Ask A Graduate Recruiter Anything!

[R203]

Also, if I am presently in second-year, would I have to provide the modules that I am presently taking but have not received grades for? Or could I just enter my first-year grades?

Thank you so much!

 

[ZH]

Hi Jessica

For the work experience/employment section in application forms, should they be descriptive of the role, skills learnt/used and what I did or should they link to aspirations of why law and future skills I can use as a lawyer - i.e. linking them to why I'm making this application?

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi Jessica!

Would like to hear your advice for this section. In tackling the section;
"On this page please give details of open days, voluntary work and employer presentations relevant to your application."

Would I be required to detail all employers presentation and open days that I have attended, and only the ones regarding the firm I am applying to? I am also wondering the relevance of this section concerning the open days and presentations, is the firm wanting to know applicant's motivation for commercial law and seeing it through the events we attended?

Thank you so much!

the key word here is “relevant”. The event could be anything you deem relevant - it could be with a competition, it could be aligned the the same part of the legal sector, it could have developed a particular transferable skill set.

you don’t “have” to list all the events you’ve been to - undoubtedly if you have been to a lot many of them will be irrelevant and therefore not necessary to include.

the relevance of this section is to see your interest, and how you are informing yourself about the career. It gives a good idea of competitors you are considering and also how you are educating yourself/developing your skill set.

 

[Jessica Booker]

Also, if I am presently in second-year, would I have to provide the modules that I am presently taking but have not received grades for? Or could I just enter my first-year grades?

Thank you so much!

generally you only have to provide details of completed modules that have finalised grades. Many people put their second year modules in though and just note it won’t be awarded until the summer

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi Jessica

For the work experience/employment section in application forms, should they be descriptive of the role, skills learnt/used and what I did or should they link to aspirations of why law and future skills I can use as a lawyer - i.e. linking them to why I'm making this application?

unfortunately different firms have different attitudes to this, so there isn’t a one size fits all answer to this question.

for the vast majority though, focus on the factual experiences, learnings and transferable skills. These will vary from placement to placement so don’t worry if you describe one example and don’t include all of the above.

 

[R203]

I attended a few events last year with Slaughters and their winter workshop where we were told to make the cover letters concise. They want a brief intro about you, i.e. what you are studying/studied, where that is/was and at what stage you are at now. They want a second para on why commercial law and a third para explaining why slaughters. They say if you have mitigating circumstances then this should form a fourth para but otherwise just sign off. Make sure to sign off appropriately with 'Yours sincerely' as you will be addressing your letter to somebody (Janine Arnold is the recipient for this year still I believe). Make sure it looks professional and appropriately laid out - this matters as much as your content. Check you are using the correct date and all the address details for the London office. I also added a brief line before signing off to state that my CV was attached and to say that I looked forward to hearing from them.

I hope this helps and if you have any further questions please feel free to message/asl in this thread

Hi again@Alice G

Thank you so much for the comprehensive details!
Could I ask - any idea if an additional paragraph is required to explain "why you", similar to other firms' cover letters? Or could we leave that out due to the availability of a CV, where skills can already be inferred?

Thank you so much!

 

[ZH]

Hi Jessica,

Some firms use 'sectors' and ask which sector interests you. Would I treat this question in a similar way to 'which area of law interests you?'

Would I need to mention why having a sector approach is beneficial or makes the firm stand out?

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi Jessica,

Some firms use 'sectors' and ask which sector interests you. Would I treat this question in a similar way to 'which area of law interests you?'

Would I need to mention why having a sector approach is beneficial or makes the firm stand out?

yes for the first part. You’ll need to explain why the particular sectors interest you.

I don’t think you need to do the last part - there is nothing to suggest you need to do this (although depends on how the question is actually worded)

 

[Matt_96]

For CC's work experience section, they ask you to list them starting with 'the most relevant' one. I have not done any vac schemes and I have already talked about volunteering with a law clinic in my cover letter, so what should I put first? I have done 6 open days, a commercial mini-pupillage, and two placements, one shadowing in-house lawyers in a media organisation and the other shadowing lawyers in a TMT focused firm in the US for a week.

If I am not sure, would it be more appropriate for me to just put my legal work experience first in chronological order and then put my non-legal work experience in chronological order after it?

 

[Jessica Booker]

For CC's work experience section, they ask you to list them starting with 'the most relevant' one. I have not done any vac schemes and I have already talked about volunteering with a law clinic in my cover letter, so what should I put first? I have done 6 open days, a commercial mini-pupillage, and two placements, one shadowing in-house lawyers in a media organisation and the other shadowing lawyers in a TMT focused firm in the US for a week.

If I am not sure, would it be more appropriate for me to just put my legal work experience first in chronological order and then put my non-legal work experience in chronological order after it?

suspect you are over thinking this.

they haven’t asked you to put it in chronological order though. They have asked you to put it in order of relevance.

when thinking of relevance:

what was the most difficult
What was the longest bit of work experience
What had the most transferable skills

everything you’ve listed is legal work experience so I don’t see how it can be legal vs non legal.

If you have non legal work experience, don’t deem it as the least relevant though. It could easily meet more of the three questions above more so than an open day (which let’s face it has no challenge to it at all/no transferable skills/only lasts a day).

