How to write a strong Law Firm Application

Every year, law firms receive hundreds if not thousands of applications for a handful of vacation schemes and training contract opportunities. This means, getting your initial application right is incredibly important. Here are some of my top tips to help strengthen your application.

Step 1 – Pick your firms

Chances are you are balancing your applications with studies, a career or both. Applying to a large number of firms can severely reduce your time to prepare each application and make it unique by tailoring it to their specific requirements. Consider what you are looking for from your future career and use this to pick a manageable number of firms to apply to. For example, what areas of law do you want to encounter during your training contract? Do you want to be part of a large or small trainee intake? What organisational culture and values are important to you?

Step 2 – Research

Next you need to research these firms in more depth to show the recruitment teams why you want to work for their firm. Each firm’s website is a fantastic place to start. Try and sign up for insight days or virtual workshops to gain exposure to the firm, but also look at the specific Training Contract pages which will provide the skills you should highlight in your application.

When speaking to Georgie Lewis in our recruitment team, she emphasised you should

“make sure you dedicate enough time to looking at who they are, what they do, their position within the market, values and culture as a starting point.”

Step 3 – Answering the written application questions

• Keep your responses clear and concise. When advising clients in the future you will need to ensure your advice is easy to understand, so it is important to show these communication skills in your responses.
• Link your responses to the firm and their work. For example, when asked about a recent news article you have read explain why this is relevant to the firm.
• Let your personality shine. Law firms are not looking to recruit robots, the clients want their advice to come from people who they can relate to and building relationships internally and externally is absolutely key.

Step 4 – Final checks

It can be tempting after your hard work to finish the application and press submit to move on to the next one. Take that extra time to proofread, check for spelling mistakes, making sure you have spelt the organisation’s name correctly and are using the right firm name. These small mistakes are common causes of applications being unsuccessful. Finally, ask a friend or family member to read it in case anything has been missed. Remember this is the only thing a recruiter has to base their decision on, so make sure it shows your true capability before submitting.

If you would like to know more about life as a trainee at Michelmores, please do get in touch.