Chambers Student Guide: The Student's Guide to Law Firms and the Bar

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Lawyers, bankers, doctors and even priests all know how effective alcohol can be when it comes to greasing the wheels. There are also likely to be mini-assessment tasks and projects designed to test your ability to present, argue and work as a team. I remember doing some very serious assignments – although looking back I probably thought they were more serious than they actually were.

Application and selection criteria - Chambers Student Guide

After all, you marketed yourself well on paper when you sent your application form in; now you are just doing it in person. That doesn’t work for us: we don’t have the number of spaces to just say 'oh, we'll just take a punt on those five'. Try and build your CV up in other ways – say with voluntary work or other legal or commercial experience – and then have another stab at vac scheme applications. Just remember, “seeking out work and raising your profile without pestering people is a fine line to walk. It’ll help you figure out what sort of work might suit you best and will enable you to ask intelligent questions of your supervisors.For smaller firms with a more concentrated or specialist array of practice areas, take note of this training principal's advice: "Given the limited spaces that we have, we want to feel that candidates have chosen us for a particular reason. Lawyers tell us how they spend their days and share some of the trends shaping the work in their area of practice.

A to Z Firm List - Chambers Student Guide

Intelligent questions pave the road to success, so lay as many down as possible without becoming annoying.Obviously, you’re being assessed on how good a lawyer you’re likely to be, but don’t underestimate how far having a normal, attractive personality will get you. The strongest applicants always manage to secure a clutch of offers, but don’t despair if you can’t secure a place – it doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll never get a training contract. Elsewhere, panhandling for work and knocking on doors to find assignments will be the name of the game, which can be a blessing or a curse, depending on how you look at it, as this trainee told us: “It's good because it forces you to engage with people throughout the firm who you might not have otherwise met, but if you're not used to knocking on doors it can be very difficult. For detailed information on each firm’s vacation scheme, read the ' Get Hired' features alongside each True Picture . This recruitment lark is a delicate dance, so attune yourself to the characters around you and follow their lead.