Law fair freebies: the gifts that (sometimes) keep giving for the switched-on student

Many law firms put a lot of effort into the free gifts that they hand out at university law fairs, so what is the thinking behind this marketing ploy beyond just handing out free stuff? LC.N’s Matt Broadbent, veteran of the legal scene, explains law firm recruitment marketing so you can approach your next networking event armed with some insight – and looks at which firms did it well (or not) this year.

This year at LawCareers.Net we seem to have left our round up of the freebies that law firms have been doling out at fairs and other events rather late. As so often happens, other publishers have followed where we have led in previous years, so if you are alert you may well have some inkling of what is out there already. In an effort to breathe new life into an increasingly hackneyed format, this writer has decided to muse on the whole concept of how firms try to get you to remember them and offer a few thoughts on the flipside, how to get them to remember you. But fret not, we'll still tell you whose stuff we think is great and whose is rubbish!

So why have freebies? Well, it has partly become the 'done thing' and I expect many firms worry that either they will look mean or more likely that their name won't crop up when candidates come to audit their pile of loot. And this highlights the core motive - to give the people they have met (or who have silently swooped past their stand like a kleptomaniacal feral Brighton seagull) some prompt to remember them by. Once these items have been planted, cuckoo like, in the candidate's nest, it should ideally maintain the firm in the individual's consciousness and culminate in a fantastic application made at the expense of the other firms circling around. I don't think anyone really believes (or wants to believe) the process to be quite so linear, but the basic point is valid. This means a giveaway needs to possess one or more of the following qualities:

• Novelty - if everyone has it, why will we get remembered?
• Practicality - if it is useful, people might hang onto it and use it day to day.
• Aptness - does it say anything about the firm or what it does?
• Stickability - will it be around doing its job months later?
• Luxury - does the recipient feel treated (or alternatively is this cheap tat?).

Recruiters thumbing through the various catalogues of brandable items (really - look!) are presented with a conundrum on how to prioritise the facets above. It is not an easy task, as the budget will not be limitless (though there are a few firms one might accuse of financial doping in this regard). The other decision is whether you aim to have saturation or exclusivity with your gift? Many of the grander items are only brought out from the recesses of the exhibition stand once the candidate has shown their promise (or at least willing) by engaging with the recruiter face to face. Little reaching hands are not welcome. The other approach is, “We printed 10,000 of them so we'd better give them out quick” (even to the weird middle-aged men you see roaming around some fairs, filling up sacks of bounty and showing absolutely no interest in a legal career).

The other thing that firms hand out is, of course, their brochure or factsheet. This is obviously more important than the freebie item and should be shown some reverence. It does actually contain the information you are supposed to be looking for at a fair or talk. Of course you have access to some excellent brochures right here on LawCareers.Net, in our brochure library.

So to the items. As ever, we asked firms to send in their freebies and we harvested a fair few from the fares we attended. I apologise in advance to anyone who does not feature when they think they should. It either means the item was lost, nabbed by an enterprising colleague or possibly so awful we decided not to mention it. The assessment process was informal, highly charged and occasionally bitter. The LawCareers.Net team lurched between alliances over a number of factors; is stationery good/boring? Are novelty items great/stupid? And on it went. The marks given were often delivered out of spite and nobody thinks the right firm won. But that's OK, as I'm not going to tell you who 'won' because, well I'm just not going to. Make your own minds up based on our descriptions and stunning photos.

We looked properly at 22 items and your author found a few more (five) knocking around his house/bag/desk which have been added in. The broad categories were stationery, pens, sweets, mugs/cups, tech and what I will call loosely 'stuff'. Many firms offered multiple items across these categories, so two firms with one similar item may have got a better or worse rap based on the backup item.