 

[Laura T]

Hi Jessica,

I was wondering if you could help me with the following. I am in the process of applying for VCs and one firm asks for a cover letter and has 3 commercial awareness questions as well. The cover letter should include why I want to be a commercial solicitor, which skills I can bring and why I am applying for the VC at firm X. One of the commercial awareness questions asks me why I want to be a transactional lawyer at firm X. How should I differentiate the answers? I feel that both ask more or less the same thing. Would it be okay to focus only in the commercial awareness question on the reasons why I am applying to this particular firm?

Thank you!

 

[Abstruser]

I start the LPC in Feb 2020 and am looking to move to London next month as a result. My firm gives the standard maintenance grant but I haven't heard from them about when I can expect to receive the grant. It would be ideal for me if it was paid out before I move to London... Thus, would you happen to know when maintenance grants are typically paid out (I can foresee that this probably varies per firm - but is it generally before the LPC begins at least)?

Thank you.

I was paid a couple weeks before I started the LPC, but it is different depending on the firm. Some firms pay their grants in two instalments (the second instalment halfway through the LPC) and I know people whose firms only paid their grant a couple weeks after starting the LPC. I would email grad rec to confirm what their policy is, but they might only be able to confirm closer to your actual LPC start date

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi Jessica,

I was wondering if you could help me with the following. I am in the process of applying for VCs and one firm asks for a cover letter and has 3 commercial awareness questions as well. The cover letter should include why I want to be a commercial solicitor, which skills I can bring and why I am applying for the VC at firm X. One of the commercial awareness questions asks me why I want to be a transactional lawyer at firm X. How should I differentiate the answers? I feel that both ask more or less the same thing. Would it be okay to focus only in the commercial awareness question on the reasons why I am applying to this particular firm?

Thank you!

they are not asking the same thing, so I’d advise against your approach. Also both questions have asked you “at this firm” so you need to ensure you answer that in both questions.

The first could be re-written as “what do you hope to gain from this Vac scheme”. You are not going to be a transactional lawyer on a vac scheme.

 

[Matt_96]

suspect you are over thinking this.

they haven’t asked you to put it in chronological order though. They have asked you to put it in order of relevance.

when thinking of relevance:

what was the most difficult
What was the longest bit of work experience
What had the most transferable skills

everything you’ve listed is legal work experience so I don’t see how it can be legal vs non legal.

If you have non legal work experience, don’t deem it as the least relevant though. It could easily meet more of the three questions above more so than an open day (which let’s face it has no challenge to it at all/no transferable skills/only lasts a day).

Hmm, this is a good point.

Most of my legal work experience has actually been short stints, and the stuff I have found most transferrable has actually been time spent working as a sports coach for three summers in a row.

However, although I did the coaching in different places every year, I would say that the skills I have gotten from each experience have been relatively similar.

Would it be wise for me to merge this into one section? I think it would be useful as it would prevent me from repeating myself, but is it a good idea?

 

[Ehab]

I 'am filling out White and Case training contract application, the below question is part of the application form, would you mind telling me the purpose of the below question and what exactly should be included as I do not think that they ask only for events attended.

Please use the space below to provide details of any careers events you have attended e.g. insight days, workshops, presentations etc. These do not need to be White & Case specific. (Max. 350 words)

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hmm, this is a good point.

Most of my legal work experience has actually been short stints, and the stuff I have found most transferrable has actually been time spent working as a sports coach for three summers in a row.

However, although I did the coaching in different places every year, I would say that the skills I have gotten from each experience have been relatively similar.

Would it be wise for me to merge this into one section? I think it would be useful as it would prevent me from repeating myself, but is it a good idea?

depends on whether you can make it clear that it was various entries and not continuous.

 

[Jessica Booker]

I 'am filling out White and Case training contract application, the below question is part of the application form, would you mind telling me the purpose of the below question and what exactly should be included as I do not think that they ask only for events attended.

Please use the space below to provide details of any careers events you have attended e.g. insight days, workshops, presentations etc. These do not need to be White & Case specific. (Max. 350 words)

It is as the question asks. Detail any careers events you have been to.

the purpose of the question is to see how you are actively educating yourself about your chosen career path.

 

[R203]

Hi Jessica!

Would like to hear your thoughts for this question;
Please use this section to tell us about any academic or non-academic achievements and interests not covered elsewhere in this application. (300 words)

Would you advice an "elevator pitch" style in answering this question?
Also, in detailing university academic awards, would I have to go in depth about what the academic awards were for and how I attained them (to showcase specific competencies)?

Thank you so much!

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi Jessica!

Would like to hear your thoughts for this question;
Please use this section to tell us about any academic or non-academic achievements and interests not covered elsewhere in this application. (300 words)

Would you advice an "elevator pitch" style in answering this question?
Also, in detailing university academic awards, would I have to go in depth about what the academic awards were for and how I attained them (to showcase specific competencies)?

Thank you so much!

I personally wouldn’t do an elevator pitch as it’s not what the question is asking for. Depends what the academic award is - many are self explanatory and don’t need explaining. I suspect in most situations the “competencies” would be obvious too - but there will be exceptions to that

 

[LM99]

Hi Jessica,

Cleary ask for a transcript as part of their application. If I can't get a copy of one, what do you advise I should do? Any help would be much appreciated.
Thank you!