Recently, we had the pleasure of hosting year 10 student Hemisha, for her work experience. We thoroughly enjoyed having her and her enthusiastic personality around the office. Read below for Hemisha's experience at our firm in her own words.
"This week I embarked on my Year 10 Work Experience at Freedman and Gopalan Solicitors. Upon entering the workplace I had certain expectations and Freedman and Gopalan exceeded these expectations. They greeted me with kind, caring staff members who were ready to help at a moment’s notice and truly made me feel welcome at this prestigious law firm. This week I filed, archived, attended court, scanned and collated documents and assisted secretarial staff. I learnt many new skills and made plenty of new friends. I learnt how to destroy files, archive, use programs, conduct myself in a professional and appropriate manner and come to terms with the city around me.
The reason I chose to do my Year 10 Work Experience at a Law Firm was because I have an interest in legal matters and was still unsure if the path of becoming a lawyer was what I truly wanted to do. I embarked on this week with trepidation and curiosity and now finally after concluding my work experience and spending the last 5 days at Freedman and Gopalan I have decided that I am still unsure about becoming a lawyer. However, this week was very insightful into the everyday life of a lawyer and has cleared my doubts and perceptions I had in place before entering the workplace. I’ve learnt that the life of a lawyer often follows a schedule but is often unpredictable as well. I’ve learnt that becoming a legal representative means you deal with people from all walks of life and that sometimes you put must put your personal views aside for the benefit of a case.
I had multiple surprises this week and was lucky enough to attend court twice, once for a criminal and the other for a family court matter. One surprise for me this week was how friendly and welcoming the staff at Freedman and Gopalan were. Both the criminal and family courts were very different and similarities between the two were stark. The atmosphere of both courts was subdued and serious and a contrast between the two courts was that they both had different court proceedings. The criminal case I viewed was a mention compared to the interim hearing of the family court. The mention featured a magistrate and the interim hearing, a judge. In the interim hearing there was also a court officer, a transcriber and a trainee judge, a very rare sighting which I was lucky enough to see.
Overall, my week at Freedman and Gopalan was a pleasure and I was lucky enough to have been accepted for this opportunity at their firm. I thoroughly enjoyed my time and would recommend to anyone looking for Year 10 Work Experience to apply at Freedman and Gopalan to experience the life of a lawyer, meet their caring and charismatic staff that made me feel like a part of a team and for the new experiences and skills that I got to learn."