What background checks do firms do?

LegalNim

Legendary Member
Nov 14, 2019
303
816
Hey everyone,

I've recently had a few issues and was wondering what documents/background checks firms do? I'm currently adopting a child and it's caused major issues that I lived abroad and cannot get police checks from two of those countries (one country requires you to either be a national of that country or to have been there on a visa - I could reside there visa free because of my other nationality, and the other only permits you to request a police check if you were resident for a continuous period of one year or more, which I wasn't). I was also really shocked when they contacted my employer for my employment reference, which I assumed would just be whether I actually work there in that capacity and simple questions about any concerns etc, but it was actually many pages of questions about my personality and my work interactions and my honesty and trustworthiness etc etc etc.

It's got me thinking, what do law firms actually check and how do I find proof?

I have all my academic documents, I have some payslips, P60s and P45s but I've worked for the last 12 years so definitely don't have all of them. I have a DBS for the UK, and obviously have my references. I have a bunch of volunteer work that I don't really know how I'd prove without contacting each individual charity - and even then, charities have such high turnover that who knows what record they'd have of work done 10 years ago. In my application I've said I ran a half-marathon but I lost the medal and ran under someone else's name (they'd already paid the fee and then sprained their ankle, and the fee to change the name was almost the same amount as the entry fee) but I do have the medal and finishing record to show I ran a full marathon two years later...

Essentially, I'm curious whether firms just do a pretty standard job of contacting references and getting a criminal record check or whether they need a big portfolio of evidence of everything you've said. My employment reference is not from a legal industry so I'm wondering whether I need to give them a heads up that they'll need to do a hefty reference for me. I'm also in a job where they don't know I'll leave for my TC and if a firm contacted them for a reference and they found out that I was leaving then I would absolutely be unemployed.

Anyone who's secured a training contract had any issues with checks or anything crop up that they hadn't considered to have documented already?
 
Last edited:

Jessica Booker

Legendary Member
TCLA Moderator
Gold Member
Graduate Recruitment
Premium Member
Forum Team
Aug 1, 2019
13,342
19,157
Adoption checks are much more through that work checks, and rightfully so.

Law firms tend to check any employment within a certain period of time. For some firms that is as little as three years, but I have known it to be as high as ten.

You wouldn’t be asked to provide details for something like running a marathon or any extra curriculars. It is just going to be your academics and your work experience.

Many reference checks these days are just to verify your job title, when you worked, in what capacity (eg part-time) and if there were any issues with your performance.
 
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