Hi everyone!
I thought I would start this thread to share a few things I learnt throughout my training contract journey. For some context, I completed three vacation schemes, two with US law firms and one with an international law firm, and eventually received one training contract offer from a vacation scheme and two through the direct training contract route.
I definitely did not get everything right from the start, and a lot of what helped me came from reflecting on unsuccessful applications and interviews and adjusting my approach.
1. Apply selectively and research properly
I found that my strongest applications were usually the ones where I genuinely understood the firm and could explain why specific aspects of it interested me. Rather than simply mentioning a highly ranked practice or recent deal, I tried to explain why it mattered to me.
For example, when discussing renewable energy work, I could link this to my consulting experience on solar projects and explain why I was interested in seeing how lawyers structure and finance these projects.
2. Make the most of the experiences you already have
I always tried to identify transferable skills, even from experiences that were not legal.
For example, organising a large student event during severe weather gave me a strong example of adaptability, teamwork and working under pressure.
I think specific examples are much stronger than simply saying that an experience developed certain skills.
3. Focus on what you actually did
I tried to avoid simply listing responsibilities. During my vacation schemes, for example, rather than saying I gained exposure to Finance, I could talk about what I actually did, and then explain what these tasks taught me.
4. Prepare for interviews, but do not memorise answers
I found it much more useful to prepare key examples and themes rather than full scripts. For competency questions, I often used the STARR structure: Situation, Task, Action, Result and Reflection.
I also found recording mock answers really useful. It felt uncomfortable at first, but it helped me identify where I was speaking too quickly, giving too much context or not answering the question directly enough.
5. Do not try to know everything about commercial awareness
I found it much easier to follow a smaller number of stories that genuinely interested me and ask: what happened, why does it matter commercially, who is affected and what could this mean for clients and law firms? Besides newsletters, I found podcasts extremely helpful for processing and retaining commercial news. I would usually follow outlets such as the Financial Times, Reuters and The Economist for daily developments, and then use resources such as LittleLaw, the Financial Times News Briefing and The Intelligence by The Economist to hear the same issues discussed in more context. I found this especially useful because it helped me understand why a story mattered commercially, rather than simply remembering the headline.
However, the best advice I ever received was to use rejection as information.
Eventually, I started looking at where I was consistently progressing to. If I was getting through written applications but struggling at video interview, that told me something very different from repeatedly being rejected at application stage.
Looking back, I think the biggest improvement came from being more reflective, more specific and less focused on finding a perfect formula.
Hopefully some of these are useful to anyone currently going through applications! Very happy to answer any questions on applications, vacation schemes, video interviews or assessment centres
I thought I would start this thread to share a few things I learnt throughout my training contract journey. For some context, I completed three vacation schemes, two with US law firms and one with an international law firm, and eventually received one training contract offer from a vacation scheme and two through the direct training contract route.
I definitely did not get everything right from the start, and a lot of what helped me came from reflecting on unsuccessful applications and interviews and adjusting my approach.
1. Apply selectively and research properly
I found that my strongest applications were usually the ones where I genuinely understood the firm and could explain why specific aspects of it interested me. Rather than simply mentioning a highly ranked practice or recent deal, I tried to explain why it mattered to me.
For example, when discussing renewable energy work, I could link this to my consulting experience on solar projects and explain why I was interested in seeing how lawyers structure and finance these projects.
2. Make the most of the experiences you already have
I always tried to identify transferable skills, even from experiences that were not legal.
For example, organising a large student event during severe weather gave me a strong example of adaptability, teamwork and working under pressure.
I think specific examples are much stronger than simply saying that an experience developed certain skills.
3. Focus on what you actually did
I tried to avoid simply listing responsibilities. During my vacation schemes, for example, rather than saying I gained exposure to Finance, I could talk about what I actually did, and then explain what these tasks taught me.
4. Prepare for interviews, but do not memorise answers
I found it much more useful to prepare key examples and themes rather than full scripts. For competency questions, I often used the STARR structure: Situation, Task, Action, Result and Reflection.
I also found recording mock answers really useful. It felt uncomfortable at first, but it helped me identify where I was speaking too quickly, giving too much context or not answering the question directly enough.
5. Do not try to know everything about commercial awareness
I found it much easier to follow a smaller number of stories that genuinely interested me and ask: what happened, why does it matter commercially, who is affected and what could this mean for clients and law firms? Besides newsletters, I found podcasts extremely helpful for processing and retaining commercial news. I would usually follow outlets such as the Financial Times, Reuters and The Economist for daily developments, and then use resources such as LittleLaw, the Financial Times News Briefing and The Intelligence by The Economist to hear the same issues discussed in more context. I found this especially useful because it helped me understand why a story mattered commercially, rather than simply remembering the headline.
However, the best advice I ever received was to use rejection as information.
Eventually, I started looking at where I was consistently progressing to. If I was getting through written applications but struggling at video interview, that told me something very different from repeatedly being rejected at application stage.
Looking back, I think the biggest improvement came from being more reflective, more specific and less focused on finding a perfect formula.
Hopefully some of these are useful to anyone currently going through applications! Very happy to answer any questions on applications, vacation schemes, video interviews or assessment centres
