A spur of the moment decision to ‘give it a shot’ and enter the Linklaters’ Making Links Schools Challenge has earned Head Boy Callum Keigher a runners-up place, £1,000 in online vouchers and £1,000 for Gordon's!

The challenge presented to Year 12 students across the UK by the multinational law firm, was on the theme of change with the brief: ‘We are living through a time of great change. What in your opinion will be the greatest challenges and opportunities in this changing world?’

Sixth Form student Callum was inspired to enter the competition after being told about it by the school and set about producing a PowerPoint presentation with the themes of technology, environment, social and economic.

His submission earned him a place in the finals, a day in which the 20 finalists were treated to a morning workshop on presentation skills before being tasked to produce a two minute video. Four were chosen for the Grand Final which involved talks from two of the firm’s partners and an associate partner about their work and an opportunity for him to present his video to them as well as answer questions from the panel of judges.

Callum, an aspiring Oxbridge candidate said the experience had not only honed his skills in research and presentation but had been really helpful as he is interested in a career in commercial law.

“It was great to see names and faces of people really high up in the law firm that I may want to work for in the future. It was a really good experience overall” he said.