Brock students looking to pursue a career in law will soon be given a leg up through a new co-curricular program.

Law Plus will mirror the successful model of the University’s Med Plus program, which has seen ongoing success throughout its near 20-year run. The new program will accept applications from students in any Faculty who have an interest in bolstering their legal career options.

Run alongside students’ academic studies, the program will provide practical experiences that will prepare them for the rigours of careers in law.

Final approval for Law Plus was received in late May and full-scale recruitment initiatives are set to begin in the fall.

Stephanie Harper, Career Education’s Associate Director, is hopeful that students will see the many advantages that co-curricular studies can bring to their career.

“We want Law Plus to be seen as the ultimate career planning program,” she said. “We have demonstrated the difference co-curricular programming can make for our Med Plus students. Nearly 90 per cent of them enter a career in the health field, including 82 students in the last three years alone, and we can’t wait to bring that same approach and success to the field of law.”

With a September 2019 start date in place, the entire Career Education team is gearing up to welcome about 30 students who will take part in the Law Plus program’s inaugural year.

“We are in the business of helping students make informed career decisions,” said Pauline Dawson, Career Education Manager. “In Law Plus, we’ll expose them to different types of opportunities, including professional interaction, job shadowing and volunteer work, to help them figure out what they like and, just as importantly, what they don’t like.”

Dawson said that through Faculty and student consultations, the desire for further career information and training in the area of law was evident, and it had been specifically demonstrated through several Co-op, Career and Experiential Education-led initiatives.

“In addition to our individual meetings to discuss testing and application processes to enter the field of law, we have also hosted events to bring students face to face with practising legal professionals,” she said.

By providing program-specific offerings and increased resources going forward, Dawson hopes the momentum gained from the previous workshops can be harnessed by dedicated staff members who will focus on the program full time.

“Typically, we would see students a couple of times, but these students will work with the new Law Plus consultant for four years on a weekly basis,” she said. “The career coaching conversations will be very specialized and the consultant will become an expert in the law realm, including learning about the LSAT and other tests.”

The new program will also be supported by an advisory committee made up of alumni, faculty, community members, staff and students, which will help guide the curriculum and programming.

Filling the positions on that committee is an important first step and one Harper feels will offer extra benefits for the program’s students.

“Not only will the committee provide the necessary guidance for the program to get started on the right foot, but they will also engage in first-hand interaction with our students, showing them the ins and outs of a wide variety of law careers,” she said.

Students may begin applying for Law Plus in January 2019, while those interested in joining the program’s advisory committee are encouraged to email pdawson@brocku.ca. To learn more about Career Education at Brock, including other Plus programs, visit the Career Education website.