The position is in the Legal Services Division of the council and would involve working on the varied legal matters of the council.

Please note that you will need to be quick if you are to meet the deadline for this vacancy as applications need to be in by 7 June 2010.

For more details about this position and how to apply please click the following link: Local Council Training Contract Vacancy

1. Why did you decide you wanted to become a solicitor? When did you make the decision?

I made the decision early on at Secondary School having completed work experience at a firm of high street solicitors. I wanted a successful and rewarding career which would continually challenge me throughout my career. I was also attracted to the fact that the law touches every aspect of life and I wanted to be a part of that.

2. What academic route did you take to become a trainee? Would you do it differently if you had your time again? What academic grades have you achieved from A-Levels to date?

I completed my A Levels and gained grades ABB. I did a LLB (Hons) degree at Lancaster University and gaining a 2.1. I then attended Huddersfield University for my Legal Practice Course.  I achieved a commendation and prizes for best family law and conveyancing student.

I may have attended a more local university for my LLB (Hons) to draw on the support from family and friends.

3. How did you fund your legal studies? Were you in debt at the end of them? If so, how much? (optional)

I took out a student loan and my parents were kind enough to help me out.

4. What sort of firm/organisation are you training at?

A multi-jurisdictional law firm providing a range of litigation and legal property services for a variety of business sectors throughout England, Wales and Scotland.

5. When did you secure your training contract? How many applications did you make and how many interviews did you have?

I secured my training contract 18 months after completing the Legal Practice Course. I made approximately 60 applications over 24 months and attended 5 interviews

6. Before securing your training contract did you gain any work experience within the legal profession? If so, what?

I worked at a local high street firm throughout my school holidays and during my free periods at sixth form.

I worked within the firm I am currently employed at for 18 months prior to securing my training contract.

7. What’s the best thing and the worst thing about studying law?

The best element is reaping the rewards from your hard work. It is a fantastic degree to gain and keeps you on your toes. I would say the worst element is the volume of work.

8. What sort of career, and work, do you intend to pursue after your training contract?

I hope I continue to be employed after my training contract but to be honest I am not sure yet. I am hoping things become clearer after completing more of my training seats.

9. What advice would you give to someone considering studying and training to become a solicitor? Is there anything else you would like to add?

• Make sure you are 100% committed to hard work. You will be successful if you are willing to work hard and persevere during hard times.
• Gain the best academic grades you can.  The competition for training contracts is hard enough without trying with a poor degree.
• Work within teams – bounce ideas off each other and provide support to your peers
• Gain experience within a legal firm. Even if it is making tea and photocopying- it makes you look committed to the legal world.
• Get used to reading! Keep it interesting by reading from a range of sources.

*If you are a law student, trainee solicitor or solicitor who would like to be interviewed for the Trainee Solicitor Surgery website please get in touch using the Contact Us form.

Applications are to be made using their on-line application form.  The deadline for applications is 23 May 2010.  Assessments/interviews will take place in the last week in June.

For more details and information on how to apply please click here to visit their website:

Clifford Chance Training Contract Vacancies

The advert says the closing date for applications is 8 May 2010 but I am told that it is actually 6 May 2010 so bear this in mind.

Application is by CV and covering letter and you will need to call Job Centre Plus to confirm details of where to apply to and to find out any other details you might need.

Due to the unusual nature of the advertising for this vacancy it may mean that less people are aware of it so it may be a good one to go for.  This may not be the case but if it is then there is sure to be less competition.

To find out more details and for the telephone number for enquiries click here: Trainee Solicitor Vacancy

Circumstances of firms as well as their vacancies and application procedures do change on occasion so you are advised to telephone each firm before making an application to check whether they are still accepting applications and, if so, when the deadline is, who you should address your application to and how you should apply.  This will immediately set you apart from those who do not check and do not therefore pick up on any changes the firm has made.

Good luck!

However, there are many regional firms away from the major cities that offer great opportunities for trainee solicitors.  A good example of this is Lanyon Bowdler in Shropshire which won the Lawcareers.net’s trainee solicitor award for “Best Recruiter – Small Firm” in 2009 for a second time.  LB takes on two trainees a year who spend time in four different departments within the firm during their training contracts.

One of their trainees wrote a blog post about life as a trainee at LB which makes for interesting reading and gives a good insight into what its like to work in a more provincial firm.  To read the blog post click here: Life as a Trainee Solicitor

For more information about this as a possible career option take a look at the GLS website at www.gls.gov.uk

According to the latest statistics from the Higher Education Statistics Agency there are just fewer than 90,000 law students in the UK. The majority of those will be studying English and Welsh Law. All About Law – The Law Careers Website recently took a sample of over 2500 students and took at look at what aspiring lawyers are aiming for in the future.

The statistic that had the greatest significance, in my opinion, was that twenty-eight percent of aspiring lawyers are not sure what they want to do in the future in terms of a career. As I am sure you are aware it is not uncommon for students to be unsure of their future aspirations but it is rather more important for those interested in pursuing a legal career. The main concern is that in order to ensure you have an equal footing with your peers’ you must begin preparations as soon as possible.

If we use the route to becoming a solicitor as an example we can see that the vast majority of the larger law firms recruit students in their second year; the ultimate aim is to obtain a training contract. Training contracts are easier to get if a candidate has experience such as a vacation scheme and so trying to get a training contract without a vacation scheme makes the former more difficult to achieve. As vacation schemes also only run for second year law students or for final year non-law students it can make life more difficult (by no means impossible) if you wait until later in your university career to start working towards the goal of obtaining a training contract.

The difficulty lies in the fact students who are not sure what they want to do and wait until the second or third year may find themselves at a disadvantage compared to the other 49% of their peers who had decided they wanted to be a solicitor from the first year. Catching up on work experience, open days, talks, and workshops can become a Sisyphean task and you may simply run out of time and never be able to catch up with your peers.

This argument does of course presume that because you do not know what you want to do you aren’t doing anything to prepare yourself for a legal career. It may well be that many students are participating in vacation schemes, pupillages and a whole variety of different activities in order to help decide which type of legal career they hope to pursue and although they have some ideas they aren’t exactly sure. In this case I don’t think there is a thing to worry about and in fact students in this bracket it could be argued are better prepared as they have explored all the options and decided based on experience.

Although, if we scale up the 28% to all law students in the UK it equates to around thirty thousand students! I hope that if you are one of those students who aren’t sure what they want to do, you are keeping your options open and are not writing yourself off before you need to.

Jack

All About Law – The Law Careers Website

To read the full interview please click here.

Our latest article about common mistakes made in training contract applications can be found here: Training Contract Application Mistakes.