Five steps for training contract success this coming spring

Spring will soon be in the UK air (where it will hopefully prove preferable to the current main ingredients of smog and racism) and for students and graduates alike, it’s time for attention to be turned toward the next phase of the legal recruitment cycle. Here are five key pointers for the next couple of months.

Pursue work experience – particularly a vacation scheme/work placement

Although the biggest annual deadline to apply for places on firms’ vacation schemes passed on 31 January, there are still many summer vacation scheme places up for grabs at a variety of firms over the next several weeks. A large group of firms have set deadlines for 28 February, while even more are leaving it until 31 March to close applications for their schemes – check LCN’s dedicated work placement deadlines page for full details. And even if this summer’s schemes have come a bit early for you, you can still begin to find out about those firms which have already listed deadlines for places on their winter 2017 placements.

Research firms ahead of applying for a training contract

Some firms work to an earlier schedule, but the dates on which most set their training contract deadlines are 30 June and 31 July – see the training contract application deadlines page for full details. This means that there is still plenty of time to prepare ahead of applying – and the sooner you start, the better. Thorough research is essential before making any applications; not only do you owe it to yourself to make an informed decision about the best path for your career, you won’t be able to secure a training contract without tailoring your application to the individual firm in question. This feature provides guidance on how to effectively research law firms, while this article also has advice on each stage of the training contract recruitment process. And good research is more than just reading – the best way to find out if you can see yourself working somewhere for years to come is to gain some first-hand exposure. To that end, keep an eye out for firms’ open days, talks and campus visits, as well as the range of events where you can meet and talk to lawyers through the LCN Diary.

Take part in extracurricular activities and engage with your student law society

Obviously, the main reason to participate in extracurricular activities should be that you enjoy them and find them fulfilling, but from a career perspective, commitments outside of studying and work can also boost your CV and help to convey three important things to recruiters – that you are motivated, have developed key life skills and are a well-rounded candidate. You might be involved in music, drama, sports, debating, politics, the university newspaper or a thousand other things, but the same principles apply: first, whatever you do should be fun and/or enrich your daily life; and second, you can use it to both demonstrate skills which are relevant to being a lawyer (and have something interesting to talk about in a future interview).

Student law societies offer even more of the best of both worlds in that they combine fun socials with interesting events which can also benefit your CV and list of contacts, so you should definitely get involved in yours. See this article for a more comprehensive look at what your student law society can offer you. 

Study hard

As important as they are, no extracurricular commitment should come at the expense of the main business of studying. Apologies if this seems to conflict with the passages above – there is sadly no getting around the fact that successfully completing the journey to becoming a solicitor entails a lot of demands on your time. Nonetheless, it is essential to devote enough of that time to ensuring that your module marks and overall degree classification are as good as they can be – if it’s a choice between that and an extracurricular commitment, always drop the commitment in favour of the studying. You need to ensure that your grades meet your chosen firm(s) entry requirements, as the competition for training contracts means that those whose grades fall slightly short are usually placed at a severe disadvantage. And remember, studying hard later on a master’s in an attempt to make up for a bad undergraduate classification just won’t work.

Look out for developments on the planned solicitors’ ‘super exam’

Over the next couple of years, the Solicitors Regulation Authority is expected to introduce a new Solicitors Qualifying Examination which all aspiring solicitors would have to pass in order to qualify. Clearly, if you’re still at a fairly early point in your studies, this could have a big impact on your route to qualification as a solicitor, so do keep an eye out for news confirming this over the coming months.