S
SUCCESSFUL APPLICATIONS
TO LAW FIRMS
David Ainscough
Abstract
Top tips, techniques and research to make your application and assessment process effective
Table of Contents
Introduction and purpose of document ................................................................................................. 1
Researching the firm(s) ........................................................................................................................... 2
Ten key research criteria ..................................................................................................................... 3
Planning the approach ............................................................................................................................ 4
Pipeline Management ............................................................................................................................. 6
Profile Building ........................................................................................................................................ 7
Academic performance ....................................................................................................................... 8
Student Societies ................................................................................................................................ 8
Extracurricular activities ..................................................................................................................... 9
Relevant experience (including work experience) .............................................................................. 9
Volunteering ..................................................................................................................................... 10
Positions of responsibility ................................................................................................................. 10
Legal activities especially skills workshops ....................................................................................... 11
Transferable skills ............................................................................................................................. 11
Commercial awareness – your hidden asset. ................................................................................... 11
Positioning yourself in advance with a firm. ......................................................................................... 12
Appendices ............................................................................................................................................ 13
Appendix:1 Applying successfully to public interest led law firms ................................................... 13
Appendix 2. The Top Five Tips Checklist ........................................................................................... 15
Appendix 3 Links to other key research resources ........................................................................... 15
Introduction and purpose of document
Applying to law firms is notoriously competitive and so students are right to consider
how best to improve their chances. Its also time consuming so making the most
effective use of effort devoted to making applications is most important. With more
than one or two firms on your list that you will be applying to its very easy to find
yourself leaving applications to the last minute, rushing them, and having poorly
prepared the groundwork to be undertaken before applying. This document aims to
highlight the essential activities and preparation to undertake during the research
and application process.
It also addresses the questions about “How many firms to apply to?” and “What can I
do to improve my chances?” The answer to the latter will include several
suggestions most of which cannot be done at short notice or may require effort
ahead of time to be ready at a later date to make applications. So thinking in
advance and planning are important. More often than not applying to law firms
successfully is a marathon and not a sprint and you may find yourself either
managing the process from the beginning of your first year as a student to line up
something for when you graduate or, if you come to the process later, using a gap
year after you graduate to complete some of the steps you didn’t have chance to do
earlier.
It doesn’t go into details about the differences between firms in the way that they
qualify their intending solicitors which may be an important consideration for you in
your research. For some law students other than first years there may remain an
option to do the Legal Practice Course if the firm supports that route. Overwhelming
the route will be the Solicitors Qualifying Exam plus Qualified Work Experience
although even here there may be differences in the scope of QWE that are important
to you and which you can confirm during your research. Some law firms may be
offering the Graduate Apprenticeship Route which with its emphasis on work
experience and practice may make it more appealing and will be worth researching
for some.
Lastly, there are a number of differences to bear in mind if you are looking to apply to
commercial and corporate law firms or their alternatives, typically, firms involved in
public interest law, civil liberties and human rights. These differences are highlighted
in Appendix 1.
Researching the firm(s)
Before embarking on your research decide whether you will be interested in firms
according to a single set of criteria such as type, geographical location or size or
whether you are going to adopt more than one, perhaps in order to make a broader
range of comparisons as you develop your interest. It is perfectly fine to follow either
approach so long as you can explain clearly the rationale you adopted when asked
the questions at interview such as “Why did you choose this firm?” and “What
other/competitor law firms have you applied to”? .It is not unusual to be asked these
questions and law firm recruiters expect you to be applying to more than one firm as
it would be quite risky to place “all your eggs in one basket”. What they are looking
for by way of a good answer is a clear reasoning why you can place their firm top of
your list.
