What is PRIME?

PRIME is an alliance of law firms across the UK, committed to improving access to the legal profession through work experience. Founded in 2011 and with 60 member firms, we are proud to be one of the founding members. As part of this we have made the PRIME Commitment.

Our 9 commitments:

1. Fair access
   We will work with recognised partners to ensure the selection criteria continue to be the fairest way to identify those with least opportunity.
2. Provide support
   We will support students by providing financial assistance so they can attend work experience. As a minimum we will provide refreshments and reimburse reasonable travel expenses.
3. Prepare for work
   We will properly prepare young people in advance of work experience. We will give practical information and pre-placement activities where appropriate. We will ensure we are able to meet the diverse needs of our students.
4. Give career advice
   We will give information to their students about the range of careers available in the legal profession and wider business (for lawyers and non-lawyers) and clear, honest information about the requirements for them. We will also give information on the potential routes into those careers, including the relevance of university education and other routes into the profession. To support this information, we will adopt a partnership approach with other relevant organisations (e.g. universities and clients).
5. Develop key skills
   We will ensure that our students, through the work experience they receive, develop key personal and business skills. These invaluable skills (such as team work, communication, presentation, negotiation, making an impact and networking) are fundamental to a career in law and the wider business world.
6. Maintain contact
   We don’t want the PRIME experience to end when the work experience does. We will provide a way for PRIME students to maintain contact with us after they leave – whether that be over email or a more formal structured mentoring programme or an annual reunion event.
7. Keep up best practice
   We pledge to monitor our work experience offering. We will ensure we share best practice and data amongst PRIME members to enable the membership to develop and assure the quality of the commitments made under PRIME, including with externally commissioned evaluation when considered appropriate.
8. Target 50%
   We commit to providing opportunities to those who need it most. As a result, we pledge to offer a number of work experience places that is not less than 50% of the number of training contract places that the firm offers each year.
9. 30-35 hours contact time
   We will provide at least 30-35 hours of contact time per student (not necessarily on consecutive days).