If You Must Apply for a Training Contract, Look Here...

The list below is taken from The Lawyer magazine's annual top 100 survey. (Remember, you are strongly advised to start reading the The Lawyer if you don't already.)

The rankings are done on turnover, so Clifford Chance is not necessarily the 'best' firm, it is simply the biggest by turnover.

Although many firms have dedicated graduate recruitment websites, the links are to the main websites. You should kick the tyres and try to get a feel for each firm by looking at its main website as well as its graduate recruitment site (if it has one).

If you concentrate your efforts on getting a training contract with law firms on this list, you won't go too far wrong. All the firms on the list are very reputable places to do a training contract.

Having said that, you should also consider US and other foreign firms in London, and this list misses many smaller firms and great niche and/or boutique firms that are also great places to do a training contract.

1 Clifford Chance

2 Linklaters

3 Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

4 Allen & Overy

5 Lovells

6 DLA Piper

7 Eversheds

8 Slaughter and May

9 Herbert Smith

10 Simmons & Simmons

11 Ashurst

12 Norton Rose

13 CMS Cameron McKenna

14 Pinsent Masons

15 Addleshaw Goddard

16 SJ Berwin

17 Denton Wilde Sapte

18 Berwin Leighton Paisner

19 Taylor Wessing

20 Hammonds

21 Clyde & Co

22 Irwin Mitchell

23 Nabarro Nathanson

24 Wragge & Co

25 Beachcroft Wansbroughs

26 Bird & Bird

27 Salans

28= Macfarlanes

28= Reed Smith Richards Butler

30 Barlow Lyde & Gilbert

31 Olswang

32 Shoosmiths

33 Osborne Clarke

34 Travers Smith

35 Withers

36 Lawrence Graham

37 Halliwells

38 Holman Fenwick & Willan

39 Stephenson Harwood

40 Field Fisher Waterhouse

41 Charles Russell

42 Trowers & Hamlins

43 Hill Dickinson

44 Burges Salmon

45 Cobbetts

46 Watson Farley & Williams

47 Dundas & Wilson

48 Reynolds Porter Chamberlain

49 McGrigors

50 Ince & Co

Which Law Firms Should I Apply To?

First, you need to have an idea of what it is you might want to do for the rest of your career. It is okay at this stage not to have a great idea of this.

For example, you might want to be a sports lawyer or you might want to be a corporate lawyer. There is no reason why you can't apply to corporate factories as well as to niche sports law firms, so long as you don't 'fess up to this at interview - it sounds flakey.

Second, you need to be realistic. If you are studying at Scuzbrick Polyversity, you are not going to Slaughter & May.

Third, you need to get some sense of what differentiates law firms. In many cases, the answer is: not much. However, you can at least categorise the different firms.

Most law firms will fall into one of the following categories:-

Large City Firms - e.g. Clifford Chance
London Office of U.S. Firms - e.g. White & Case
Other City Firms - e.g. the Berwins - Berwin Leighton Paisner and SJ Berwin
'National' Firms - e.g. Eversheds
West End Firms - e.g. errmm
Niche Practices - e.g. Peters & Peters
Large Regional Firms - e.g. Shoosmiths
Other Regional Firms - e.g. errmm
High Street Firms Everywhere - eg.g look on your local high street.

In the City, the size of the law firm tends to dictate the following characteristics which tend to go together: reputation, money, beastings. I.e., the bigger the firm, the better the reputation, the more money you'll earn and the more you'll be beasted.

The above is a gross generalisation; however, it is a useful starting point.

If you are on for a First from Oxbridge, want to work at one of the 'best' firms and don't mind opting out of daylight, then of course go for the Magic Circle. You may also want to apply to some of the better U.S. outfits.

If your grades, University, or appetite for a beasting are less than the above, but you still want to be be a 'City' lawyer, then apply to the remainder of the top 30 English firms in London.

If you want a life and interesting work and are willing to forgo the big bucks - perhaps do media law or some such - apply to 'West End' firms.

If you would be happy to work in a regional firm outside of London, generally this means less prestige, less money, less high profile work (mega M&A deals will all be done in the City), better hours, better property prices, better commute, better schools for your children, better prospect of getting a training contract in the first place. It is that simple.

As the firm size gets smaller/more niche like, it helps to know what type of law you might want to do - with the general idea that what you want to do matches the strength of the firms you apply to.

As a general rule, it is easier to trade down in firm throughout your career than trade up. (Remember that size and prestige go hand-in-hand.) Ergo, if in doubt, start big - you can always trade down later in your career.

