I must admit that I am taking a temporary break from writing any applications for training contracts. However, I went to a workshop at the Holborn site at BPP last week, which I feel I really benefited from. Here are some points I gleaned about writing the application form, which I’ve already had quite a bit of practice in, before pressing this dreaded button close to July 31st!

The vast majority of this blogpost is based exactly on the contents of the presentation given by Eric Migliaccio from the BPP Careers Service at Holborn. The substantive points are reproduced with Eric’s permission, however please be aware that this presentation does not offer any official advice by BPP University College to BPP students, nor any other students who read this information. However, it is reproduced with the aim of being of genuine help to all candidates submitting training contracts to law firms, and candidates should use any of the information at their own risk. The presentation formed the basis of an interactive discussion, and some of the points discussed are not covered in this blogpost. Finally, please be aware that this blogpost is not endorsed by any of the parties mentioned, including BPP or any of the named law firms.

 

Before writing the form, we were advised to research and identify appropriate target firms accurately. This could be through a number of sources, like the Careers Service of your local law school, or through well-known established websites such as the Lex100, The Lawyer, or AllAboutLaw (all extremely highly recommended), and individual firms. The firm’s website and promotional material can be a good source information; however, it is important to research law firms further than their website. A special mention here is made to Lawyer2B, which offers exceptional breadth and depth of information, including law firms and the Bar, “law in practice“, careers, and a graduate trainee recruitment guide.

Furthermore, we were advised to formulate answers in our head to the following questions:

What does a lawyer actually do?

Why am I interested in becoming a lawyer?

How do my strengths, skills ane experiences march the requirements of the firm?

What evidence do I have to demonstrate that I have the necessary strengths or skills?

How can I convey that I am well rounded? Consider academic societieis, work experience, sporting activities, societies and travel.

For example, a question might be:

Please give an example of a time when you have studied or worked in circumstances that (for you) were unusual, or different.

The corresponding market criteria might suggest that – for a good answer – the candidate demonstrates adaptability, strong sense of attitudes e.g. through developing support networks, resilience, and confidence in new surroundings.

We then discussed other common questions.

Firms tend to have a very clear idea what sort of people are likely to succeed in their training contracts, to succeed ultimately in their organisation. Common competencies include:

• Team
• Communication
• Motivation
• Time management
• Commercial thinking

When preparing examples of competencies, it’s a good idea to have have a variety of examples ready from all areas of your life; structure your thoughts and responses. It’s really important to be prepared to substantiate your points.

Example: Give an example of a situation in which you worked with a group of people to achieve a specific objective. What did you learn from this experience?

Teamwork skills competency-based question

Demonstrate ability to work with others towards achieving a goal

Skills – co-operation, initiative, ability to motivate/encouraging others, achievement-focused and ability to compensate

Examples: university clubs and societies, sports teams, voluntary work, employment-related, organising an event, leadership/captaincy/student representative role.

Why do you wish to become a commercial solicitor?

Interest in commerce/business/finance: Understanding of business issues gained through various contexts, such as part-time work, university programme, or electives at law school; time spent in industry.

Helping businesses to achieve commercial objectives; client contact; matches own skills/strengths (that suit the environment), high pressure corporate environment.

Why do you wish to work at this law firm?

Give specific reasons – avoid being too value/general.

Research the firm: look at the firm’s website, brochure and the press: http://www.rollonfriday.com/, http://thelawyer.com/, http://www.lex100.com, http://chambersandpartners.com/,  and http://www.legal500.com. It’s particularly useful to highlight the vision of the firm (very often a global vision in an international market), the firms’ values and other aspects of firm’s wider organisational culture.  Firms are not expecting you to know everything about law and business, but these websites will help you identify how everything fits together, such as what deals are current and topical. What deals are the firm currently working on? What could you expect from your role as a trainee? Keep an eye out for recent news of relevance – not just about the firm you’re applying to, but also their clients, main competitors and the areas in which they work. Very often firms are too small as to guarantee you a particular seat such as intellectual property; you will therefore have to be flexible about which practice seats you’re assigned to in due course.

Often interesting press releases appear on Twitter (often re-tweeted by LegalAware). Professional legal services firms are making increasing use of Twitter in marketing themselves as law firms and in marketing their actual work especially, and lawyers are increasingly learning to use networks such as LinkedIn wisely (see, for example, the post by @vicmoffatt here). Some firms are on LinkedIn. Bear in mind the graduate recruitment websites can be different to the main corporate websites, and both are worth a careful look.

Also, representations of the firms often appear as channels on YouTube. For example, LegalAware has its own LegalAware YouTube channel which it is hoping to populate with videos focused on interesting business/legal topics, such as cloud computing, or core competencies, such as teamwork.

Use contacts/speakers at presentations to back up what you say

Aspects to consider: practice areas, recent deals, cases or clients, training programme, the firm’s culture

Other common questions include: academic awards and prizes, positions of responsibility, important achievement, a difficult challenge, or solving a problem with a creative solution. You could use a technique such as ‘STAR’, Situation 10%, Task 10%, Action 70%, Result 10%. Other common questions include: persuading people of your viewpoint, commercial issue, work experience, additional information, extra-curricular activities, “how did you hear about us?” The Linklaters Graduate Recruitment Team give a very helpful account of the use of STAR in their assessment process here.

 

General tips

• Telephone the firm’s recruitment department, if you have any questions
• Double-check for any spelling/grammatical errors
• Avoid Americanisms, e.g. “organize”
• Remember your answers can be under the limits
• Be specific – avoid vague/general statements
• Avoid cutting and pasting
• Answer the question – are there two parts to it?
• Don’t try to be funny – avoid exclamation marks
• Avoid casual language, abbreviations and e-mail/text talk
• Focus on skills/qualities demonstrated
• Provide all information requested – don’t miss anything out
• Check that all your sentences read well
• Remember to keep a copy of the final version

Tips for success

• Decide on your criteria, and make a list of firms that you are applying to
• Find out their deadlines and recruitment process
• Start your research
• Draft your applications one-by-one
• Proofread your application – at least twice
• Use the Careers Service
• Submit well before the deadline

Possible useful words

• The firm: leading, foremost, strong reputation, global, friendly, approachable, quality of work, high-profile clients
• Achievements: initiated, implemented, succeeded, overcame, developed, devised, launched, established, accomplished, proposed, coordinated, attained
• Strengths: committed, motivated, initiative, attention-to-detail, proactive, commercially aware
• Skills: communication, time management, prioritisation, organisation, interpersonal, analytical, teamworking

 

Best of luck from all of us!