qLegal, alongside its long-standing partner Morrison Foerster, hosted a networking and pitching event on Wednesday, 13 March 2024. The event brought together over sixty attendees, including qLegal students and in-house legal professionals from Amazon.
The event was part of the Externships Programme, which places students for seven hours per week for six months in a tech start-up. Throughout the programme, students receive structured feedback on their performance and gain experience in an in-house setting.
After an introduction from Morrison Foerster and Amazon, students presented their experiences in the Externships Programme. They outlined their main goals upon joining the start-up, discussed the challenging aspects and highlighted the rewarding experiences. They also described how their career aspirations evolved before and after their externships and then received detailed feedback and advice from volunteers based on their pitches.
Following the presentations, students had the opportunity to network with the volunteers while discussing a fictional scenario, aimed at developing professional and inter-personal skills, over drinks and nibbles. The students were pleased with the event, noting that it broadened their perception of the legal industry and provided insights on entering the field as graduation nears. One student noted that it was ‘One of, if not the best, networking event I have been to. Everyone was incredibly friendly, and I met some really interesting people.’ Another said, ‘Initially, I was quite anxious. But after delivering my pitch before the in-house lawyers from Amazon, I felt an immense sense of joy, confidence, and pride in myself. The event proved to be truly amazing and enriching!'
The volunteers also enjoyed the event, with a qLegal supervisor noting that ‘the qLegal team are incredibly innovative in the opportunities they offer students to give them greater exposure to the law in practice – you could tell from the energy of the room how excited everyone was about the event. I can’t wait to see what other events the team have planned in the near future!’ Amazon Music contracts manager, Aster Abebe stated ‘I really enjoyed participating in the programme organised by qLegal – it was a great event! I was blown away by the informative and well-prepared presentations from the LLM law students about their externships and inspired hearing what they accomplished. qLegal did a fantastic job delivering the programme in such an organised and engaging way.'
qLegal is grateful for its longstanding partnership with Morrison Foerster and the participation of the Amazon volunteers. Their contributions support qLegal's mission of shaping the lawyers of tomorrow.