There are three main sources of information you can use to build a target list of firms
of interest.
a) Focus on the principal practice areas of the firm, highlight an affinity and interest
in the work they do and connect positively with the reputation they have
developed. Here there are two sources to consult that describe the work involved
in different legal practice areas as there are many and then a listing of the leading
firms in each. To find out about the work involved in different practice areas you
can read some helpful surveys especially Target Law which describes over 25 in
detail and Chambers Student which also includes some profiles of practitioners
and the work they do. Remember that a particular type of work is just one criteria,
there will be plenty of opportunity to explore more during your training when you
encounter one that, much to your surprise, appeals. However its good to start
with one area whilst keeping an open mind. Once you’ve identified the practice
area(s) that interest you the second step is to research the group of firms that
practice in that area AND the leading practitioners. For this you can use the main
Chambers&Partners UK Directory and simply select the area of law which you’ve
identified as an interest for you from the drop down practice list. Its then a
question of cross referencing the firms you identify with details of their vac
schemes and training contract deadlines.
b) Having got a broad idea of what the firm does a second source of information is
feedback from the trainees themselves and here there are two key sources to
use in your research. The first is Lex100 which is based on an extensive annual
survey it undertakes with trainees in the leading firms and also Chambers
Student which also collects detailed and insightful comments. What you read
quoted in the articles and reviews can be material to draw on in your applications
as actual evidence of any assertion you might make in support of either your own
motivation or in comparing firms.
c) Study news, briefings and commentaries on law news websites. There are two
sorts of website to check out for this information. The first of these is from the law
firm itself. A recruiter will expect you to have read the new releases and any
special report or client briefing material hosted on the firm’s website. The second
is from sources external to the firm ranging from articles in the FT.com to which
you have free access with your Raven account to specialised law publications
such as Lawyer2b.com and those with a slightly more light hearted approach
such as Legal Cheek. All are worth consulting once your target list of firms is
established.
It is not unusual at interview to be asked for the names of other firms to which you’ve
applied. This is not a trick question. Law firms expect you’ll be making more than one
application and there are two elements to a successful answer which are derived
from your research. Firstly, does your list have a coherent rationale that makes the
recruiter feel reassured that you know what you are doing. Be prepared to explain
the rationale. Secondly when making a comparison it provides you with the
opportunity to highlight why the firm you are currently meeting with is top of your list.
By now you’ll be beginning to accrue a wealth of information worth storing in an
organised way in spreadsheets and folders. Once interviewing gets underway much
of the information can “blur” because of time pressure so make it easy to review
quickly in due course.
Ten key research criteria
In summary the following are 10 key criteria which you can use to differentiate
the firms when populating your research with specific information and
expressing your motivations within your application.
i. Quality of work you’ll be doing. (Which practice areas will you be offered
experience in, what’s the reputation of the firm for the work it does in those
areas and what is the role of the trainee in working collaboratively?).
ii. Levels of responsibility and client contact. (This can easily be overplayed as
until qualified a trainee’s interactions with a client will inevitably be closely
supervised. Nevertheless, don’t overlook the fact that in smaller firms with
smaller teams a trainee can be more exposed to seniors and clients)
iii. Work/Life balance (Evidence usually garnered from current trainees speaking
frankly. Different departments and different firms have their defined cultures
and expectations of “screen time” or presence at work. It’s an aspect of work
in flux, especially for lawyers, emerging from “Lockdown” during Covid.)
iv. Social life within the firm (Solicit evidence from the trainees but look in
particular for ways in which the firm supports activities important to you, eg..
free tickets to major cultural events or encouraging competitive sporting
activities).
v. Level of conversion from vac scheme to training contract. (In other words, if
law firms aim to convert 75% of vac schemers into trainee offers what are
your chances when applying for a contract if you haven’t had prior experience
with them. Attending Open Days is a good thing to do if you haven’t been
accepted onto a vac scheme.). Similarly, retention rates for trainees into
newly qualified roles might be important to you. These figures for the leading
firms are regularly reported in the legal press such as Lawyer2B.)
vi. International or client secondments (Worth factoring in for the experience in its
own right but also insights into future career options of working abroad more
long term or going “in house” as a lawyer in due course once qualified.
vii. Remuneration. There can be a wide variation between the major corporate
City firms and say a regional mid-size firm or even one doing public funded
work but don’t forget to evaluate the likely “hourly rate” for the work you put in.
Usually, high pay means long hours.
viii. Diversity & Inclusivity (Becoming increasingly important and especially
relevant for law firms all of whom will have a policy and programmes in place.
