News / Osborne Clarke
Law firm expands black internship programme
A law firm has launched its second cohort on a programme that aims to improve diversity across the legal sector and other professional services businesses.
Osborne Clarke is expanding its #10000 Black Interns (#10KBI) programme to “enrich the experiences of the interns and give them the best footing possible to pursue a career in professional services”.
The firm’s legal and business services teams 12 interns across its offices at Finzels Reach in Bristol, Reading and London for the six-week programme.
The interns will have the opportunity to experience a range of areas in Osborne Clarke’s business, including legal, commercial, real estate, business services and marketing.
Each intern will also have two placements with one of eight clients: ITV, OVO, British Land, Hargreaves Lansdown, Pension Protection Fund, Linkcity (the development arm of Bouygues UK), Sovereign and the University of Bristol.
As it did with its first 10KBI cohort, Osborne Clarke will provide buddies and mentors to support their learning journey, with the mentoring continuing for the rest of the year.
To further support the interns, Osborne Clarke and its client TikTok will host recruitment and employability training.
Osborne Clarke’s #10KBI programme lead Su Akgun commented: “Most people will remember having that light bulb moment in an internship, when you finally start to figure what you want to do and, most importantly, what you don’t want to do in your career. That’s why we’ve broadened our programme this year.
“We want to give our interns a deep understanding of our business and what it’s like to work in a law firm so they can make informed decisions about working in a business like ours.
“Programmes like #10KBI really are making a difference in helping the legal sector diversify its pool of great talent.”
#10000 Black Interns seeks to offer internships each year over five consecutive years. The programme is active across 20-plus sectors partnering with firms to deliver paid work experience.
By the end of the summer 2023, the programme will have created almost 5,000 internships in three years and provided training opportunities for more than 25,000 applicants.
Main photo: Osborne Clarke
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