One of the highlights of the trip was visiting the Supreme Court of Massachusetts in Boston, where we were able to meet and talk with an experienced Supreme Court Judge. This gave us some amazing insights into current issues within and related to the United States legal system. This was a particularly memorable experience for me as I was keen to hear the opinion of an informed figure on the issue of gun control.
Moving on to New York, the visit to the New York Times building offered all of us a chance to hear from people who had come from similar backgrounds to ourselves and to learn about how they got into their respective professions. We were also able to ask them questions on how they achieved their successes and to seek advice on following similar career paths. As well as this, we visited a major Law firm where one of the partners was an alumnus of Lancaster University. We were introduced to lawyers specialising in a range of areas, from bankruptcy and intellectual property, to music and the entertainment industry. This provided us with real insight into areas of practise that we may never have considered before.
As many of the students on the trip were first year undergraduates, we were not all certain about the exact career path we wanted to take. This was why visiting RSR partners, a headhunting firm, was such a useful experience. It really demonstrated to us all that a Law degree opens so many doors by teaching us skills which are transferable to various industries.
More generally, the trip gave us the opportunity to visit places we otherwise would not have been able to, such as the UN headquarters. It also gave us the opportunity to experience culture on ‘the other side of the pond’; from things like the bizarre behaviour of traffic in New York and seeing the typical tourist sights, to eating at famous restaurant chains and visiting businesses that don’t exist in the UK. This trip was a fantastic chance for us all to expand our horizons and showed us that there are a huge range of opportunities out there available to us.