Research how closely what they do for specific groups matches your own
values and aspirations of what is important.)
ix. Support from seniors and mentoring and buddy schemes. (A real help in your
early years and beyond for both professional and personal development.
Make sure to include it on your list of key criteria).
x. Internal professional networks. (Again, very important for the long term if
staying within the firm or moving outside it to other areas. Trainees who
qualify at the same time tend to stay in contact throughout their professional
careers.)
For more sources of material and links to key sites when researching law firms see
Appendix 3.
Planning the approach
Next it’s time to plan your approach. Much will depend on which year you are in
and which subject you are studying when you begin in earnest but remember you
apply successfully when you are at your strongest and when it is the soonest and
if you do find others around you have done more than you by the time you do
make your efforts, don’t worry. You will be able to get where you want to be in
due course. Everyone’s timings are different and there is always the possibility of
applying to a firm quite straightforwardly anything up to three years after you
complete your course. The following are typical activities for you to consider and
organise once you have compiled the list of firms in which you have an intention
to apply.
a) Check for deadlines and depending on your year it may be deadlines for applying
to Open Days, Insight Weeks or Spring Weeks, summer or winter vac schemes
or training contracts. Make a note of them wherever you are organising your
application activities. Be clear whether the schemes accept applications on a
“rolling basis” or against a fixed deadline and if the former make sure yours is in
early. The main commercial law publications of LawCareers.Net and Student
Chambers publish handy lists of the deadlines of the main firms.
b) Make a note of the application tasks you will need to undertake and use the
Careers Service Resources on Handshake to get some practice. Most of these
you can be sure you’ll be encountering in due course anyway and so you can
practice as early as you want…even before you have collated a target list.
Namely:
• CV that’s been checked for effectiveness. Use the CV and Applications
Guide to put one together if this is your first and then use CareerSet the AI
driven CV analytical tool to improve it. What’s crucial at this stage is that
you’ve checked the specific competencies and strengths identified by the
law firm in its graduate trainee specification and you’ve highlighted those
when describing your experiences. Be careful to check. You might think
they are all the same but despite there being much overlap you’ll be
surprised at the differences. And in describing your experiences which
match these expectations use the vocabulary that’s appropriate…compile
some wordlists for yourself which allow you to describe analytical,
organisational and team working skills in different words..
• Ability tests are now often the first filter applied because of high volumes of
applicants and a threshold mark is used as a pass rate to progtress to the
next stage. Practice helps improve your scores. Use GraduatesFirst to get
better and especially focus on the support material for Watson Glazer tests
which are the main ones used…although others occasionally do feature
with law firms. Again research the firms outline of their assessment
practice to identify which will be using tests and which you should practice
in advance.
• Asynchronous video interviews. Some law firms have used these for a
while now. You are required to record your answers to pre recorded
questions, speaking into your device against a clock counting down the
time you have left available. You can practice these very effectively with
ShortList.Me provided by the Careers Service as a resource.
• Connecting with Cambridge alumni in the firms that you wish to apply to is
easy but pays rich dividends. You can contact them at a College level (ask
the College Development Director or Alumni Relations Manager for a list to
help you with insights), the Careers Service Alumni Careers Connect
platform and finally by using LinkedIn to search for alumni and either
contact them for advice or simply review the career history highlighted in
their profile for you to think of emulating or at least learn from.
• Make sure you have reviewed and noted when a firm will be “present” for a
Cambridge audience either within your own college (usually organised by
the college law society) or at a careers or social event organised in the
Cambridge University Law Society term-card or at an event, fair or
presentation on the Handshake diary from the Careers Service.
c) Meeting recruiters online and in physical settings. Its possible to meet with
graduate recruiters online, at events, presentations and fairs. There is a great
deal of advice available on how to make a good impression on such occasions.
