During my time at Matrix, I’ve learnt values that would be of use for when I have my own job. These values are: team work, organisation skills, communication skills and being able to research various things. I also learnt that a lot of work is being put in to help barristers do their best and help and support them. There is a diversified team made up of little groups of people that makes everything function smoothly, these teams include: an admin team, a practice team, a legal support team, a marketing team and a fees team.
On the first day, I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to go to a tribunal court with Tamara Jaber to witness an immigration case. Unfortunately, the case had been adjourned, so I returned back to Matrix and carried out a few tasks. After lunch, I carried out a research task and answered questions that involved different types of legal fees such as legal aid, CFAs (conditional fee agreements) and public funding for criminal cases. I learnt things that I didn’t pay attention to or didn’t know previously.
On the Wednesday, I was fortunate to be able to observe a court hearing at the prestigious Royal Court of Justice with Ben Silverstone. The case correlated to the research that I had conducted on the previous day so I had a good idea as to what was going on. On that afternoon, I was able to assist the marketing team on finding a venue for an event that is coming up. I also had to help them with putting invitations in envelopes for a parties that is going to celebrate two of their barristers becoming a silk. It was interesting to see how challenging that task was as I had to follow the requirements that were given to me. Additionally, I got to participate in a programme that enabled me to act as judge and give a sentence to the perpetrators of the crime.
The next day, I was fortunate enough to go to a tribunal court for a riveting immigration case with Nick Armstrong. It was engaging to see how the opposing side argued his case as I had not considered his reasoning’s. Later on, I had to handle the challenge of finding travel and accommodation for a barrister and again I found it hard as I had to meet the personal preferences of the barrister. It was eye-opening to see how much barristers from Matrix work abroad in exotic locations around the world.
On the last day, I was able to confer with two of the teams which were the fees team and the legal support team and see how they deal with the gigantic workload they get every single day and how they deal with it. For my final task at Matrix I was given the task to prepare myself to be given a mock interview with Amy. I found that this task has benefited me the most as I learnt how to compose myself in an important situation and how to speak formerly and with respect.
Overall, my work experience at Matrix has been enjoyable and fruitful, as I have done and experienced things for the first time where I had previously not had the chance to. I’ve been able to associate and talk to professional and cultivated barristers and the hard working team of people whom they co-operate with to be the successful law chambers that they are today.