FORSTERS LLP
the assessment day and have also made the case study a written exercise, which gives candidates more opportunities to give us their best performance.” Vacation schemes are another vital opportunity for candidates to shine. “They are an important part of the recruitment process,” Emily explains. “Making an offer to someone whom you have observed over two weeks is a safer bet than hiring someone you have only met for a few hours, while spending an extended period of time with us also helps candidates to decide whether we are right for them.” Alice agrees that the vac scheme gave her real insight into the inner workings of the firm: “I sat in two different departments and met lots of people from right across the firm, while also having the opportunity to get involved in the social activities that were going on. The office is laid out in pods of three, which tend to consist of a partner, a senior lawyer and a junior lawyer. This enables you to learn so much just by absorbing what is going on around you at all different levels. The experience was really valuable.” At the end of the vacation scheme, candidates have a second round interview for a training contract in the same way as those who go through the summer application process. And those who make the final cut are embraced into the fold right from the word go, as Alice explains: “Before we joined we were invited to seasonal firm events, such as the Christmas carol concert, and other social events, including the qualifiers’ party, which were great in
enabling us to get to know each other as well as people at the firm. Forsters was also really helpful in giving advice on where to study the Legal Practice Course and keeping us up to date.” The firm’s trainees also play a vital role in the recruitment process. “Our trainees do tours of the firm on assessment and open days” – informal introductions to the firm run twice a year for prospective applicants – “and act as ‘buddies’ for vacation scheme candidates,” says Emily. “Trainees make an important contribution to the process, as they provide different feedback to the partners. Recruitment is something that the whole firm takes seriously – we feel that it is important to get the right people in, who fit with our ethos and can help Forsters continue to be the successful firm that it is.” This year will see Emily step down as graduate recruitment head to devote more time to her role as head of the firm’s dispute resolution team, with Victoria Towers, a partner in the firm’s commercial real estate department, taking over from her. “After six years, I also feel that it is sensible to keep things fresh and hand the role over to a younger partner,” says Emily. “I look back with a lot of pride at what we have achieved in terms of recruiting and training our trainees. We are a young firm, so it has taken a while to get our name out there, but now we receive applications from hundreds of the top candidates every year. That’s because of our success and because people believe in the training contract and like the way we recruit. It was such a proud moment to win the award this year, as we really do care about our recruitment and
The quality of work is excellent and I have the opportunity to work for a mix of clients and alongside highly talented lawyers in a supportive environment
24
Best in Law 2016
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