These students might be the first in their family to go to university; they might be in a lower income family; they might be from a low performing school/area; or may have grown up under the care of social support services.
Having a background that is among those targeted by PRIME means I am also personally passionate about providing opportunities for students from lower socio-economic backgrounds and those who might not have naturally considered university an option for them. It’s really important we ensure all backgrounds feel that law can be a career for them.
How does PRIME work?
Alex: I am part of a team that Georgina has put together to help with Q&A from the students on the PRIME programme, mock interviews, presentation guidance and feedback.
Georgina: Under our PRIME commitment, we organise a week-long work experience programme for 10 students from lower socio-economic backgrounds. This has traditionally only been run in our Birmingham office but in 2023 we piloted a few days of work experience in our London office too. And I am pleased to say that it was successful and we decided to continue to run the programme from both locations in future years.
Engagement from our people has been very high. Overall, we had about 60 volunteers from across the firm help with the two work experience weeks in 2023, with even more engaging in 2024. Alex was one such volunteer and she was a fantastic support, and brilliant with the students.
What do students get to experience through taking part in PRIME?
Alex: They work-shadow in our teams, have one-to-one’s with our lawyers to discuss career advice, mock interviews and prep and presentation prep, plus gain lots of feedback. They also have the opportunity to hear from and question our people about how they approach applications and what we, as employers, are looking for.
Georgina: We provide the students with a variety of experiences. They get to meet a whole range of lawyers from across the firm and hear about their routes into law; they learn/practice soft skills such as presenting, networking and interviewing; and they find out more about how law firms work.
Ultimately, the students get a better understanding of whether a career in law is for them and their confidence is boosted.
How do volunteers around the firm get involved?
Alex: For me, it was hearing about the initiative and Georgina asking for volunteers a few years back, and I’ve stayed involved ever since.
Georgina: Our volunteers really welcome getting involved. They enjoy imparting some of their experience and knowledge to the young people on the programme and feeling that they are helping them along their way a little. And they love doing something different from the day job.
What has been most rewarding during your time being involved in PRIME?
Alex: I’ve loved being afforded the opportunity to help the students explore what being a lawyer might look like, provide practical help with applications and interviews and just try to make a difference. It is a highlight of my working year.
Georgina: For me, our PRIME work experience weeks start slowly and quietly – often the students hardly say a word. But by the end of the week, they are buzzing and have really enjoyed the experience. It’s really rewarding to see the transition during the course of the week.
I also try to keep in touch with the students and follow their careers – as best I can. And it’s rewarding when they do go into law!
What’s upcoming with the programme?
Georgina: We will be running our PRIME Work Experience weeks in London and Birmingham again this Summer – so we will be reaching out to colleagues in the coming months to gather together volunteers.
What two or three words sum up your experience of working with students enrolled in PRIME…
Alex: Energising, optimistic, practical.
Georgina: Fun. Rewarding.
Is there any recent feedback you can share?
“This week was incredible and surpassed by expectations….I wanted to work directly on real contracts and cases which I got to do, so that was amazing.”
“I expected to get an overview of the legal field and develop an understanding of the separate fields… This experience exceeded my expectations.”
“I only have positive feedback – the week was really informative and helpful. It definitely confirmed that I want a career in law and that I am set on an apprenticeship.”
What would you say to someone who’s thinking about volunteering in support of PRIME?
Alex: To our people, I would say email Georgina and do something good.
Georgina: Just do it – you’ll enjoy it!
About the author(s)
Alexandra Brodie is one of the UK's leading IP litigations. She is based in London and is described as 'a great strategist and tactician who knows how to position for success at every level of trial' by Chambers, as 'a very engaged person' by IAM Patent 1000 and, by a competitor in the JUVE report as 'an aggressive litigator'. She has also been one of MIP's Global Top 250 Women in IP for many years running.
She is also co-Chair of our global firm's Tech Sector which brings to all our clients an understanding of the sector and how our clients can engage positively with new technologies to drive their businesses forward. Recent projects have seen the sector engaging with thought leaders across the world and in other sectors to produce content and opportunities for our clients in fields a diverse as autonomous cars, e-tail, connected health, crypto, NFTs, brands and patents in the metaverse, digitisation of businesses, data mining and sharing and of course projects involving and created by generative AI.
Georgina Houghton is the UK's Responsible Business Manager at Gowling WLG.
