James Pantefedwyn Foundation

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Lili Nefydd Roberts

Following the successful completion of my Law degree at Manchester University, I was keen to return to Wales to continue my legal studies, and was fortunate enough to be accepted on the LLM Legal Practice Course in Cardiff University’s Law and Politics Department. This course is an essential element of preparing students for their 2-year legal practice contract. The course certainly enhanced my skills and developed my knowledge of the various core aspects of becoming a lawyer. It was an intense year of work, including regular examinations, interactive modules and course assessments. It was a very different experience to my undergraduate degree, much more specific and practical, aiming to prepare us for the workplace.

It has been a challenging year, especially because of COVID-19. The second part of the course was taught on-line in Microsoft Teams’ sessions, and I sat all my exams from home with 24 hours to complete each one. A very different experience! Once the exams were finished, I had to write my dissertation, which I decided to base on the financial cutbacks to legal aid following the ‘Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012’, and how this has had an effect on disadvantaged and vulnerable people’s access to justice and fairness and legal facilities and resources (e.g. advice and representation).

During the summer of 2018, I had secured a legal training contract with Hugh James in Cardiff for September 2020, but, due to the pandemic, this has been postponed until March 2021. In the meantime, they have offered me a post as a paralegal, and I’m looking forward to start my career in the legal world.

I would like to thank the James Pantyfedwen Trustees for their generous sponsorship and the financial support towards my tuition fees at Cardiff University. This support was a great help, and without it, I would not have been able to complete the course or start my journey as a lawyer.