How to use this book
of the attributes that employers are looking for. The exact skill set may vary, but you can rest assured that you will be expected to be intelligent and able to communicate well, show determination, possess close attention to detail and operate well as part of a team. You need to review your experiences to pull out as many examples of these skills as possible and work out how to present them in the best possible light – employers like to see examples of go-getting, passionate, motivated people doing something constructive and interesting with their time. Read “Application technique” and “Interview technique” for more advice, and use LawCareers.Net’s MyLCN functionality to build up your record of achievements and activities. Things to consider include: • Can you give a dozen detailed examples of activities you have participated in that demonstrate skills relevant to working in the legal profession? • Can you explain articulately why you want to be a lawyer? • What are the weaknesses in your CV that you hope employers won’t spot and what are you doing to address them? • What is your USP? Stage 4: Narrowing the field We are only now getting to the stage of differentiating between employers. LCNH offers comprehensive listings of over 800 firms and nearly 200 chambers offering training contracts or pupillages. You can’t apply to them all, so you need to refine your search – read “Types of law firm”, “Types of chambers” and “Choosing where to apply” as a start. Use the indexing pages to identify firms/chambers by size, practice areas and location. Ideally, you should be able to identify a market sector you are interested in (eg, leading commercial firms in North West England) and work out which firms/chambers fall into this classification. Their directory entries in LCNH are your springboard for further research. You then need to look at
organisations’ own websites, explore legal press archives and do some Google-based digging. Key questions to research are: • What are their main work areas? • Who are their clients? • How do they make money? • What is their ethos? • Who are their competitors? • Where have they come from and where are they going (ie, history v ambition)? What now? The rest of LCNH expands on many of these themes. The sooner you start using it in earnest – understanding the challenge ahead, making a plan and acting on it – the better your chances. Most candidates who are unsuccessful fail because they have not followed the rules of the game. Take the necessary steps and you will give yourself the best chance of success. As ever, we wish you all the very best with your legal career and hope that LCNH can help you along the way.
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THE LAWCAREERS.NET HANDBOOK
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