RESEARCH YOUR WAY TO A TRAINING CONTRACT
Before you begin the next step and visit the firm’s own website, see if its LCN entry contains additional insights, such as “Commercial Questions”, “Meet the Lawyer”, “Featured Lawyer” or “Meet the Recruiter” profiles. These will be located in the tabs on the firm’s directory entry; a good example is Shoosmiths, which contains all of the above. By now, you should be building up a pretty vivid picture of the practice you are investigating – so time to head over to the firm’s own website… Firm websites Find firms’ own websites by clicking on the logo on their LCN listing or doing a web search. This is where the really in-depth knowledge on specialisations, geographical reach, ethos and careers is lurking, so get as much from here as you can. The amount of career information to be found can vary dramatically, but these days it’s rare for sites not to contain a reasonably sized careers section. Some firms even have special mini-sites devoted solely to recruitment. Legal directories Independent material on law firms can be found in publications such as The Training Contract & Pupillage Handbook ( TCPH ), Chambers UK Student Guide , Chambers UK Guide , Lex 100 and the Legal 500 . These sources will provide you with in-depth insight into firms’ areas of expertise; their ranking in different practice areas; recent cases and clients; and informative quotes from clients and trainees. Each of the publications contains different material, so we recommend using all of them in conjunction to get the most rounded picture. TCPH is available free from law fairs and university careers services (as are Chambers UK Student Guide and Lex 100 ), and both Chambers UK Guide and the Legal 500 are available online. The legal press Look for news on topics such as recent deals, turnover, retention rates for newly qualified lawyers, trainee deferrals and diversity. Search LCN’s News section, The
Lawyer , the Law Gazette , Legal Week , Legal Cheek, RollonFriday, The Times and the Guardian . Social media In the same way as the legal press provides an insight into how firms are perceived by the wider legal community, so too does social media. Twitter, in particular, is an excellent place to get opinions on, and up-to-the minute updates from, firms. Facebook is a good – if not objective – source of info too; most practices have come to realise the power of Facebook in communicating with graduates and consequently have their own listing. You should also set up a LinkedIn profile, which will help you to connect with the firms and lawyers you come across. Legal blogging Combining with the profession’s increasing use of Twitter, there is also now a sizeable, committed and switched-on pool of regular bloggers from different areas of the legal sector. You should be galvanised enough to incorporate a little blog-based research into your training contract hunt – this highly active community expresses viewpoints from all levels of the profession, from in-house solicitors and magistrates to trainees, recently qualified lawyers and law journalists. You can glean a lot of privileged information about firms from people in the know who are not afraid of being candid about their opinions. Keeping up with the legal bloggers (as well as Twitter) is also a great way to keep your finger on the pulse of the profession as a whole – and being informed about current events and issues within the law will certainly Face time So far, our tips have all been web based. However, face time is one of the most important stages of good research. No matter how great a firm may seem on paper, until you meet its people, you can’t know for sure help you make the right decision regarding what firms to apply to.
whether it’s the place for you. There are plenty of ways to make contact with law firm representatives, such as law fairs, presentations, open days and networking events. Go prepared, having thought in advance of a few questions that you’d like to know the answers to, and you are likely to be remembered by the graduate recruiters. Approach these events with a professional attitude. Be confident in your approach – the firms are trying to impress you, so you have every right to bowl on up and start a dialogue. Talk to the trainees, who occupy the very position to which you aspire. And a final thought: you may like to take a few notes after each event or encounter with a firm, so as to clarify what you’ve found out and to avoid it all blurring into one! More tips on getting the most out of firm presentations and law fairs can be found by doing a simple search on LCN. Conclusion In a nutshell, that’s the why and the how of law firm research. If you follow each step outlined above and use MyLCN to keep track of the data you unearth, you’ll have all the info you need to make that winning application. All that’s left now is to get digging! to his or her personal MyLCN account, where you can organise and manage your job search, from initial enquiry and investigation right up to creating winning applications. A MyLCN account gives you the following: MyLC.N Just as research is a key stage in understanding the law firms you aspire to work at, MyLCN is the key tool in managing and enhancing that research. It is designed to help you easily access all the information you have collected to make an outstanding application. Every LCN user has free access
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