Watch the Carers Service video on “Making the most of Careers Fairs” and
“Questions to ask employers at Careers Fairs”. However, its highly unlikely that
the impression you make in a busy recruitment season will be such to stand out
in the memory of most recruiters or indeed lead them to solicit or look out for your
application. Rather you should use such occasions to find out something that will
be useful for you. If there is a question you need answered don’t be afraid to ask
it. If its important enough to help you, give the context before asking it and the
recruiter will treat it seriously. It’s their job to present the firm as “good listeners”.
In particular and despite any current situation being unusual ask for tangible
examples. “How many visa applications has the firm made for international
trainees in the last three years?”” What percentage of trainees were converted
from previous vac scheme students?”
Pipeline Management
A question all students face answering at some point is “How many firms should I
apply to? It’s an answer that’s made more complicated because:
Making good applications is time consuming given the research and individual
attention required for each and this at a time when academic priorities often need to
take precedence
At the early stages when nevertheless deadlines are pressing the level of knowledge
about firms and identification of career preferences is still forming and taking shape.
Much remains unpredictable and therefore it’s easy to make too few applications.
What’s the actual number of trainees a firm will take above those lucky enough to
have been converted from a vacation scheme into a hire? How well will you do at the
assessment centre stages when if all doesn’t go well it can be too late to add more
firms to your pipeline of applications…especially if by then there is little recruitment
activity in which to engage them.
These questions make it difficult to suggest an actual number as a guideline but
students fall into three categories when making applications. Those who apply to a
handful of firms or less. This approach means more risk but less effort and usually a
great deal more thoroughness. Then there are those that apply to about a dozen. For
most this is the maximum amount of effort that can be spared from academic work
and allows for a certain amount of “false steps” along the way. Finally, there are
those that apply to more than a dozen and in some cases much more. This can be
very demanding of time and as an approach should be discussed with a Careers
Consultant if at all possible. It could be that mistakes are being made that are
leading to rejections and are then being replicated in additional applications to more
wasteful effort. And the subsequent impact on motivation can also be leading to an
underperformance in making applications.
The next question to answer when managing your approach is “What is my Plan B
(or even Plan C) if this round of applications fails?” You will usually need to wait a
year and significantly add to your application material by building your profile before
you can apply again. Possible Plan B options are:
• Try again next year. This means reflecting on what didn’t work well enough
in your applications and assessments and taking conscious steps to rectify
it before next time. Typical areas where improvements might be needed
are in being able to demonstrate commercial awareness adequately,
interview performance especially in front of associates, inadequate amount
of work experience especially in a relevant environment or one where your
transferable skills have been enhanced, or in your motivational answers to
firm’s application form questions where the depth of research is needed to
make your application standout. All the above can be rectified over time
before reapplying.
• Self fund the next stage of the qualification process and apply with more
knowledge/qualifications on your CV
• Switch direction of your applications and work on a non trainee role within
a firm whilst positioning yourself to make an “application from the inside.”
• Change the type of firms to which you are making applications to a
genuine alternative. City law firms are extremely difficult to get into if
you’ve not engaged with them from an early stage on one of their first
year, ambassador or diversity programmes. Explore other options with
firms you may not have known until you started looking again.
• Spend a year or two working in a legalistic environment to build up your
career profile and apply to a firm as a mature candidate. Consult the
“Guide to Alternative Legal Roles” for a wealth of ideas and suggestions
some of which can be pursued as career outcomes in their own right and
others which may act as a stepping stone to your career goal within a law
firm.
Profile Building
Throughout your time as a student, and once you’ve graduated and are in the
process of continuing to make applications, a strong relevant profile for the roles you
are applying for is key. Law firms hope to see elements within the profile of a
successful applicant that match both what all law firms look for in general and also
what each law firm looks for specifically in applicants they wish to progress. Having
an appropriate profile validates and reassures a recruiter that you are a worthwhile
candidate to interview. These elements include:
Academic performance
It’s generally accepted that a strong academic transcript is a prerequisite for
applying to commercial law firms. For Law students this tends to mean a 2:1
in all of your papers, for a non-law student it’s a 2:1 overall performance.
