Essential opportunities for first year lawyers

In your first year, there are plenty of opportunities to get your foot in the door early, make a good impression and stand out. In commercial law firms these include Open Days (1 Day), Insight Schemes (2-5 Days) and the opening of applications to become Brand Ambassadors for a law firm in your next academic year.

Why they matter

These opportunities are very much designed for you. They are a chance for you to find out information about the firm, ask questions, network and get a general feel for the culture of the firm, which is very important.

In your second year, you will be applying for Vacation Schemes and an Open Day is a perfect opportunity to find out which firm is tailored most toward your legal ambitions and to meet the people who will be reading your applications, to find out what they want from you.

I attended an Open Day at the DLA Piper Office in Leeds and met the Graduate Recruitment Adviser who interviewed me for my Brand Ambassador Role. I felt far more comfortable in the interview as a result and was very glad that I had met the person I would be working under.

What to expect on an open day

Each firm has their own unique approach toward these schemes but expect commercial awareness talks, information about the firm, application advice, the undertaking of typical trainee tasks, group presentations, networking sessions and shadowing a trainee/associate for the day.

What to anticipate before you apply

All of the application dates and forms can be found on the individual firm graduate website. There is usually an application process which can be just a CV and/or a cover letter or a full application. Typical questions on applications include:

• GCSE | A Level Results
• Why you want to attend the open day?
• What do you think you will gain?
• Why that specific firm?
• Extra-Curricular Activities 
• Awards
• Work Experience
• Online Verbal Reasoning | Situational Judgement | Non-Verbal Reasoning Test 
• Telephone Interview
• References

All these requirements are great practice for future applications and experience in general. For example, don’t write that you have great attention to detail and then make a spelling mistake two sentences later. However, don't destroy yourself doing these applications either.

How to prepare for the open day

In my experience there is not much you can do to prepare for these days and the firms generally take a similar approach since you are there to learn. It is an important time for meeting people, getting to know the firm, hearing about their most exciting work and seeing first-hand what a day in the life of a lawyer is like.

If you are generally quite a shy person, it would be advisable to prepare some questions beforehand that you’d like the answers to. Anything you find interesting, write it down for your own reference as it will also come in handy when you eventually apply for vacation schemes the year after. Be prepared to interact with Graduate Recruitment Officers, Trainees, Associates and Partners throughout the day as there is inevitably at least one hour of one-to-one networking opportunities. 

Have a LinkedIn profile ready so you can connect to those you meet and make sure you keep in contact with them throughout the year. You will also meet other students from different Universities and I have found it very useful to discuss different revision techniques, how they are approaching applications and keep up-to-date with each other. 

Top tips for law students in their first year

1. Throw yourself into your degree.

Contrary to popular belief, your first year really does count. It may not actually count toward your overall degree mark, but it absolutely counts when it comes to applications in your second year for internships – aim to get a 2:1 at least.

2. Get involved in extracurricular activities.

You’ve achieved good grades in you’re A levels, but so have most people you will be up against - you need to do more. Law Society events, sports clubs, mooting, debating or starting your own society – whatever it might be you should make sure you get involved in activities outside of your degree. This is crucial for coming across as an interesting person to work with and you will learn a lot of skills from getting involved.

3. Network and get LinkedIn

This is quite simply the best way to stand out against anyone else – being known by the firm. University provides plenty of opportunities for you to meet law firms and their representatives, grasp this with both hands and get to know them. By the time I applied for most of my first-year programmes I had personally met the graduate recruitment teams who would be looking over my application at least once, if not two or three times. If you come across well, this will only help you and can be key to getting that interview invite or offer.

LinkedIn is a fantastic platform for you to build your personal brand and stay in contact with the professionals that you meet along the way; I would advise everyone interested in commercial law to make an account.

Not sure where to start? Learn from LinkedIn expert Kelly Hoey on how to perfect your LinkedIn profile. 

4. Apply for a range of first-year opportunities.

Firms are taking students on for programmes that last any time between one day and one week in first year and there are over twenty that I am aware of. Getting on one of these can give you such a great step up with the potential to be fast-tracked through to a second-year Vacation Scheme. Even if there is no fast track, getting on these programmes adds depth to your CV and you will learn so much that you will be in a great position come second year to apply for internships.

5. Aim to be on a committee

Firms always talk of wanting leadership qualities in candidates and the ability to work in a team. How do you, therefore, demonstrate that you have these qualities? By getting a committee position for a particular society or club. This is a brilliant way to stand out from the crowd and will provide countless experiences for you to learn from and use in interviews when you are sure to be asked about leading or working in a team – it’s also great fun to be part of one. 

I truly believe that you can’t go wrong if you do all of the above and that this will set you up fantastically for the future. Don’t limit yourself to just law firms when looking at first-year opportunities; I spent two weeks at Goldman Sachs as part of their Spring Week programme and three days at McKinsey & Company on their Discover 2015 programme. After time with a prestigious investment bank and a brilliant management consultancy firm, I developed skills that could easily be transferred to a commercial law firm and it only heightened my ‘commercial awareness’, something that all law firms desire.