Law career/vacation scheme advice

[notsoloudoliver]

I'm hoping someone can help. DD is a second year law student and is in the process of applying for vacation schemes for next summer but also has exams and assessed work to be completed at the same time as the deadlines which are coming up fast.

She's spiralling as the vacation scheme applications seem to require a high level of research and knowledge about specific firms that she feels she can't do right now without compromising her degree work.

I've done some googling so I don't give her duff advice but have actually been quite freaked out myself reading some of the articles about completing the applications and how most are dismissed immediately for being too generic and not firm specific and how 90% are rejected etc.

She does want to be a solicitor but she is also enjoying her life right now and trying to get the best degree she can but has called in a complete panic that she's left it all too late and should have been leading societies, reading up on law firms etc.

We don't have any law contacts in the family and my background is science based - plus I'm a 90s graduate who got a standard ABB at A level, went to a very good uni, fell into an unrelated basic level job and progressed quickly. I feel totally unprepared to give her any advice about this uber competitive path.

Can anyone kindly give me any advice as to what I should tell her ?

@JustHereWithMyPopcorn he’s done very well. It’s so ultra competitive to secure any role especially one with funded SQE.
I’m interviewing for paralegals this week and been absolutely inundated. Lots looking for first legal job. We don’t recruit blind. Some who didn’t make cut for interview frankly have been taken for a ride by very low ranking universities after money eg a 4 in English Language gcse shouldn’t get you on a law degree.
One ex poly has made law offers unconditional this week to try and secure bums on seats as the actual RG uni in same city has already dropped its law grades to ABB.
I’m on a uni parents forum and it’s hard to try and explain your chances of actually qualifying from some unis is slim.

@Cakeandusername It’s just morally wrong. We have many many universities that don’t look at GCSEs at all. They should for law and some other academic courses. RG as well. ABB is not going to cut it either unless dc had a terrible time during the exams.

I do know not all law grads want to be lawyers but the courses are “sold” on the basis of this career. A few years ago a former college of HE was showing a picture of a young barrister on their web page. That’s almost ludicrous. We do need far better control of marketing and places available. It’s a big fat con.

Does anyone know why the bigger magic circle firms seem to prefer fresh graduates whereas the mid sized firms seem to have a preference for more experienced applicants?
and does anyone know how many people progress from training in a small regional firm into the city?
And what are the characteristics of firms where the application process is HR driven from those where partners play a bigger role in the earlier stagea of recruitment?

To be honest these days there is no guarantee of employment for newly qualified doctors! Says something about the current job market

As an example, Clifford Chance got 5,800 allocations for 100 traineeships last year. They get their pick of the brightest and the best - for their needs. I would guess the others are similar although no doubt some students might apply for all 4! They have their own training contracts with the providers. I think CC use BPP and it’s a bespoke course.

Essentially it’s money. CC has 75% retention. Pays £150,000 pa on qualification. The paralegals taken on by regional firms probably don’t earn £30,000 and might never get qualified. The money dictates just about everything!

No idea how many go from regional to world leaders like CC. Vanishingly few I would guess. How could they get the experience to compete for jobs? Let alone all the training within the company and mentoring to succeed. I do know there’s movement within magic / silver circle and to USA firms as they pay a huge amount - but you won’t sleep much. Their staff come up for air occasionally. Would people in regional firms want this?

It’s not really HR driven it’s company driven. There’s lots of sifting with on line tests and they want the marks of ALL your university modules! Not sure who applicants meet on assessment day but with 500 plus worldwide partners earning £2m plus, maybe one can make some time to meet applicants? Someone else will know.

My son has just been through the cycle this year and secured a TC with a US law firm who will now pay for and sponsor him at BPP for his pgdl and sqe . He is a non law graduate who graduated last year. He got to 11 assessment centres and then to one vacation scheme which led to the TC offer. He also had a final interview for a Direct TC and withdrew from 3 more assessment centres once he secured his offer.

It is tough out there. The one he secured had 4000 applicants for 5 places. Another he was told he was next in line for a space on a scheme out of 6000 applicants. Basically he was 16th when they took 15 for the scheme.

Good luck to anyone going down this route as you need to be fairly thick skinned and resilient to pick yourself up after the knock backs.

There is a forum on TCLA (The Corporate Law Academy) where the students/applicants discuss their routes and applications with advice about the various tests etc if anyone wants to let their YP know. DS said it was useful to see others going through the same thing and it made rejections less personal.

Yes, it is very very competitive (and indeed even in my day - I graduated in 1982 when we had the worst unemployment for fifty years at that time (3m out of work) and despite doing extremely well on my LLB did 139 applciations and 25 interviews before getting my offer and all these years later still see that as the biggest break of my legal career despite the fact I still happily practise law and am a grandmother with 4 solicitor children (last 2 qualified last year and have gone in house).

Does anyone know why the bigger magic circle firms seem to prefer fresh graduates whereas the mid sized firms seem to have a preference for more experienced applicants?

There are top graduates from top universities who are in demand (not just in law but in all kinds of jobs - mjanagement consultancy, accountancy, banking etc).
Traditionally (as indeed with me) you go straight from your post grad to your training contract - given from age 18 it takes 6 years (or 7 without a law degree) to qualify you want to get on with it as that is ages already without adding 4 yeas as a paralegal on minimum wage to that). The mid sized firms pay worse including regional ones and get people who do not have as good a CV etc and may be happy they have already worked as paralegals. It all comes down to money.

and does anyone know how many people progress from training in a small regional firm into the city?
Just about no one. However if you start in company or commercial law etc at a well respected London good business law type firm through mergers over the years sometimes people do move to a better firm.

" And what are the characteristics of firms where the application process is HR driven from those where partners play a bigger role in the earlier stagea of recruitment?

ALmost all big firms will have HR very much invovlved in the early stages and indeed computers doing the deciding in the of the original psych tests. I suppose a small boutique niche firm in London etc might have more partner involvement but they probably have about one vacancy a year only for a trainee solicitor and many many of them never take trainees ever.

Thanks for answering @Xenia