Students can get very concerned if there are occasional deviations from this
consistency. If that’s the case with you, you can do one of several things:
Explain the context that led to their marks being lower than expected. All
application forms have a final box that allows for “Additional Information” and
this is most often used by students to explain their academic marks. (It isn’t
necessary however to explain why you didn’t get a First.) If there were
mitigating circumstances then be open about them so the recruiter will make
an informed decision. You can also provide additional evidence as part of
your application that attests more appropriately to your academic ability and
therefore, in the eyes of the recruiter, intellectual ability. Offering to provide a
reference from your DoS or highlighting your supervision reports and
expected exam marks are both tangible pieces of evidence. You could also
highlight anything you’ve done especially well, for example, in student legal
essay competitions,
Student Societies
Anyone interested in the Law as a career will probably have taken up some of
the many opportunities to engage with societies. Those interested would
naturally look to joining societies which deliver vocational content,
opportunities for networking and skills insights in the form of career
workshops. As well as the main Cambridge University Law Society each
college will have its own Law Society which will get involved with the alumni of
the college who make a point of maintaining contact and support for those
interested in law as a career.
Online presence
There is a positive side to providing recruiters with an attractive online
presence by highlighting a link in your personal details to your LinkedIn
profile. Not only can a recruiter see whether your activities and interest
endorse what you say in your other application material but for those who are
especially active online you can post material that demonstrates your interests
and provides further evidence of analytical and writing ability. Recruiters will
also take a quick look at what individuals or organisations you are following.
But there is also a potentially negative side to your online presence that most
students are aware of when they leave a digital footprint they would prefer
future employers not to see. For the most part recruiters won’t spend time
trying to find damaging material but as you will be joining a regulated
profession once you qualify it’s not unusual for most large firms to check all
the verifiable details that you have provided as part of your application which
occasionally may highlight something. The advice is to use your own best
judgement if you feel an employer will spot something and talk with a Careers
Consultant if you are concerned about information about you that reached a
higher than usual profile.
For those looking to get started with LinkedIn there is a handy Careers
Essential video on “Using LinkedIn” Additionally recruiters will engage directly
with students from which they would like to solicit interest in their vacancies
and events and to do that they will refer to your Handshake profile. Again
there is a short Careers Service video that helps you when Getting Started
with setting up an effective profile.
Extracurricular activities
A final aspect of a student profile that can appeal to a recruiter is the
demonstration of “advocacy” or “representation” either as an individual, part of
a society or in your time away from Cambridge volunteering or helping others.
Although a more or less essential pre requisite for a career at the Bar (and
there are formal opportunities to engage with this) for solicitors also there is
always the sense that either in representing a client’s position or making your
own case for a course of action to be taken by a team you will be advised to
be able to advocate effectively. Indeed, often the group task you will
encounter as part of a legal assessment centre will require an element of
argument or consensus building where you need to be able to demonstrate
assertiveness in presenting your ideas without resorting to defensiveness or
aggression. Beyond that most large law firms will offer you a seat in “litigation”
as part of your qualified work experience or even a role within a Litigation
department upon qualifying if that suits your skills and interests. So, it’s
entirely relevant and desirable in widening your options to take on any
opportunity to represent and argue on behalf of another individual, a group or
a “cause”.
Relevant experience (including work experience)
Most firms would like to see that you have experience of the type of work that
occurs in their type of law firm and that you are aware of the distinctive work
cultures within which they operate. In both these ways the recruiter knows that
you understand what’s important. Ideally you experience their office
environment at some point (which is why the summer and winter vac schemes
they advertise are ideal).but this is not always possible. And at the very least
recruiters like to see evidence of the generic type of work they undertake. So
if you can’t find a vac scheme then making successful unsolicited applications
to law firms local to you or volunteering for a front facing role in a legal charity
are all respected forms of work experience on your CV. Summer vacation
schemes in law firms are for two weeks duration but if you find relevant work
experience for yourself try to make it a little more immersive for say four
weeks at least if not longer.
