Stewarts Law goes back to school

This week saw 15 partners and staff from the Leeds office of Stewarts Law take part in Leeds Legal's Education and Enterprise Week, now in its fifth year, which provides support to young people in some of Leeds' more challenged communities.

Over the course of two days, volunteers from Stewarts Law attended 4 primary schools - Beechwood, Hugh Gaitskell, Middleton and Moor Allerton Hall - to take part in activities developed to empower young people to consider and develop their future career ambitions and kick-start the passion to work towards their ideal job.

Volunteers were encouraged to talk about how they came to choose their job, what qualifications they needed and what they got out of their work. They also spoke about the practical side of work: how they got to and from the office, how much time they spent at work and with whom they worked.

The Stewarts Law volunteers - which included partners, solicitors, paralegals and support staff - were each assigned a group of 3 or 4 children aged 9 to 11 years old and then helped their group work through the "Chocolate Challenge". This task saw the children formulate a new chocolate bar for a particular target audience (e.g. boys, girls, men, women), calculate the cost of production, agree on a sale price, design the wrapper and come up with a marketing strategy. Some chocolate bars which might one day make their way to supermarket shelves included:

• "Fizz Bang Pop" - it gives you the energy to run, skip and hop!
• "Pit Stop" - brake for a pit stop
• "Chocolate Crunch" - the delicious treat for any teenager to eat
• "Spa Bar" - so smooth, so relaxing
• "Maxi-Men" - giving men power
• "Swirly" - because girls love swirls
• "Sunshine Mellow" - it tastes so good, yummy yummy
• "Munch Crunch" - the ultimate in chocolate crunch

Whilst the aim of the day was of course to further the children's education and broaden their horizons, all those who volunteered enjoyed their day and the opportunity to spend time with such bright, enthusiastic and imaginative children.