Class of 2018: Daria Dlugosz

All this week we are celebrating the achievements of some of our students who are graduating in the class of 2018.

Daria Dlugosz (LLB Law) loves helping people and dreams of becoming a family law solicitor. She has contributed a huge amount of her time and effort in volunteering and even became Student Director of the Law Clinic whilst studying at Essex.

The Essex Law Clinic at the School of Law was one of the main reasons she chose to study at Essex and she volunteered there as a student advisor throughout her three-year degree.

As an advisor, Daria would work with real life clients to support them through their legal issues by conducting interviews and providing letters of advice.

She said: “This was an amazing opportunity as I was able to practice the skills required in a legal profession but it also meant I was able to help people in the community.”

In her final year she was appointed Law Clinic Student Director.

She said: “To become such an influential part of the Law Clinic in my final year was immensely exciting. I represented the Clinic in networking events, held elections for the committee and helped to train more students to become volunteers than any previous year.”

To add to her impressive extra-curricular activities, Daria volunteered for Street Law and visited local schools to teach children about specific areas of law. She was also a Visit Day Ambassador at Essex and used her experience to build confidence working with people outside her course.

She said: “The opportunity allowed me to meet a wide range of applicants and parents with very different perspectives. I also was able to meet many lecturers outside of my studies and to develop a very positive working relationship with them.”

Daria is certainly not one for complacency; and urges anyone with the same amount of will power and determination to realise their potential by studying at Essex.

She said: “Overall my experience studying at Essex has been fantastic. I thoroughly enjoyed my degree and found many of my lecturers to be incredibly supportive. I would recommend University of Essex to anyone, even though a degree is a lot of hard work it all pays off in the end.”

After graduation Daria will be looking at employment in the legal, educational and human resources sectors and will work towards a Legal Practice Course (LPC), a Postgraduate Diploma in legal practice. In the future she hopes to become a family law solicitor and get involved in charity work within the sector.

She said: “I love helping people, it’s what drives me and it is the reason I chose to study law in the first place so I hope to fulfil that dream.”