Ask A Graduate Recruiter Anything!

[futuretraineesolicitor]

1) Yes - that is fine. You don’t have to explicitly mention Manchester, you can just focus on how the firm ensure less administrative tasks are given to trainees

2) Yes it is fine to still mention the 8 potential rotations, but it’s important to explain what this specifically means to you and why it is important. For one person it may mean they can get more advisory seats, and yet still sit in core practice areas, for the next person it could be that the flexibility (eg extending some seats) allows them to be flexible with their choices as their TC progresses, for the next person it could mean that doing a international secondment and a client secondment is feasible. You need to explain why it specifically appeals to you beyond the system itself. I wouldn’t be bold enough the claim it is the firm with the most seats - I wouldn’t say that is true for most FBD trainees.

(reality is your first seat is more than likely to be 6 months in a core practice area, if you did an international secondment, this is most likely to be 6 months too, so even if your remaining seats are all 3 months - again unlikely though - you’d only do 6 seats. There are many firms that offer 6 seat TCs).

Thank you for your answers, Jessica. Just two follow-ups please:

1. Isn't it slightly snobbish that we are refusing to do the administrative style tasks? I feel it can be perceived in a negative way.

2. My honest answer as to why the eight-seat TC appeals to me is because I've enjoyed almost every practice area that I have interned in. Does this sound convincing enough or is it too honest to be on the personal statement?

 

[Jessica Booker]

Thank you for your answers, Jessica. Just two follow-ups please:

1. Isn't it slightly snobbish that we are refusing to do the administrative style tasks? I feel it can be perceived in a negative way.

2. My honest answer as to why the eight-seat TC appeals to me is because I've enjoyed almost every practice area that I have interned in. Does this sound convincing enough or is it too honest to be on the personal statement?

1) frame it positively rather than negatively. Not what you won’t be doing, but what it will allow you to do instead

2) be specific - you say “almost every practice area” but that clearly isn’t all. But there isn’t anything negative with saying you are interested in a broad range of practice areas, so there’s not an issue of being “too honest”. How convincing you will be will depend on how you present your answer

 

[Sam55]

Hi Jessica,

I hope you're well! I have an assessment centre coming up and part of the day is a 'group discussion' which I think is meant to be a group exercise. I was wondering if you'd have any advice for how to approach this/communicate effectively given it will be online?

Thanks,

Sam

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi Jessica,

I hope you're well! I have an assessment centre coming up and part of the day is a 'group discussion' which I think is meant to be a group exercise. I was wondering if you'd have any advice for how to approach this/communicate effectively given it will be online?

Thanks,

Sam

Ask A Graduate Recruiter Anything!

Hi @Jessica Booker , I hope you are well. I have a video interview coming up with 4 questions to answer. During the application I answered questions on why the firm and why commercial law. Am I correct to assume that it’s unlikely the firm will ask these same questions during the VI?

www.thecorporatelawacademy.com

 

[Sam55]

Ask A Graduate Recruiter Anything!

Hi @Jessica Booker , I hope you are well. I have a video interview coming up with 4 questions to answer. During the application I answered questions on why the firm and why commercial law. Am I correct to assume that it’s unlikely the firm will ask these same questions during the VI?

www.thecorporatelawacademy.com

Thanks this is really helpful! You make a good point about communicating using the hand up function or chat function- would you recommend appointing a chair to let people know when it is their turn to speak?

 

[Jessica Booker]

Thanks this is really helpful! You make a good point about communicating using the hand up function or chat function- would you recommend appointing a chair to let people know when it is their turn to speak?

No - that isn’t necessary and sounds too formal. People should be able to do this on their own.

 

[Deleted member 3930]

Hi @Jessica Booker, I hope you are well. I was wondering if it is appropriate to email your interviewer to thank them when a candidate receives an offer (the email address is available on the firm's webpage)? Thank you.

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi @Jessica Booker, I hope you are well. I was wondering if it is appropriate to email your interviewer to thank them when a candidate receives an offer (the email address is available on the firm's webpage)? Thank you.

You can do it if you really want to - just keep the email really short, it doesn't need to be anymore than 2-3 sentences.

You don't have to though.

 

[Deleted member 3930]

You can do it if you really want to - just keep the email really short, it doesn't need to be anymore than 2-3 sentences.

You don't have to though.

Thank you!

