Pawel Guzik, a first year LLB student in The Dickson Poon School of Law was recently shortlisted for the First Year of the Year Award at the Target Jobs Undergraduate of the Year Awards 2017, partnered by Barclays. Pawel was up against nine other first year students shortlisted from universities across the UK, with the prize eventually being won by the student from Newcastle University.  

The nominees, competing for a week-long insight week at Barclays HQ in Canary Wharf, were shortlisted on a range of criteria, including their ability to drive change and have a positive impact; being a strong team player; showing commercial acumen and resilience.

Pawel has had a busy first year at King’s and it is easy to see why he was a finalist in this year’s Undergraduate of the Year Awards.

An active member of both the KCL Law Society and Mooting Society, Pawel was also a first year representative for the KCL Bar Society and Speaker Relations Head at TEDx KCL Club. Pawel was also elected first year representative to the Law Forum, the School’s student-staff committee where feedback, the student experience and School business are discussed.

Pawel represented the School at the 15^th Annual Oxford International Intellectual Property Law Mooting Competition, was named the winner of the KCL Witness Examination Competition and was runner-up in the Keating Chambers Advanced-Novice Mooting Competition. He participated in several other mooting contests, reaching the semi-final stages in many of them.

Pawel has also taken full advantage of the events offered by law firms and barristers chambers in London, attending open days at Lincoln's Inn and Middle Temple and events at Essex Court Chambers, Brick Court Chambers, Fountain Court Chambers, and XXIV Old Buildings. Pawel has secured three separate mini-pupillages at barristers’ chambers at 6KBW College Hill, 9 Bedford Row and 9 King's Bench Walk.

In February, Pawel qualified as a Civil and Commercial Mediator through a course organised by 218 Society and KCL Pro Bono Society, which is accredited by the Civil Mediation Council.

Over the summer, Pawel will spend two weeks attending Tsinghua University in Beijing, as a recipient of the 2017 Experiencing China Scholarship. Other international excursions have included fully-funded trips to Berlin and Oslo, as part of the King’s Experience Global Award, for the Global-In and Young Sustainable Impact conferences respectively. Closer to home, Pawel has also found time to sit the Associate of King’s College London exams and is learning Spanish through the university’s Modern Language Centre.

Of his nomination, Pawel said: ‘I am incredibly honoured to be one of the 2017 UK First Year of The Year Award Finalists at the 2017 Undergraduate of the Year Awards! It was a wonderful experience, and I am truly grateful for the continuous support of the School.’

Further information

Find out more about the Professional Skills & Employability programme offered to students studying at The Dickson Poon School of Law and legal student societies

Find out more about Target Jobs Undergraduate of the Year Awards 2017, partnered by Barclays.