Second-year law? Final-year non-law? Act now or miss your best chance

Second-year law students*- you have a chance to outstrip the competition. But it’s going to be harder than you think. CityLawLIVE can help.

First things first, this article is pointed squarely at penultimate year law and final year non-law undergraduates. These two groups find themselves in the ‘sweet spot’ of the law recruitment process. Law firms are focusing overwhelmingly on YOU as the targets of their recruitment initiatives, which means that YOU have a disproportionate level of opportunity to launch your career in law over the next 10 - and particularly the next four - months. That’s the good news; the bad news is that after this, your chances materially diminish. This article is a call to action.

Here’s a reminder of how things work:

• Point 1 – A very significant proportion of training contracts, particularly those at large commercial firms in the City and the big regional centres, are allocated two years in advance. This means they will be selecting for 2017 in late Summer 2015.
• Point 2 – Lots of these firms have formal work experience programmes they use to identify the trainees they select in summer. The selection happens in January/February 2015 (sometimes even earlier for non-lawyers) for programmes taking place in early Summer 2015.
• Point 3 – Between now and early 2015, you need to do all the leg work needed to be a truly excellent candidate, as it is only the truly excellent (ie, meticulously prepared) candidates who will get the job. When you apply to firms, you need to look like you’re well on the way to being the finished article.

“Help,” I hear you say. “What do I need to do? Where is the information I need?” Well, it’s all there on www.LawCareers.Net, but one thing we can’t offer is face-to-face interaction with law firms. Or can we?

CityLawLIVE is a gold-plated opportunity to really get under the skin of top City law firms. It is an exclusive, day-long conference at which a preselected group of 200 candidates hear all about becoming a City lawyer, including via talks, panels and two small-group interactive presentations given by the firms. All of this is available to successful applicants for the small fee of £29 (subsidised by our generous sponsor firms and including a delicious lunch and all the biscuits you can eat), who will experience a day that is designed to really lift the lid on what law in the City actually entails. Applications close on 7 November so NOW is the time to give yourself the edge and grab yourself a place on this fantastic event.

(*And final year non-lawyers).