Spending a week completing work experience in employment law has given me the chance to see how workplace issues are handled from a legal perspective.Before this week, I mostly thought employment law involved contracts and maybe the occasional dispute.By the end of the week,I realised it’s a lot more complex and that when things go wrong in the workplace, they can go very wrong…
My week began with an introduction to the employment lifecycle, which explains the different stages of the relationship between employers and employees-from recruitment to the end of employment.
One of the most interesting parts of this discussion was the relationship between HR and legal teams.HR usually handles workplace issues first, but when situations become more complicated that’s when employment lawyers step in to save the day.
What becomes clear fairly quickly is that the difference between a “HR issue” and a “legal issue” can be quite small.Something that begins as a minor workplace disagreement can, eventually become a legal claim.In other words, good HR practices can sometimes prevent lawyers from becoming very busy later on.
On Tuesday,I was given a research task looking at changes introduced by the Employment Rights Act 2025 and what those changes mean for employers.
My role was to examine how the law has changed and what claims employees might bring if employers fail to comply with the new requirements.This involved researching new legal obligations and what I realised is that employment law is constantly evolving.Lawyers need to stay up to date with new legislation so they can advise clients properly-because “we didn’t realise the law had changed” is unlikely to be a particularly effective legal defence.
Wednesday involved analysing a real Employment Tribunal case.I was given a tribunal bundle and witness statements and asked to read through everything before predicting what the final judgment might be.
At first this seemed manageable.However, once I started reading the witness statements, it became clear that real legal disputes are rarely straightforward with there being different accounts of the same events ,conflicting interpretations, and detailed legal arguments.
After discussing my prediction,I was given the actual judgement to read.It turned out the tribunals reasoning was significantly more detailed than my own attempt-which perhaps confirms that becoming a judge requires slightly more experience than one afternoon of reading case documents.
One of the highlights of the week was visiting a court to observe proceedings in person.
After spending the week learning about employment law in theory, it was interesting to step into a courtroom and see the legal system in action.Seeing the process first hand gave me a much better understanding of how the legal system works in practise and it was a valuable experience because it showed how structured and formal the process is.Every argument, piece of evidence, and submission is carefully presented and considered.It also highlighted how much preparation goes into legal cases long before anyone actually walks into a courtroom.
Overall I have thoroughly enjoyed my week of work experience and being provided with a fascinating insight into employment law and how it works in practice has made me extremely excited for my future.I now have a much greater appreciation for the work that goes into making workplaces fair and legally compliant.I can confirm thinking like a lawyer takes practice…and apparently ,a very high tolerance for paperwork.
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