Page 16 - Prime - Marking Ten Years

Our Impact: Data
One of PRIME’s current areas of focus is impact tracking to enable members to collectively record and report on the difference that our combined efforts are making to raise aspirations and improve
life chances for students that would otherwise have little or no access to the legal profession. Historically, we have relied upon strong anecdotal experiences of students to tell our story. We know now that that is no longer
enough, and that PRIME needs to gather data.
With the support of the Bridge Group, we have created a set of surveys for participants to complete both before and after their work experience, to measure the immediate impact that PRIME programmes have on participants’ knowledge and understanding of working in the legal profession and on their own career plans. We want to demonstrate how work experience can boost the confidence of students and give them the belief that they can pursue a legal career.
To accompany these surveys, we have developed standardised application forms for our member firms to use alongside, or in place of, their own. This standardisation will allow us to measure PRIME’s longer-term impact, both in terms of further education and how many PRIME participants go on to enter the legal profession. It will take time for
this data to flow through, but this is an important step for PRIME and we look forward to sharing the results with our members.
“The Bridge Group is thrilled
to evaluate how students are benefitting from PRIME work experience. Taking a coordinated approach and harnessing data across PRIME partner firms allows
us to generate robust results, and our findings will inform ongoing improvements to practice. This commitment to rigorous analysis is an important indication of PRIME’s commitment to understanding what really works, and working with firms across the sector to encourage these practices”.
Nik Miller, Chief Executive, The Bridge Group