So:

1. Be realistic about which firms will have you.

2. Think about what type of law you might want to do.

3. The general rule (well, a gross generalisation, really) is the bigger the firm, the better the reputation, the more money you will earn and the bigger beasting you will get. Make your choices on this front.

4. Research firms so that you know which firms fall into which categories.

5. Apply to your chosen category of firms. Also, apply to firms that are one step up in the pecking order (or, if your aim is Magic Circle, do the top 30 firms).

6. As a variation on the above, if think you might be interested in a niche area, apply to firms in that niche as well as to 'full service' firms of comparable size or bigger.

7. Don't let the number of applications you do detract from quality. If you make the same typo 30 times, you will get the same rejection 3o times.

First year LLB student - enhancing employment prospects now.

You are just starting law school? What should you be doing now vis-a-vis getting a training contract?

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.

No Training Contract. What Should I Do?

So, you are about to finish the LPC and don't have a training contract... What should you do?

First, persevere.

Second, if you are interested in working for a smaller law firm or working outside of London, read the small adverts at the back of the Law Society Gazette. This should be available in your law library, or otherwise visit the Law Society's building on Chancery Lane for a copy.

Third, if you have identified the firms you are interested in (and have been realistic in your aims - if you have a 2:2 from Scuzbrick Polyversity you are not going to get into a Magic Circle firm - period - let alone on short notice), telephone the firms. Before you do that, do your homework: read each firm's website, find its recruitment policy and the name of the graduate recruitment officer (if available) and so on.

Example: [telephone] *ring ring*, "Partner and Partner Solicitors, how may I help you?"

"Hello, my name is Anne Applicant, may I please speak to Eville Dour in your HR department."

"Hold the line, crawler."

"Hello, this is Eville Dour."

"Hello Ms. Dour. My name is Anne Applicant. I am just about to finish the LPC. I have seen your trainee recruitment policy on your website; however, I was wondering if Partner & Partner have any vacancies for training contracts for this September?"

"BAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. I am Eville Dour. Go away!"

Be ready for a whole lot of rejection; but, if you don't ask, you don't get.

Fourth, your most likely option to find a job at a law firm is to become a paralegal. Most large City firms employ a lot of paralegals on an ad hoc basis.

Beware: this is a lowly position. Basically, both large scale litigation and large corporate/finance transactions create a *lot* of mundane work. On the litigation side, this is usually at the discovery stage of proceedings: e.g., putting together court bundles, or sometimes reviewing mountains of documents for 'incriminating' evidence. On the transactional side, let's call the work photocopying, filing, administration and being a general dogsbody, and you will get the jist.
The larger City firms also employ, "know-how paralegals". Basically, this is a sop to Professional Support Laywers ("PSLs"). PSLs are qualified lawyers who do a non-fee earning role. They create and maintain precedent/standard form documents, do legal research and stay on top of developments in the law, etc.

Most PSLs become PSLs for lifestyle reasons: unshackled from client demands, PSLs should have sane and fairly regular hours. The job also lends itself to part-time work, and a fair number of PSLs have young children. They generally take a pay cut for this, and generally get a 'perk' of having a paralegal to do their donkey work. It could be you...

Look on the large firms' websites directly and/or call the HR department directly to apply for paralegal positions. Otherwise, register with one of the major legal recruitment agencies.

English law firms tend to treat the paralegal position as a temporary one. It is unusual - and often a bit sad, really - if you are a paralegal for more than say, 18 months. Most paralegals do the job for 6-12 months only.

In America, 'career' paralegals are much more prevalent - the position is viewed as a career and not a temporary stop-gap. Accordingly, the London offices of US law firms will tend to pay better, but, then, you will probably work harder and more hours than in an English firm.

In the meantime, revert to Plan A re getting a training contract.

When Should I Apply for a Training Contract?

Most training contracts are awarded at the start of your last year of undergraduate study (with the final date for applications being some time before that) . The underlying reason is the Voluntary Code of Good Practice in the Recruitment of Trainee Solicitors. See point 2 under "Employers" here:

http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/documents/downloads/becomingtrainingvoluntarycodev12004.pdf
Having said that, you need to check with each individual law firm what its recruitment policies and deadlines are. Most law firms will have these posted on their website.

Of course, some training contracts will be awarded on shorter notice. This is less likely to happen at the bigger City law firms which have fairly rigid application procedures, but it is true of some smaller firms, and on an ad hoc basis, e.g. where someone with a training contract chooses not to take it up for some reason.