Virtual Internships

[gricole]

Do you think that virtual internships are worth it? Do you put them in the work experience section of your applications? How do you gain the most out of them? Have you done any outside of the legal sphere to boost your commercial awareness?

 

[D]

I would, at the absolute limit, only put it down as a small point if it was a course put on by the firm you are applying to (White & Case, etc).

I try to limit my work experience for 4 occasions (As some firms limit it to 4, this makes it easier to copy & paste) and 150 words a time (same reason).

These courses will never truly replace open days/vacation schemes, however, they allow candidates who have been unable to secure a place on those respective events an opportunity to "see" the firm.

 

[Jessica Booker]

They are better than nothing and like most work experience entries it will be more about what you make of them, rather than the entry itself.

I wouldn't necessarily be recommending them to people with significant work experience, but they'd be a good thing if you need to build up your work experience or if you want to make a connection to that specific law firm.

 

[futuretraineesolicitor]

What is your advice for students based outside of the UK, as an alternative to open days and law fairs since it is practically impossible for us to attend those and use that learning in our applications.Do firms sponsor International Open day applicants?

 

[Jessica Booker]

What is your advice for students based outside of the UK, as an alternative to open days and law fairs since it is practically impossible for us to attend those and use that learning in our applications.Do firms sponsor International Open day applicants?

Yes - virtual internships would be a good call for anyone who cannot travel to the UK for open days or internships.

You wouldn't sponsor someone from an open day. As it is not a job (i.e. you are not paid) you wouldn't need a visa. However, similar to your questions about travel for assessment centres, you would need to check with the firms you wanted to apply to as to whether they would reimburse your travel expense (and to how much). I suspect for an open day this would be a capped amount though (probably not more than £150).

 

[futuretraineesolicitor]

Thank you.

 

[futuretraineesolicitor]

Jessica, as an International applicant, I can't be physically present for Open days and law fairs, so what can I do as an alternative of what the natives can pitch in their applications regarding their Open Day experience? I know we have talked about this but we have just briefly touched upon this, can you tell me what all I can do other than doing Virtual Internships because not all firms provide that?

 

[Jessica Booker]

Jessica, as an International applicant, I can't be physically present for Open days and law fairs, so what can I do as an alternative of what the natives can pitch in their applications regarding their Open Day experience? I know we have talked about this but we have just briefly touched upon this, can you tell me what all I can do other than doing Virtual Internships because not all firms provide that?

have replied to this in Alice’s Q&A thread

 

[futuretraineesolicitor]

How would I link the internship experience with my country's law firms which are associated with UK firms, in the application? Is there a nexus I can't see?

 

[Jessica Booker]

How would I link the internship experience with my country's law firms which are associated with UK firms, in the application? Is there a nexus I can't see?

If they are firms that work with U.K. city firms, you will be doing similar work with similar clients. This should be fairly straight forward

 

[futuretraineesolicitor]

But that would be the case even for firms which are ranked in the same band but aren't associated with UK firms, because other than Ashrust, Clifford and A&O, no firm has been associated with the Band-1 Indian firms, plus, these 3 UK firms once had a brother relationship, at the moment, none of the UK firms are related to any Indian firm in a big way.

 

[Jessica Booker]

But that would be the case even for firms which are ranked in the same band but aren't associated with UK firms, because other than Ashrust, Clifford and A&O, no firm has been associated with the Band-1 Indian firms, plus, these 3 UK firms once had a brother relationship, at the moment, none of the UK firms are related to any Indian firm in a big way.

Indeed that would be the case too. Working with any large commercial firm in India will be a positive thing to build your CV.

they don’t have to have a specific relationship, they just have to be working on similar large scale international matters.