Hi everyone!
In case you have not read the “About” section of my website yet, I initially embarked on a career at the Bar and then decided to switch to the solicitor route.
One of the hardest parts about switching was not knowing where to start looking when deciding to apply for training contracts.
As a starting point, I would like to direct you to my blogpost here, to read about the routes to qualification as a solicitor. Reading this is important because from September 2021, there is a new system coming into play called the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (“SQE”). This is the new single, rigorous assessment for all aspiring solicitors. With the new SQE system, a formal traineeship like a training contract will become just one of several ways of gaining the requisite two years of qualifying legal work experience, along with being a paralegal or working in a law clinic.
However, this post aims to explain where to start if you are looking to land a training contract.
What is a training contract?
It is basically two years of an apprenticeship. During a training contract, it is normal to spend six months in four departments. Each six-month divide is called a “seat”.
Some firms may require you to do a seat in a particular department, whereas others may ask you which departments you are interested in and try to accommodate your needs. It’s however important to note that despite putting down your preferences, you may not always get the seat you want. It usually depends on trainee seniority and whether there is a business need in a department.
During each seat, you will be allocated a supervisor. A supervisor is typically someone mid-level or senior associate level. They are responsible for looking after you, answering your questions and giving you tasks. If you’re working from the office, you will usually share an office with your supervisor.
One of the really cool things about a training contract is sometimes you can be seconded to an overseas office of your firm or one of your firm’s clients. A secondment is a period of time where you work as if you were part of that office or client and learn about how they operate.
Where do you start when applying for a training contract?
Step 1: Ask yourself whether you are actually eligible to apply for a training contract
This depends on:
(a) Whether you have a law degree from the UK; or
(b) Whether you have a non-law degree.
If you have a law degree from the UK
Students doing their law degrees from the UK are eligible and can apply from their penultimate year onwards (i.e. second years onwards). This is because firms in the UK tend to hire two or three years in advance.
Some smaller firms may recruit a year in advance, meaning people can only become eligible to apply in their final year.
If you have a non-law degree
It’s pretty common in the UK for people to study a subject like history, english, chemistry or even music in their undergraduate degree, and then decide to a pursue a career in law. If they decide to go down this route, usually all they would need to do is apply to study for the Graduate Diploma in Law (the GDL). This is a one-year fast track conversion to law course. Students who have done or are doing the GDL are eligible to apply for a training contract.
Although the new SQE route eliminates the need to do the GDL, do not worry too much if you have decided to do the GDL as there is going to be a long transition period and you can still qualify as a solicitor with the GDL or SQE.
If you are an international student, I would recommend you read this article – it is a complete guide to training contracts for international students.
Step 2: Ask yourself what type of firm you should apply to
It’s important to understand the differences between the types of law firms when you are applying for training contracts. There are a number of factors to consider including:
clients;
location;
practice areas;
partnership opportunities;
quality of training;
salaries;
size of the firm; and
working culture.
According to the Guardian, most UK firms fit into the following few broad categories: high street (smaller firms serving a predominantly private client base in a local area); regional/national (larger multi-office firms serving a city or counties, often with a London office); City (based in the City of London, with a strong brand and international presence, often with a steer towards corporate work); and niche firms (which focus on a specialist area of law, for example, intellectual property).
Chambers Student goes deeper to explain the different types of firms, and divides them into more detailed categories. I would recommend reading the entire article here to get full picture.
I’d also like two recommend two more sources when deciding which firms to apply to:
· The Corporate Law Academy - they share what type of considerations you should keep in mind when deciding which firm to apply to; and
· Prospects.
Step 3: Research and deadlines
The next step is to research the firm inside out. Visit the firm’s website, speak to past and present trainee solicitors, take a look at news stories featuring them and see what they do on social media. Understand what type of work they do and what type of cases/deals they are involved in.
Once you have made a decision that you want to apply to that particular firm, you need to go and look at what their application procedure for a training contract entails. This is extremely important because each firm’s application procedure varies. For example, some firms require you to do a “Watson Glaser” test (for anyone who doesn’t know, this is an aptitude test which firms require you to pass before you can apply to them).
Once you understand the procedure for the application, make a note of the training contract deadline – again, each firm’s deadline varies. I would recommend making a table in Microsoft word/excel with all the above details. So one column with firm name, one column with application procedure and one column with training contract deadline.
Step 4: Prepare yourself for every stage of your application cycle
After going through your preferred choice of firm’s website and making a note of what its application process entails, you need to prepare for each stage of the application.
To do this, the best resource I can recommend is The Corporate Law Academy.
Through browsing through their website, I learnt:
what the application stage to the firms of my choice consisted of, and I came across various tips from other members who were either applying to those firms or had applied in the past;
about the Watson Glaser test and found resources to practise (click here for more details);
how to prepare for the training contract Assessment Centre (AC). For example, as part of my AC, I knew I would have a Mergers and Acquisitions Case Study. I had no previous experience in this but the website had an in depth guide on how to prepare and what to expect. I also did a skype session (at a reasonable cost) with a member of the team and this helped;
how to prepare for interviews and found various practice questions online;
about other people’s interview experiences – this was so useful. For example, the day before I was flying to Dubai for my interview, someone shared a question they were asked on the Middle East, and the same question came up in my interview;
how to stay commercially aware, as members would provide in depth weekly write ups on different issues; and
that there is a whole community of people in the same boat rooting for you. Surround yourself with them because it really helps.
In summary, the website has a thorough training contract guide and a guide from a previous partner of Freshfields which are extremely well detailed and useful.
Save as otherwise mentioned, all of the above resources are free, but TCLA also has a premium package which comes at a cost. If you purchase this, you will get access to:
Over 300 successful law firm applications and cover letters
1-1 training contract calls
Over 50 law firm profiles and line-by-line application reviews
10 courses to master video interviews, law firm assessment centres and the Watson Glaser test taught by future trainees, trainees and associates
Mock vacation scheme tasks, written exercises and case studies
IMPORTANT:
Given that I really benefited from TCLA’s resources, I reached out to them to get a discount code for anyone who wishes to purchase their services too. This is not an AD and I do not make anything from saying all of this, I just really believe in them and the work they do and would 100% recommend using them.
SO IF YOU ARE LOOKING AT THIS ARTICLE ANYTIME BETWEEN 15 DECEMBER 2021 AND 28 FEBRUARY 2022, YOU CAN USE THE DISCOUNT CODE “AROOJ”WHICH WILL PROVIDE A 15% DISCOUNT OFF ALL OF TCLA’S PREMIUM PACKAGES.
To conclude, my personal recommendation would be to apply to a few firms and tailor your application to those firms as much as you can. There is no point applying to several firms and keeping your applications generic. It is not a number game. From my personal experience, I actually only applied to Clifford Chance because I did not want to go anywhere else. I spent 3 months working on my application and focusing on strengthening myself for each part of their application process. I cannot guarantee that this approach will work for anyone else because you should not put all your eggs in one basket, but I was willing to risk it for that application cycle and that’s why I took the chance.
I am a strong believer in sharing knowledge and resources. For all aspiring solicitors, this is a link to my own training contract application so you can have a better idea of how to approach the questions.
I hope this helps!
Lots of love,
Arooj