Work Experience
We have run a successful programme of work experience placements since spring 2001. We aim to give students under the age of 18 a taste of work in a modern legal practice and busy office environment.
Applications for 2017
We are now accepting applications for 2017. Please complete the application form and follow the guidance notes given.
We anticipate a high volume of applications and therefore may not be able to offer every applicant a placement. Please complete the application form as fully as possible to enable us to understand why you feel you should be given a placement at Matrix.
We will be in touch as soon as we can to let candidates know if they have been successful in obtaining a week’s work experience.
Please note: Our most popular dates are during school holidays and in June and July. If you are able to agree to a placement outside of these dates then please specify on your form. We do not offer work experience over the Christmas period or during August and September.
Our work experience blog
Each work experience student is encouraged to tell us about their time at Matrix for the benefit of other students. You can read about it here.
About Matrix
Matrix is a legal practice that was set up in May 2000 to modernise the environment in which barristers work, and the way in which their professional practices are managed and developed. We work in an environment where diversity and accessibility are widely championed, and out-dated practice is challenged.
Duties
The duties students can expect to undertake during a work placement at Matrix include:
- Completing basic legal exercises.
- Conducting legal research and writing legal reports.
- Photocopying.
- Filing.
- Taking barristers’ papers to court and observing them in action.
- Delivering documents.
- Dealing with post.
- Other ad hoc administrative duties.
Application Criteria
Our Work Experience programme is only open to those currently undertaking GCSEs or A-Levels, or equivalent.
We take two work experience students each week. In selecting students for work experience, we actively seek to promote access to the profession and equal opportunities for those typically underrepresented at the Bar. Therefore, individuals who meet the following criteria will be prioritised in the application process for one of our two weekly placements:
Currently undertaking GCSEs or A-Levels, or equivalent, and fulfil one of the following three criteria:
- Be from a family where neither of your parents went to university.
- Be eligible, or have been eligible in the past, for free school meals, or come from a family on income support.
- Be a member of an ethnic minority or a group traditionally under-represented in the legal profession e.g. those with disabilities.
If you believe you meet the above criteria, and wish to be considered for one of these priority placements, please tick the appropriate box in the application form.
The second placement will remain accessible to all other students currently undertaking GCSEs or A-Levels, or equivalent.
How to Apply
In order to help us process your application, please complete and return the work experience application form, which includes questions on:
- How you heard about us,
- Why you would particularly like to come to Matrix and why you have applied,
- What your aims are for the placement and what you hope to achieve during it, and
- How you match the selection criteria, as explained above.
In support of your application, you will be asked to get a teacher/guardian/family friend to provide a short testimonial for inclusion on your application form, explaining how they consider you would benefit from a placement with Matrix, and why it would be appropriate for us to offer you such a placement.
All application forms should be returned to Lindsay Clarke via email or post to: Matrix, Griffin Building, Gray’s Inn, London, WC1R 5LN.