Over the last six months, during my secondment to the Association for Consumer Support Organisations (ACSO), I have had fantastic exposure to both people and work that I have not encountered during my training so far. For this I am very grateful to everyone at ACSO and to Lyons Davidson for offering this as part of their training contract.
ACSO’s mission and drive has given me the opportunity to assist with multiple different projects in relation to consumer justice and has been an invaluable learning experience.
For example, I drafted ACSO’s response to the Bar Council’s consultation on proposed amendments to its equality rules, giving me the chance to understand the impact these changes can have on a wider community of professionals within the law.
I was also tasked with researching and drafting an update on the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) landscape, an area of emerging opportunity within the litigation landscape. As part of this, I was able to interview senior stakeholders, lawyers and technology professionals across the industry, gaining a valuable insight into the current state of the market as a whole and what improvements can be implemented to make ADR more viable for consumers. This project has really helped me to develop my interviewing and drafting skills, whilst also helping me to meet others in the industry that I normally would not have had access to.
The experience I have gained from working with ACSO will be extremely useful as I continue my career at Lyons Davidson and within the legal sector and I would highly recommend the secondment to anyone considering it. Lastly, I would like to thank the whole team at ACSO for being so welcoming and for being there to help me during my secondment, whenever needed.