The College of Law 4 What type of support should be provided? To help develop your skills, a supervisor should: y y  provide opportunities to observe and review the exercise of professional skills by experienced practitioners; y y give feedback and guidance on work; y y provide any necessary support; and y y give opportunities to discuss problems. We suggest that supervisors: y y give work and tasks that are well defined; y y give clear instructions and check that they have been understood; y y provide sufficient factual background; y y provide a realistic framework for completion of work tasks; y y answer questions which arise; y y assign tasks and work with an increasing degree of difficulty; y y ensure there is enough but not too much work; y y provide work which requires the use of a range of different skills; y y  create an environment where a student feels comfortable about asking questions; y y provide regular guidance and feedback on performance; y y ensure that achievements and improvements are recognised and praised; y y ensure that aspects of performance which require improvement are thoroughly discussed; and y y encourage self-development. Suggested work experience activities While the opportunities a work experience placement might provide will vary depending on the type of organisation, here are some examples of the type of activities you should experience, both hands-on and by observation. It is not necessary that the placement addresses all of these activities, merely the majority. y y  Meeting, communicating and interacting with clients; y y File management – managing critical dates and deadlines, timetabling and schedules; y y Interacting with other legal service providers such as solicitors in other organisations, barristers, expert witnesses, courts and other justice section administration; y y Management processes for client work and risk management – e.g. conflict checks and costs disclosure; y y Legal research and legal factual analysis; y y Considering professional responsibility issues; y y Drafting correspondence and legal documents; y y Financial and accounting systems, budgets; and y y Administrative activities which support the delivery of legal services.