So, the first group to cover was those providing mini power banks (or 'charge boxes', which has become the office term as we couldn't remember the proper name without looking it up), which have taken over from memory sticks as the default tech solution. Clearly a useful and practical call, these were generally considered popular. Their ubiquity led to issues of finishing, capacity and branding being considered, but the general consensus is that these things are worth having. But have we already reached peak power bank? With Ashurst (+ jelly beans), Irwin Mitchell (+ post-its), Shoosmiths and Norton Rose Fulbright (+ highlighter) all offering fundamentally the same thing, will anyone be short of power again? And thankfully there will be no falling at the last as both Skadden & DLA Piper provided connector wires that will attach the chargers to a device (especially an iPhone). The final tech favourite this year is the Bluetooth speaker that Walker Morris and Travers Smith offered. Inevitably, sound quality wasn't exactly Bang & Olufsen level, but one of these certainly got the LC.N team through a few nights on the road. All of these might pass a test for practicality and stickability, but the lack of novelty makes one wonder how long they will remain in the recipients' thoughts and affections.

Mayer Brown also sneaks into the tech category with some so-so headphones, but here acts as a bridge into the stationery (notebook) and confectionary - 'Mayer Brownies'. The fact that the pun is better than the chocolate is worrying, but hey, we noticed! Other notable notebooks include Moleskin-style efforts from Sidley Austin (in black) and Addleshaw Goddard (in lurid colours). Taylor Wessing is also in the “looks great, tastes maybe less so” with its cake lollies. Probably a bigger criticism is that there is nothing to keep. Slaughter and May also crosses genres with its trademark Jelly Babies, a classy diary and a really posh pen. Inevitably, this package scored well, but we have to infer that a fair few quid was chucked at the issue.

Back on the stationery beat, Mills & Reeve was handing out some nice sticky tabs, perfect for textbook marking, while Morgan Lewis's 'Open Sesame' sticker cube had the office supplies fans cooing. Shearman & Sterling went for the luxury angle with a flash looking mini document/briefcase/Filofax-type thing. It felt a bit US 80s movie, but one member of the team snapped it up with aplomb so the appeal is there. There were other pens around - but facing down the Slaughter and May exemplar was tough. Debevoise's 'slightly scratchy' number was more than compensated for by their excellent big mug which we've already shown off via Twitter, while a Holman Fenwick sealable, insulated coffee mug was also snapped up.

What remains is a mixed bag, though some of the better efforts at matching the freebie with some aspect of the firm's proposition can be seen. Your author is more than delighted with his blue Osborne Clarke sunglasses (summer vac scheme, see?) whose branding is unobtrusive enough for general wear, while their neighbour's (Burges Salmon) stress fish, in salmon pink of course, reinforces a strong brand without really being something you want. Bristows' test tube of Smarties looks great on its stand and underlies tech credentials, while US bar school BARBRI's Statue of Liberty visor leaves no doubt over its transatlantic focus.

Two firms approach the concept of providing an all-round service in very different ways. TLT has a branded Google Cardboard viewer that turns one's phone into a 3D viewer (if you can get the app to behave). This proved to be the real Marmite item with most of the team loving it, but with one major refusnic. Your author was actually more charmed by Sintons' multi-spork (perhaps it could even be described as a runcible spoon) that has already saved the day at lunchtime and will be on my desk for years to come! Also sticking around are a bottle opener and phone stand from Squire Patton Boggs and a phone cushion/screen cleaner form Orrick. We're afraid there were two big orphans - the puzzle box from Ashurst that was propelled binwards and the rather poignant Thomas Eggar giveaway - a selfie stick without a self, following the firm's merger with Irwin Mitchell. There is also an honourable mention to Ashfords, which is donating to charity rather than dishing out stuff. Noble, but again, lacking the means to remind someone of the firm!

Of course the real secret of the transaction is to get the firm to remember you. Maybe you could engage with it about what the freebie says about the firm. But tread carefully - insult a freebie at your own risk! (The author will not be available for comment until after Christmas, by which point he hopes any perceived insults will have faded away).