The Singapore Academy of Law has started a job shadowing programme for Junior College students. Under this programme, Junior College students are attached to law firms to understudy and job shadow the workings of the legal firm under a Mentor.

During the attachment, the students will be exposed to legal work, research, Court attendances, file handing, clients meetings, observing the lawyers at work and so on. Through the attachment, the students will be able to find out if a career in the Law is suitable for them.

Straits Law Practice has taken in two students Suzanna Farid Teng from VJC and Xavier Toh from YJC. Both were with us for about a week. Let us see what Suzanna and Xavier have to say about their attachment with us.

Suzanna:

"Initially, I signed up for the Junior College Law Programme clueless of what I was about to get into. I walked into SLP feeling out of place and apprehensive of being in an environment of much mature working adults. But the warm welcome my fellow intern, Xavier and I received from everyone in the firm made us feel as though we were already part of the SLP family. The SLP working environment and culture is definitely my ideal type of workplace; a mixture of both serious hard work and fun. My mentors Mr Joseph Liow and Mr Ahmad Nizam were very helpful in enabling us to get to know about the legal profession better by bringing us to court sessions and by just answering our questions. The legal profession is now one of the three options I would consider as a career choice (the setback only being the mountain-high stress levels to earn an equally high salary). Thank you SLP for making my short stay a memorable one"

Xavier:

"The moment I stepped in here, I felt that law would be my vocation. The people here are really friendly and sociable, helping me out with my enquiries and problems. And contrary to popular belief, lawyers DO have a sense of humour, and a great one too! Being in a law firm and part of the action, ranging from the heated court arguments to the tedious research work, has really given me an invaluable experience that no amount of classroom education can provide. For me, after this job shadowing period, it has reignited my passion for legal practice, proving to me that law is indeed a profession that can truly be as glamorous as seen on law dramas and more, if you have the drive for it!"