The Real-World Benefits of Participating in the Law Ambassador Program
What is the Law Ambassador Program?
“I would describe it as challenging - but in a good way, not in a bad way,” suggests Esha Serai.
More specifically, Law Ambassador Program is an opportunity to run and participate in one of seven small initiatives that support law students. These entrepreneurial teams are supported by Monash Law but operate independently to give law students a real-world experience.
Learn more about the Law Ambassador Program
Esha Serai is a third year Law student who was the team leader for one of the seven LAP teams in 2023. She’s approaching the halfway point of her double degree in Law and PPE.
“PPE stands for politics, philosophy, and economics, and I’ve only just started PPE in the last semester,” clarifies Esha.
Esha recently started working part time as a paralegal with the Law Institute of Victoria - a member organisation for legal professionals where undergraduates get free membership.
“LIV has sections which basically are different areas of substantive law that members can get involved with. I'm part of the technology and innovation section, and also the family law section.
“We have members meeting regularly to discuss issues and advocacy pertaining to that section in Victoria. Any admin, that's what I'm here for, basically taking records and making sure it runs smoothly,” explains Esha.
Esha stepped out of her comfort zone when she put her hand up for the Law Ambassador Program, but immediately gained the benefits that come with trying something new.
“It's challenging, because you're provided with some guidance as to how to run your project, but you're also left to your own devices to organise your own team structure. It’s up to each team as to how they want to develop their project for the year,” explains Esha.
In fact, when she started with LAP, Esha was surprised to find that students had the independence to design and execute the strategy for their team’s initiative.
“I think the student independence in LAP is really great. It develops a lot of skills in each member, especially if you're a team leader. You develop a lot of project management skills.
The EncycLAWpedia talk with their Law Ambassador Program mentor
Esha’s LAP team is called EncycLAWpedia which has been part of the LAP program for a few years with a variety of different project teams over the years. The goal of EncycLAWpedia is to produce career guides for students by profiling legal professionals.
“The law guides are captured from an interview with a legal professional. Then we organise it into the law guide along with some articles and suggested electives.
“The idea is to give students an insight into practice areas because we identified that there is a bit of information lacking when it comes to how students can select their practice area that they want to go in moving forward.”
Esha was the EncycLAWpedia team leader in 2023 and the rest of the team of 12 was divided into action groups, including a social media group, an interviewing group, and a publications group. As the team leader she worked closely with Law Faculty professional staff to manage budgets and the administration of access for the EncycLAWpedia website, social media, and other accounts.
The team leader also worked with the team to develop a vision for the 2023 project year and establish those working groups that would help them achieve their goals.
“Each team is different, so they can organise themselves, however they would like, and what's most efficient for them.”
While LAP provides room for students to work through their project independently, it comes with a lot of resources to ensure participants have the skills they need to get the job done.
The program begins with a workshop at Monash Generator that provides training in entrepreneurship, the art of pitching, personal branding, and leadership.
“We did a few workshops that focus on entrepreneurship and other relevant skills and I really did enjoy those workshops. That was one of the really good parts of the program as well, being able to obtain some knowledge from people outside Law.”
And each LAP team is assigned a mentor from the legal profession to help them achieve their goals.
“My mentor was working in the government space and helped us reach out to a few people from her own network which was really valuable.”
The highlight of the Law Ambassador Program is the LAP Showcase which is a star-studded night where each team polishes their entrepreneurial pitch for funding to achieve their goals. Set in the auditorium at Monash University Law Chambers, the LAP Showcase is an opportunity for team leaders to present their pitch to three legal professionals in front of a large audience.
LAP showcase is essentially the Monash Law version of Shark Tank.
The encycLAWpedia team at the LAP Showcase
“It's basically like a panel of investors. You'll pitch to them, and then they'll ask you a few questions about your project at the end. The idea for the pitch is to put you in the running to obtain a grant that helps with covering the costs of your project.”
“It's also a good opportunity to celebrate your success for the year. The amount of work that you've put into this project.”
As a result of the EncycLAWpedia team’s goals, in addition to networking at LAP Showcase, they were able to connect with a lot of legal professionals. In many cases they had the legitimacy to cold call practising lawyers to request an interview.
“I think that's one of the key benefits that I drew from the program - being able to connect with people who are at the forefront of innovation.”
But for Esha, the most valuable outcome of the Law Ambassador Program has been the personal development that comes from stepping outside your comfort zone.
“My favourite part about LAP has been coming out of my shell and immersing myself in the legal industry, because I didn't have much exposure to networking before.”
“I definitely learnt about more of the opportunities out there, especially for law students, and I learned a lot about how the legal industry is developing and how it's changing.”
In 2024 Esha will be handing over EncycLAWpedia to a new team of students. She’s looking forward to sharing her learnings from last year and throwing out a challenge to the incoming entrepreneurs.
“I'm really hoping that, moving forward, our team will think of new ways to present these law guides instead of just having a text or podcast format. I think that could be something the future EncycLAWpedia team could improve on.”