During “lockdown” many firms opted to provide “virtual” vacation schemes or
internships. These were quite substantive featuring a focussed set of tasks
with outputs which simulated the experience of working online as you would
even when in an office. However total time required to complete was usually
no more than 8 hours. And students did multiple instances of these all of
which showed a commitment to gain insights and practice skills. Law firms
have since said that they prefer these virtual activities to be listed in the
“extracurricular” section on your CV or in a “Legal activities and interests”
section rather than under “Work experience”.
Completing work experience of whatever sort provides you with tangible
evidence on which to base the motivational statements you will make in
applications. What you assert to be the case is no longer simply an assertion.
Rather it’s backed up by evidence of experience. Secondly it makes your
application stand out and be engaging. The recruiter is unlikely to have seen
another application like yours when it includes such details and so is reading it
afresh. Thirdly it gives you the self confidence to speak fluently in an
interview. Its your story, you know the detail and you know the recruiter wants
to hear how you tell it.
Volunteering
As noted already volunteering with a legal charity does impress recruiters. It
shows commitment and a recognition of what they look for in candidate. In
other words once again, they have confidence that you know what you are
doing. There are many appropriate legal charities, but they don’t necessarily
inform the Careers Service about their vacancies. In fact they may have an
open recruitment process where any individual can apply all year round as
they have a constant need for volunteers and not just during university
vacation periods. Quite a few of the most popular and most relevant schemes
have been collated into a Handshake Resource entitled “Volunteering for a
Legal Charity”. It’s located as part of “Graduate Digital Publications” under
the Law section.
Positions of responsibility
Some of the most desirable traits in the profiles of successful applications to
law firms list experience demonstrating “taking initiative, assuming
responsibility, and affecting positive change”. All of these are required when
working together with other students on improving something or developing
something new whereby they all rely on each other to complete an
interdependent set of tasks. For legal careers in particular the types of specific
duties, actions or roles involve attention to detail about a regulatory or formal
process. This equates to either a Treasurer or Secretary role on a committee
because such roles require dealing with formal documents, managing
paperwork, understanding and applying the rules in any given situation,
negotiating, advocating or representing the group in person o in written
submission with senior or other regulatory bodies and so on. The vocabulary
of responsibility is an excellent one to appear in applications. There is a well-
known saying about lawyers working in teams. ”Everyone is playing the same
game but the lawyer has to have read all the rules”.
Legal activities especially skills workshops
Don’t overlook these on a CV or within an application. There are many ways
to join in with workshops that are either run independently or in conjunction
with law firm staff, recruiters as well as trainees and associates. You’ll find
skills workshops advertised in the Careers Service Handshake diary online, in
student society term cards, in events listings by law course providers or third-
party support agencies such as those enhancing diversity and inclusivity. All
recognise the value of workshops and all are there for you to participate in.
Having done so they can appear within your “Legal activities and interests”
section on your CV or application, quoting the names of law firms with which
you were able to interact.
Transferable skills
All the above should have convinced you by now that transferable skills (and
personal strengths) are there to be developed from a wealth of activities
outside of those that are very specifically legally orientated. Check out the
skills and strengths listed in law firm trainee recruitment material and you’ll
find that many will be familiar to you from your University activities. They
normally will include, team working, organising, attention to detail, creativity,
resilience, analytical ability in a word based environment, exercising
responsibility and so on. Ideally talk with recruiters whenever you can to
confirm what attributes they look for in candidates and especially ask what for
them makes a candidate “stand out”. They may well come up with something
personal, specific, surprising and useful for you to match in the way you
present your experiences
Commercial awareness – your hidden asset.
Commercial awareness is a topic that deserves a guideline all to itself. Firstly,
there is no uniform consistency about what any two law firms mean by it and
how they compare. They may mean an understanding and appreciation of the
factors influencing the law firm itself as it operates as a business, or they may
mean an appreciation of what is affecting their clients and the economic arena
as a whole. Secondly commercial awareness isn’t a topic that is taught. It’s for
students very much to work on their own with the resources they find available
(and this includes attending workshops mentioned above. Simply because of
its opacity it’s a topic often offered up by those wishing to generate an
attentive audience. Thirdly it’s an area of knowledge that necessitates
constant updating, refreshing, and current awareness. By itself this generates
too much information to absorb within a busy student schedule so finally there
has to be an element of selectivity in where to apply your attention. For now
the best way to prepare along the lines of connecting with what your law firm
of choice needs is to identify the following resources as valuable:
Press releases and client briefings on law firm websites together with
following anyone within the firm who is “blogging” or “tweeting” will identify
what’s of commercial relevance.