 

[futuretraineesolicitor]

Hello @Jessica Booker , hope you are doing well. Could you please tell me if it's bad to repeat things from your application if the interviewer has already read it beforehand. The issue here is that if it's on my application, it's there because I really think it is one of my best experiences and I just won't be able to answer a lot of questions if I don't talk about experiences from there.

This question is regarding Freshfields' general interview. On their website it says that the interviewers would've already read your application. I'm just confused.

Thank You.

 

[Daniel Boden]

Hello @Jessica Booker , hope you are doing well. Could you please tell me if it's bad to repeat things from your application if the interviewer has already read it beforehand. The issue here is that if it's on my application, it's there because I really think it is one of my best experiences and I just won't be able to answer a lot of questions if I don't talk about experiences from there.

This question is regarding Freshfields' general interview. On their website it says that the interviewers would've already read your application. I'm just confused.

Thank You.

No there's absolutely nothing wrong with that but obviously, in an interview, you'll go into more depth and will likely be asked follow-up questions about those experiences so be prepared to elaborate on them then - hope that helps!

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hello @Jessica Booker , hope you are doing well. Could you please tell me if it's bad to repeat things from your application if the interviewer has already read it beforehand. The issue here is that if it's on my application, it's there because I really think it is one of my best experiences and I just won't be able to answer a lot of questions if I don't talk about experiences from there.

This question is regarding Freshfields' general interview. On their website it says that the interviewers would've already read your application. I'm just confused.

Thank You.

If you are repeating it word for word, yes. But you are allowed to discuss things that are on your application, it will just be expected that you elaborate on it much more.

 

[Numerius Negidius]

Hi Jessica, I heard someone say that doing a 6 or 8 seat training contract will lead to doing a full 6 months in fewer practice areas, and thus disqualify the trainee from many NQ positions that require a 6-month seat in the relevant group. Would you say there is truth to this?

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi Jessica, I heard someone say that doing a 6 or 8 seat training contract will lead to doing a full 6 months in fewer practice areas, and thus disqualify the trainee from many NQ positions that require a 6-month seat in the relevant group. Would you say there is truth to this?

Maybe in a small number of cases possibly, but won’t apply to all firms or all departments even within a firm.

Just because a firm has 6 or 8 month seats, doesn’t mean you can’t double up those seats and get 6 or more months in a practice area.

 

[Crastle]

Hi @Jessica Booker, apologies if you have already answered this before. Do you know what the average starting paralegal salary is in London for a GDL graduate without the LPC?

Thanks!

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi @Jessica Booker, apologies if you have already answered this before. Do you know what the average starting paralegal salary is in London for a GDL graduate without the LPC?

Thanks!

Will range massively between firms. Could be anything from £18k through to £30k if you have no experience.

 

[Cet11]

Hi @Jessica Booker

I am a lawyer in a civil law country and I never set foot in Britain. I don't have a work permit as well.

I want to take the SQE exams and qualify as solicitor in England and Wales. And then, I actually want to work in England or Wales.

My research indicates that law firms in Britain don't hire lawyers like me, when they can simply hire lawyers who had a training contract, therefore have more experience in the field. Or at least they choose to hire lawyers who are from other common law countries.

Do you have any information about this? Have you ever seen lawyers who are in my position managing to secure a sponsorship and position as a solicitor in law firms?

And what would you recommend for me? Would it be easier to secure a sponsorship/position if I I agree to work as a paralegal?

Thank you for your help.

Best,

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi @Jessica Booker

I am a lawyer in a civil law country and I never set foot in Britain. I don't have a work permit as well.

I want to take the SQE exams and qualify as solicitor in England and Wales. And then, I actually want to work in England or Wales.

My research indicates that law firms in Britain don't hire lawyers like me, when they can simply hire lawyers who had a training contract, therefore have more experience in the field. Or at least they choose to hire lawyers who are from other common law countries.

Do you have any information about this? Have you ever seen lawyers who are in my position managing to secure a sponsorship and position as a solicitor in law firms?

And what would you recommend for me? Would it be easier to secure a sponsorship/position if I I agree to work as a paralegal?

Thank you for your help.

Best,

It is quite difficult for me to give advice on this without knowing specifics of your career and the type of work you have done in your home country. There really isn’t information about this as we are talking about 100s of variables and a changing qualification system which means I can only give generic advice.

Note to complete the SQE though and become qualified, you will also need to have gained two years experience dealing with English law matters. The exams alone will not make you qualified (unlike the current QLTS system).

