Student paper Varsity lifts lid on unwelcome advances made during graduate recruitment events
Female wannabe lawyers at one of the nation’s foremost seats of learning are being bombarded with sexual advances from members of the legal profession, Cambridge University’s student newspaper has claimed.
Writing in Varsity, Trinity College student Leo Sands reports that “predatory sexual advances” are being made “routinely” at networking dinners by lawyers seeking to exploit students’ desperation to land training contracts and pupillages.
Varsity quotes two anonymous sources in support of its allegations. The first is a law student who was subject to a sexual advance at “a black tie networking event for barristers” from a practising barrister. The student recounts:
“As dinner drew to a close, and other guests began to leave, he remained seated and took a bottle of port, which he insisted we share. I wondered if this was the normal routine at networking events. By the time the waiters ushered us out, I expected him to call a cab and leave. However, he walked with me out of the college, and asked if I wanted to carry the conversation at a nearby bar, ‘drinks on him’.”
She continues:
“I felt compromised and vulnerable, so politely declined and half ran back to my own college … The man had known I was a fresher, yet had definitely hit on me. The entire event seemed tainted. Were all barristers sleazy and opportunistic, attending these events to target young students?”
The other law student quoted in the article told Varsity that “the old guys” at law firm recruitment dinners “are quite pervy and creepy, complimenting you in weird ways, making you feel a bit uncomfortable.”
She reckons the attitude of these lawyers is linked to the extremely competitive current state of the graduate law job market:
“Older men have taken these opportunities to flirt with undergraduate students when they are well aware of how keen these students are to gain internships at their law firms,” she adds.
The full Varsity article is here.
Previously:
This is what happens when you respond to the ‘City lawyer offering free accommodation for intimacy’ advert [Legal Cheek]