News

Flagship Group is sponsoring the University of East Anglia’s (UEA) Law Society Mooting competition for the fourth year. The partnership will help provide students with the opportunity to network, develop key skills and gain valuable industry experience.

Mooting is a form of mock trial in which students must debate a point of law in front of a judge or panel of judges. The exercise promotes a focus on legal research, public speaking and the ability to clearly structure and present arguments.

Flagship created its in-house Legal Team in 2015 to drive efficiency and provide a bespoke legal service to the business, all in order to help achieve the Groups vision of solving the housing crisis in the East of England.

The Group is committed to investing in the workforce of the future, which is why Flagship began sponsoring the UEA Mooting Competition in 2018, helping to set young people up for success through providing them with the skills and experience they need for a legal career.

James McCulloch, Director of Legal Operations said: “We maintain a strong relationship with the UEA Law School and UEA Law Society and hold a number of networking and employability events for the students each year. We know it can be difficult for students to obtain work experience and network with businesses, so we always take the extra step in supporting students by also offering mock assessment centers, coffee mornings for CV reviews as well as other events throughout the year.

"In our short history as an internal legal team we have already had over 40 students work alongside us, some of whom have gone on to gain full time employment with the Group. In fact, both of our current trainees are UEA Alumni”

 

As part of the sponsorship, Flagship offers the winners a four-week paid internship with the legal team, with the opportunity to stay on permanently afterwards. Sophie Grice was offered a paid internship after winning the Advanced Mooting Competition in 2019/20 and now works permanently within the team as a Right to Buy Administrator.

Sophie said: “The UEA Law Society Mooting Competition was a massive part of my experience of studying Law at UEA. My confidence in public speaking, advocacy and legal research has come on leaps and bounds since I started.

“It was brilliant to gain experience working for an in-house legal team, as this is not something I had previously considered as a career option. Even in just four weeks, I gained a real insight into Flagship as a business and how the in-house legal team fits into their commercial structure.”

Aimee Magee, another previous winner and current intern said: “During my four weeks with Flagship, I was working within the Litigation team. I shadowed other team members, such as a solicitor, litigation manager and a paralegal which gave me an insight into the work which Flagship does.

“I was lucky enough to be offered a long-term position working on market rented arrears cases, within the first two-weeks of my internship. It has been an invaluable experience which such a fantastic team and I look forward to continue working with Flagship in the future.”

The mooting officially began on 12 October and will consist of eight rounds over the course of the academic year, with members of the Group’s Legal Team acting as a judge in the later stages.