Using your free access to the major national newspapers especially the FT or
following the commercial topics on Lawyer2B will keep you up to date with
some more independent content
Following specific commercial awareness series hosted by information
suppliers such as Law Careers.Net or Bright Network will be a way of
someone else selecting the topics for you.
Combining all this source material will let you answer the oft asked question on
applications or assessments centres of “What do you think will most affect our
firm/our clients in the near future and with what outcomes?” Remember above all
there may be no right or wrong answer to such questions and its unlikely that your
information will be better than those asking you but what is hoped for is that you
have some interesting insights that you base on interpreting tangible information
which you deliver in an obviously engaging way. Can you hold an interesting
conversation about a commercial issue which you might be expected to do with a
client or other team member. Can you spot all the stakeholders involved in
commercial stories (more than you think), do you quickly form views on risks and
opportunities and strengths and weaknesses of those involved, and can you
structure an argument or interpretation which stands up but which can also be
modified as additional information and detail becomes known.
Positioning yourself in advance with a firm.
There are a number of ways in which law firms begin early to connect with students
which subsequently can enhance either the chances of a successful application by a
student or which accelerate them through the process. These include:
College Law Society officer. Some law firms engage proactively with colleges
in developing their profile and is so doing encouraging applications. Whilst
targeting of Cambridge as a whole has fallen away somewhat amongst the
magic circle firms activities at a college level especially when delivered via
Cambridge alumni have continued. If you are the individual in the college
liaising with the recruiters within a law firm you are in a unique position to
impress and to access advice and get to understand the firm well. This
inevitably aids with an application.
Law firm Ambassador. For the most part colleges prohibit students taking on
term time roles as Ambassadors for law firms. Such roles often require
promoting or publicising opportunities at the firm, providing students with an
opportunity to ask questions and to feed back to the firm what successful
initiatives are being undertaken by their competitors. Cambridge students do
seem to manage to take on these roles and to follow their college guidelines.
The benefits of being in a liaison role with recruiters are the same as outlined
above.
Diversity scheme participant. Law firms are in the forefront of those in the City
that actively reach out to groups of students under-represented in their
applicant pool and therefore trainees. They will either support their own
firmwide specific scheme or more likely they will work with one or more of the
following organisations. If you meet the criteria to participate with one of these
organisations you will receive opportunities to engage with the firm and
thereby enhance your research and be looked upon favourably as an
applicant. They include:
Bright Network who in particular host an annual virtual internship programme
for firms
Aspiring Solicitors
SEO London
Rare Recruitment
Research each diversity support organisation to see which schemes and events they
have on offer and which law firms they work with as their sponsors. Groups of
students they offer programmes to include those based on ethnicity, disability, LGBT,
neurodiversity, and social disadvantage. Recognising the value of a firms Corporate
Social Responsibility programme (CSR) or sponsored pro bono activities. Nearly all
law firms will provide their staff with time and funding to pursue individual or firm
centred support for charities and other causes. They will be very likely to identify
these on their website. Whilst it shouldn’t come top of your list of reasons for
applying to the firm it nevertheless is worth acknowledging in your application by
saying how much such general and particular endeavours resonate with your own
personal values.
Appendices
Appendix:1 Applying successfully to public interest led law firms
Whilst it is often easy to list the main and many commercial and corporate law firms
in which to be interested it can be much more difficult to locate those involved in civil
liberties and human rights. Here is a starting list sourced from the Chambers &
Partners UK Directory.
Bhatt Murphy, Bindmans, Birnberg Pierce, Deighton Pierce Glynn, Hickman & Rose,
Hodge Jones & Allen, Howard Kennedy, Irvine Mitchell, Irvine Thanvi, Leigh Day,
Simpson Millar, Simons Muirhead Burton, and Wilson Solicitors.
