Introduction
Assuming you are doing a 3 year LLB, you are going to be applying for a training contract after the end of your second year with a view to securing a training contract at the start of third year.
Do the math: that gives you two years. Don't waste the first one at the Student Union Bar.
Think About Who You Will be Applying To
When you apply to UR Future Employer LLP, you will have two audiences:
(a) Ms. Eville Dour, Graduate Recruitment Officer, who will decide whether to put your application into a 'reject' pile or not, and
(b) Partners at UR Future Employer LLP who will interview you.
Things to know now about Ms. Eville Dour
This is Eville Dour's day job. It pays her rent and feeds her Primark habit.
Eville Dour is not a risk taker.
If UR Future Employer LLP takes on, say, 20 trainees a year, it will receive between several hundred and a couple of thousand applications.
Eville Dour is spoilt for choice.
We'll discuss the psychology of Eville Dour elsewhere; but, for now, suffice it to say that Eville Dour is a 'box ticker'. You should be thinking now about ticking boxes.
This means extra-curricular activities and, in particular, getting on committees and the like. If you are sporty, being secretary or, better, president of the [insert the name of your sport] Club is good. If not, it is the [moot]/[debating] team or some other law related club for you. If you can't stomach that, do something charitable - reading to underprivileged children or such like - but you need to be on the committee.
UR Future Employer LLP's application form will include some variation of, "describe a situation where you have shown teamwork", "describe a situation where you have shown leadership skills" etc.
Compare these answers:
(a) "I spent my first year on the pull with my mate Dave who was doing Archeology. We took it in turns to fly wing. We were thrice as likely to wake up with some random girl when we went out together than when we went out alone. We made a great team.
Once, Dave really fancied this blonde and lost his nerve. So, without Dave knowing, I gave her a bottle of alcopops and told her that it was from Dave. All Dave saw was that I was talking to her, and I went back and told Dave that she fancied him. He looked over to her, she smiled, and they ended up copping-off solid for about three months after that. It was all down to me assessing the situation and taking a lead."
OR
(b) "As secretary of the Varsity Moot Society, I was part of a team responsible for the day-to-day running of the Society, and was actively involved in a sub-group which published the VMS Newsletter. I also lead a sub-committee responsible for raising funds to go to the European Law Moot Court Competition in Barcelona. My role included leading sub-committee meetings, overseeing the allocation of tasks, ensuring effective communication within the sub-committee and following up with sub-committee members to ensure that everything was done on time."
The second answer ticks all of Eville Dour's boxes, and it does it in a way which she can't fault. This answer has saved you from the reject pile.
Things to Know About the Partners Interviewing You for Training Contract at UR Future Employer LLP
First, they are sick of Eville Dour shortlisting clones for interview year on year.
Second, odds are that they are motivated by money.
Third, they will lose £30k-£50k on employing you before they start turning your late nights in the office into a profit. I say "they" because, as partners in the business, it is cash out of their jeans.
So, fourth, while they want you to stand out from the rest of the Eville Dour's clones, they want you to do this in a mature, knowledgeable kind of way.
Fifth, they need you to stay probably until about a year after qualification to break even before they start spanking a profit out of you. You are a long term investment and need to look and sound like a good one.
Sixth, the day you arrive at UR Future Employer LLP they are going to start asking clients for about £100 an hour for your services. They need to be able to do this with a straight face: i.e., you need to look the business.
Where does this leave us? When you get to interview, you need to be able to speak their language. So, starting week one of law school - or now if it is too late for that - read their trade magazines and read their clients' trade magazines.
For example, if you want to be a City corporate lawyer, read The Lawyer and/or Legal Week magazines, plus the FT and the Economist.
Summary
1. Stay out of the Student Union Bar and get decent grades. (Even if they don't count to your degree, they'll show up on your application form.)
2. Join a club or group.
3. Get on the committee.
4. Start reading The Lawyer and/or Legal Week magazines.
5. Read a serious newspaper and The Economist - it is amazing the random, 'interview conversation filler' one picks up in The Economist.
6. If you are interested in a particular area of law, find and read trade magazines relevant to your future clients.
