With the start of the new academic year coming up, no doubt your anticipation is intensifying and a sense of responsibility mounting. This final year will not merely test your legal knowledge; it's one of the key last steps before a career in law. This is a period marked by intense academic rigour, critical decision making regarding specialisations and much career planning. Let's delve into what this crucial year entails

I’m a first-year student – how important is legal work experience and do you have advice for securing some?

Eversheds Sutherland’s James Wilson explains the three routes to a training contract at the firm and the practicalities of strengths-based applications.

With securing a training contract, diversity and inclusion, and workload topping the list of aspiring lawyers’ worries, in this Feature we’ve grouped together the top questions to come out of the survey, and our advice to alleviate your concerns and help you on your way to your dream career in law.

Earlier this year we surveyed LawCareers.Net users to better understand their concerns about entering the legal profession. With securing a training contract, diversity and inclusion, and workload topping the list of aspiring lawyers’ worries, in this Feature we’ve grouped together the top questions to come out of the survey, and our advice to alleviate your concerns and help you on your way to your dream career in law.

A healthy balance of work and socialising during your first year of university will have long-term benefits that you’ll appreciate later down the line. On the other side of that, an important part of going to university is having a great time, meeting new friends and making the most of the variety of opportunities that being a student has to offer. Achieving that balance between having fun and paying attention to your academics should be the aim.

Keely Nelson, talent engagement adviser at BLM, discusses what you might expect to do during your time on a vacation scheme, top tips for how to secure a place, and ways to stand out during a scheme.

Following the success of CityLawLIVE's first full-day conference, applications are now being accepted for the next event, to be held on Saturday 8 December in central London.

As reported in Legal Week, Norton Rose has joined forces with Sponsors for Educational Opportunity in order to encourage more black and ethnic minority individuals to sign up for its summer vacation scheme.

US firm Latham & Watkins and global giant Baker & McKenzie have been rated by students as the two best vacation scheme providers in the Legal Week Intelligence 2011 Law Student Report.

Resourcing manager Rob Brown offers insight into Blake Morgan's training contract recruitment process, including the most common way candidates let themselves down in applications, the key skills aspiring lawyers need and how non-legal work experience can improve an application. 

Another week closer to my vacation scheme, another week full of preparation! As I left off in my previous post, I had a couple of areas that I was hoping to gain insight into throughout the week – primarily, how I'm going to be assessed and how to best come across on a virtual scheme.

George McNeilly outlines the importance of DWF’s early careers programmes, the skills the firm wants to see from candidates in their applications, the assessment centre structure and more!

I haven’t been offered a training contract yet – is it too risky to start the LPC without having secured a training contract first?

In this post, I will share what type of work experience is available for first years (and also non-law students). I hope this is helpful for you to gain some experience during the summer holidays! 

The LawCareersNetLIVE conferences, sponsored by Nottingham Law School, are a golden opportunity for students to network with international, City and national firms; gain insights into firms’ key practice areas; and benefit from expert application advice direct from recruiters.

The LawCareersNetLIVE conferences, sponsored by The University of Law, are a golden opportunity for students to network with international, City and national firms; gain insights into firms’ key practice areas; and benefit from expert application advice direct from recruiters.

The LawCareersNetLIVE conferences, sponsored by The University of Law, are an unmissable opportunity for students and graduates to:

• get exclusive access to international, City and national law firms; 
• gain insights into firms’ key practice areas; and
• benefit from expert application advice direct from recruiters.

Rachael Driscoll, legal talent coordinator at Cooley, discusses the highlights of her role, common mistakes that come up in applications, the value of taking a pause when writing applications before sending them and the importance of being yourself.