Career support

The School of Law is committed to preparing you for a successful career; whether you decide to pursue a career in law, criminal justice or another field. The School and the University offer a host of opportunities for you to get involved with, from mock interviews with the Careers Service, attending law and criminal justice careers fairs, or gaining additional experience. You will also have the opportunity to receive career mentoring or undertake volunteering through the Leeds Volunteering Hub.

Careers Service

You will have access to the University’s award-winning Careers Service, who are on hand to support you from day one. They offer one-to-one support for creating your CV, searching for jobs and internship opportunities, application support and mock interviews, as well as specialist career discovery modules.

Once you graduate you will still have access to the University of Leeds Careers Service.

For those graduates who can't visit the Careers Service in person, but need advice, then you can ask your questions using the e-guidance service. Alternatively, you can contact the Careers Service on +44 (0) 113 343 5295 or email: careerscentre@leeds.ac.uk

You can also register for a graduate log in to access the exclusive MyCareer database of local, national and international job opportunities, as well as many student and graduate internship opportunities. 

School careers support

The School’s dedicated Employability Officer, Marika Hildebrandova will support you with personal development and career planning throughout your time with us. As a student in the School of Law you will be able to book one-to-one appointments with Marika to get advice on how to make the most of your time with us and to discuss your career aspirations.

Marika also organises a number of opportunities to help you get ahead when it comes to applying for graduate roles.

Opportunities include:

• Work experience opportunities
• Workshops on CVs, applications, interviews and networking skills
• Talks by law firms or criminal justice employers to give you an insight into your chosen career
• Marshalling scheme with local courts
• Mock interviews with local law firms
• Exclusive open days at law firms
• Annual Law Fair
• Annual Criminal Justice Careers and Volunteering Fair

Contact Marika to discuss how the School of Law can support you in your career.

Gaining experience

The experience you gain at University, both as part of and outside of your studies, will help you to explore career options and gain the necessary skills to pursue your career of choice.

You will have a number of opportunities to help you get to where you want to be including the chance to:

• Study abroad to experience life in another culture. See the individual course pages to see whether this is available for your degree programme
• Gain work experience, getting you one step closer to your chosen career. If you’re studying BA Criminal Justice and Criminology or LLB Law you will have the opportunity to complete a work placement year
• Volunteer your time and develop new skills whilst helping the local community
• Put your legal and criminal justice skills into practice and work pro-bono
• Gain the quantitative skills valued by employers with Q-Step options
• Develop entrepreneurial skills with help from our Enterprise Centre
• Enhance your skills by taking part in negotiating, mooting or debating
• Broaden your experience with 300 student-led clubs and societies including the Leeds Law Society, LawSoc, the Barrister’s Society, BarSoc, and the Criminal Justice Society, CrimSoc.
• Share your experiences as an ambassador or mentor
• Gain leadership skills by becoming a student representative for your course

See all of the enrichment opportunities available

Surfacing skills

The University of Leeds provides programmes of study that are not only academically excellent and discipline-focused, but also relevant to the workplace in terms of the transferable nature of the skills that you will gain. 

Each of our programmes enables you to 'surface' those transferable skills through practice, assessment and reflective opportunities (aligned to real-world issues), meaning that you’ll leave us with the confidence that you can apply the skills gained through your degree in your chosen career.

Career Mentoring Scheme

The Career Mentoring Scheme is an opportunity for second and final year students to be paired with their own career mentor who will assist with career planning and development.

Our mentors work in graduate positions across organisations such as law firms, the police and prison services, barristers chambers, the Civil Service, banks or charities.

Mentoring may involve:

• Mentoring sessions face-to-face, over the phone or via Skype
• Discussing career plans to get an unbiased, experienced view of your next steps
• Networking with your mentor’s colleagues to find out about alternative roles
• Gaining a realistic knowledge of various career roles and developing a personal strategy for success
• Receiving guidance on the interview and selection process. 

Leeds for Life

Your personal tutor, who you’ll meet with regularly, will be involved with guiding your academic and personal development. Using Leeds for Life, they will encourage you to keep a personal and active record of all you have done and achieved. This will help you complete application forms and prepare for interviews.

To get an idea of where some of our alumni have gone, check our prominent alumni page.