These firms tend to be much smaller than the larger ones encountered in the
corporate sector and because they often are publicly funded for much of the work
they do they can be subject to more financial constraints than those servicing large
organisations. Fortunately for them there is a considerably large number of would be
applicants to work with them who are students keen to bring together their skills as a
lawyer with their motivational interests and values in using the law to enhance
access to justice for those less advantaged in society and in other ways develop
public good.
When making effective applications however there will be differences you encounter,
namely:
i. There will be a more obvious need to demonstrate your motivational
values around supporting the sort of groups or individuals you’ll encounter
as potential future clients. This could be by involving yourself in relevant
societies (especially the Pro Bono Project) or in volunteering over a loner
period for a legal charity or a cause close to your heart.
ii. These firms typically don’t sponsor the conversion or vocational stages of
a graduates qualifying process. This means two things. Firstly students will
have to access other sorts of funding or finance their continuing studies in
others ways (perhaps studying part time for example) and secondly it may
take longer to progress given the need to manage funding.
iii. Significant periods as a paralegal for such firms is the norm for building a
profile and making successful applications. These firms need you to be
experienced and proficient at a much earlier stage when being exposed to
clients. There won’t be large teams around you conducting transactional
work according to a clearly established framework. You will have more
responsibility from the star with your own caseload. So this means
developing your level of experience in roles before you fully qualify,
enhancing your skills and deepening your knowledge. The first step after
you have completed a vocational qualification such as the LPC or SQE I
will be to paralegal.
iv. In building your knowledge it is much more likely you’ll consider
completing a relevant LLM at some point which has the additional benefits
of giving you more time to deliver support to pro bono or volunteering
activities whilst being a student. You can easily locate appropriate course
using the Prospects website where you can also specify “location” as a
search field. There are many on offer.so compare and contrast according
to your individual circumstances but the one offered by University College,
London would be a good benchmark. Either consult LinkedIn using the
course name to search for Cambridge alumni to speak to or ask the
admission team of the University you are thinking of applying to find out
more about the course.
v. The challenging nature of the work and the pressures involved can be
more than in a corporate environment. Recruiters need to know you’ve
understood this. So whilst you paralegal or in talking with practitioners who
are alumni you can assure yourself and the firm that you are clear and well
motivated to rise to the demands.
vi. It is especially important to keep up to date and well informed about issues
surrounding access to justice and government policies on immigration,
asylum, housing, menial health, prison reform and much, much more.
Signing up to the most relevant law blogs, following lawyers on Twitter and
reading the news in the broadsheet press are all especially important to
do, to demonstrate and to quote from in the application process.
Appendix 2. The Top Five Tips Checklist
1. Make sure you have a coherent target list of firms on your list. What criteria
did you use?
2. Contact alumni in the firms wherever possible for insights to quote during
interviews
3. Make sure your online profile is attractive to law firm values and aspirations
for its trainees
4. Interact with recruiters from the firm at skills events, fairs, online chats,
webinars, college and law society networking. Use an approach engaging with
a diversity programme or a diversity third party with which they collaborate.
5. Understand what current commercial issues will affect the firm and its clients
and in what way. Be able to articulate why this context has led you to chose
the firm as one to apply to.
Appendix 3 Links to other key research resources
Much information exists online produced by the publishers of commercial graduate
law material on this topic. Below are a few more sources to consult which all have
useful additional ideas to consider.
How to research a law firm properly – Student Chambers (This is a useful link for
explaining the usefulness of the main Chambers and Partners UK Directory as well
as the benefits of the student version. It also provides a handy link to more reviews
based on trainee feedback, a picture of salaries and retention rates for newly
qualified, and which firms offer overseas opportunities.
How to research law firms – The Student Lawyer. This link has a focus on using
Google alerts to follow a firm and using social media.
How to research law firms – The Lawyer. This list of ips focusses on current events
and differentiating firms.
17 websites you can use to research law firms. – Shearman & Sterling. This site is
different being developed by a law firm itself giving you their view on which other
sites are best to use. A great round up.
