Alongside volunteering in NLS Legal’s core service areas, students can get involved in a wide range of specialist projects and initiatives that offer additional ways to develop practical legal skills, gain experience, and contribute to access to justice.
These opportunities include work in administration and compliance, outreach legal advice services, policy clinics, internal collaborations as well as with external partners, virtual internships, and student-led pro bono initiatives.
Each project offers a different way to apply your learning in practice, build confidence in a professional environment, and make a meaningful impact beyond the classroom.
Discover the full range of student projects and placements:
Our Administration and Compliance Support placements are an excellent opportunity for our students to become involved in the work of NLS Legal and gain confidence, with some of the placements being ring-fenced for our first year students.
This initiative allows the students to learn first-hand how a law firm works, gaining invaluable skills for their future degree and career. The students involved undertake administrative tasks, such as reception duty and dealing with new enquiries, as well as supporting us with risk and compliance projects, by undertaking file reviews, raising awareness of our regulatory obligations and best practice. We find this is a fantastic way to start volunteering in NLS Legal.
Thanks to generous funding from Santander Universities UK, and following a successful launch in 2022/23, we are able to offer funded work experience placements to law students on the NTU Black Leadership Programme, as well as other students of Black heritage via their involvement in various employability initiatives.
In 2024/25, a total of nine students undertook a minimum of 35 hours work experience and were involved in a range of activity within the firm, supporting our team of lawyers with case work and with public legal education initiatives.
We are hugely grateful to Santander for enabling us to offer such outstanding opportunities to our students.
NLS is proud to partner with other institutions from across the globe. Through these partnerships, students visit NLS as part of their degree transfer programme. During their time at NLS, students from our international partnership institutions join us in NLS Legal to gain some practical experience and insight into the legal system of England and Wales.
Students from the University of London in Bangladesh, Brickfields Asia College, Malaysia and Advance Tertiary College, Malaysia spend time with us undertaking tasks such as attending client meetings, conducting legal research and drafting attendance notes.
In 2024/25, 16 of our students took part in a Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) Scrutiny Panel. This initiative provided our students with an insight into the work of the CPS. The students analysed a sexual offences case study and provided feedback to the CPS solicitor facilitating the session. As well as the value provided to our students, this project enables the CPS to embed community engagement activity and supports improvements in casework quality, public confidence and the diversity of its workforce.
Over the course of 2024/25 we were delighted to again support the work of the Environmental Law Foundation by running a policy clinic in collaboration with them. Solicitor, Charis Wong, supervised the work of the policy clinic, supported by paralegals James Sinclair and Matilda Kapala. 11 students assisted with the clinic.
The project required the application of complex laws and substantial desktop research was undertaken. It provided the opportunity for students interested in environmental law to obtain a detailed understanding of environmental law issues and allowed them to develop their skills as future legal practitioners in a policy context. Our findings were provided to the Environmental Law Foundation to support them in their ongoing work.
Having introduced virtual internships as a response to the Covid pandemic, we continue to offer these to support more students to gain legal work experience. In 2024/25, we offered a family law virtual internship to all students completing the SQE 1 and SQE 2 courses, to help them develop their practical skills ahead of sitting their SQE 2 assessments.
Our Student Pro Bono Committee (SPBC) comprises students who provide a significant contribution to NLS Legal. The SPBC help us develop the firm, improve our service for both clients and students, raise awareness of pro bono and access to justice, support other student volunteers, and promote the firm during Open Days and other events.
In addition, they participated in the Law School Challenge to raise funds for two pro bono charities, Advocate and LawWorks. Their efforts earned them the Bronze Award and the Midway Prize, giving the team the opportunity to connect with legal professionals through virtual speed networking. In total, all universities taking part in the challenge raised £18,200 for access to justice organisations.
Each year, we recognise NLS student volunteers who have gone above and beyond in their commitment to NLS Legal. These exceptional individuals are invited to become Lead Volunteers - a role that acknowledges their outstanding contributions and positions them as role models for their peers. Their dedication and hard work is instrumental in supporting our services and inspiring others to engage meaningfully with pro bono work.
We are a member of the LawWorks network and continue our close collaboration with them. LawWorks is a charity operating in England and Wales that connects people who cannot afford legal advice or access legal aid with the organisations that can assist them. We are a member of the LawWorks East Midlands Hub, meeting with other local pro bono providers to share experiences and best practice, update each other on our services and other activities, and facilitate signposting in order to make sure our work reaches as many individuals in need as possible.
Pathways to Law is an initiative of The Sutton Trust supporting those aged 16 to 18 from disadvantaged backgrounds into careers in the law. It aims to widen access into the legal profession and improve social mobility. As part of the law school’s Pathways to Law activity, we hosted an online interactive client interviewing session, providing 30 Pathways students with an insight into communication skills needed in order to represent clients effectively. The feedback from the students was extremely positive with a 100% of the students confirming that the session was useful and informative and 100% confirming that the event strengthened their understanding of jobs in the legal sector.
To be a volunteer with NLS Legal's New Enquiries and Admin Team was an opportunity that gave me an insight into the administrative side of a law firm. I learned how to log new enquiries, greet clients who had appointments and to issue signposting to enquirers who could not be assisted. It was an incredible experience, one that I enjoyed immensely and would recommend to other students.