Ultimately civil law qualified lawyers are employed in the UK though. If they have transferable skills and knowledge (eg working with similar clients on similar matters), and there is also a benefit of having someone who is dual qualified, or brings specific knowledge then some of these lawyers can be actually be in demand. But normally they are hired from the international offices of the firm and transfer already being an employee. Sometimes they are hired from competitor firms, or from firm’s where there is a “best friends” type of alliance too.

It will be harder to get sponsorship for a paralegal position as the pay for a paralegal role is unlikely to meet the points based system needed for sponsorship. There will be exceptions, for instance if the paralegal role requires fluency in a foreign language that is hard to find in the UK.

What is difficult is if you have very limited or no experience on the same type of matters the firm you are applying to works on but have significant experience in your home country. Then you are effectively having to start from the bottom, applying for paralegal or training contract roles, but with a heavy amount of cynicism that you will either be 1) bored and unengaged doing basic work and 2) a flight risk - that will you want to return to your home country once qualified and 3) potentially unhappy where you have to take a significant pay cut. And so generally lots of people in this situation don’t secure training contracts because there are those types of risks and there will be plenty of people who are applying without them due to how competitive the market is.

So ultimately and in short, the more in demand your experience and skill set are, the easier it will be to find roles in the UK and get sponsorship.

 

[Cet11]

It is quite difficult for me to give advice on this without knowing specifics of your career and the type of work you have done in your home country. There really isn’t information about this as we are talking about 100s of variables and a changing qualification system which means I can only give generic advice.

Note to complete the SQE though and become qualified, you will also need to have gained two years experience dealing with English law matters. The exams alone will not make you qualified (unlike the current QLTS system).

Ultimately civil law qualified lawyers are employed in the UK though. If they have transferable skills and knowledge (eg working with similar clients on similar matters), and there is also a benefit of having someone who is dual qualified, or brings specific knowledge then some of these lawyers can be actually be in demand. But normally they are hired from the international offices of the firm and transfer already being an employee. Sometimes they are hired from competitor firms, or from firm’s where there is a “best friends” type of alliance too.

It will be harder to get sponsorship for a paralegal position as the pay for a paralegal role is unlikely to meet the points based system needed for sponsorship. There will be exceptions, for instance if the paralegal role requires fluency in a foreign language that is hard to find in the UK.

What is difficult is if you have very limited or no experience on the same type of matters the firm you are applying to works on but have significant experience in your home country. Then you are effectively having to start from the bottom, applying for paralegal or training contract roles, but with a heavy amount of cynicism that you will either be 1) bored and unengaged doing basic work and 2) a flight risk - that will you want to return to your home country once qualified and 3) potentially unhappy where you have to take a significant pay cut. And so generally lots of people in this situation don’t secure training contracts because there are those types of risks and there will be plenty of people who are applying without them due to how competitive the market is.

So ultimately and in short, the more in demand your experience and skill set are, the easier it will be to find roles in the UK and get sponsorship.

Jessica,

Thank you so much for your detailed reply.

In my case, I've just become a lawyer a year ago. So, unfortunately I can't say I am especially an "expert" on anything.

But I am confused about the "you will also need to have gained two years experience dealing with English law matters. The exams alone will not make you qualified." part.

Because in the sources I research, it says:

"The SQE requires graduate students who are not qualified lawyers in another jurisdiction to complete a two-year Qualifying Work Experience (QWE) requirement. Foreign qualified lawyers are exempt from the QWE."

I am already a qualified lawyer in another jurisdiction. I thought I am exempt from the QWE.

Best,

 

[Jessica Booker]

Jessica,

Thank you so much for your detailed reply.

In my case, I've just become a lawyer a year ago. So, unfortunately I can't say I am especially an "expert" on anything.

But I am confused about the "you will also need to have gained two years experience dealing with English law matters. The exams alone will not make you qualified." part.

Because in the sources I research, it says:

"The SQE requires graduate students who are not qualified lawyers in another jurisdiction to complete a two-year Qualifying Work Experience (QWE) requirement. Foreign qualified lawyers are exempt from the QWE."

I am already a qualified lawyer in another jurisdiction. I thought I am exempt from the QWE.

Best,

Just checked and I stand corrected.

If you only have one year’s experience in your home country, there is little point in trying to get qualified without gaining experience in the UK if you want to work in the UK.

You will be over qualified and under experienced.