Ask Reed Smith Anything! Join Rebecca Schrod, Karen Manu and Charlotte Lear ⬇️

[Jaysen]

Hey everyone 👋🏾,

I hope you’ll join me in wishing the Reed Smith graduate recruitment team a big welcome to the TCLA forum. That’s @ReedSmithBecca, @ReedSmithCharlotte and @ReedSmithKaren, who have all joined our community to answer your questions in this thread.

The team are live right now to answer your questions about Reed Smith and the training contract journey, so please feel free to ask away. I hope this will help you to get to know the firm and the perspective of graduate recruitment when you write your applications.

Finally, I’ll be updating this thread with upcoming opportunities with Reed Smith, so you’ll be able to meet the team at their events and apply. In the meantime, you can learn more about Reed Smith here.

Good luck in your applications this year!

Jaysen

 

[qtpi3141]

How do you showcase your commitment to law as a career changer?

 

[imaan soha]

Hi everyone, I hope you all are doing well. I would like to know how can the graduate recruitment team can make reasonable adjustment for international applicants. As I am no longer in the UK, is there an option to virtually attend assessment day?

 

[BonanzaBih_]

Hello! Thank you so much for doing this for aspiring applicants. I am a recent graduate looking to apply to direct training contracts after completing a vac scheme over the summer. Would you advise applying for a direct tc or a vac scheme with Reed Smith? Thank you so much in advance! @ReedSmithBecca @ReedSmithCharlotte @ReedSmithKaren

 

[Hamaaida Khan]

Good morning!
I hope you're well. What do you think is the best way to prepare for the situational strengths test? Is there anything in particular we could do such as practice tests for example to pass this stage of the recruitment process?
Thank you very much!

Hamaaida

 

[charlotte.crowe]

Hi everyone I hope you’re having a good morning! I have two questions if that’s okay. My first question is what does the application process look like for a first year scheme and my second is what type of attributes do you look for in applications to Reed Smith? Thank you in advance!

 

[Humairah_Khokhar]

Good morning! What are the 3 most important characteristics that Reed Smith looks for when screening applicants, whether that be skills in organisation, analysis, leadership, communication, commercial awareness, etc.?
Additionally, I would love to know of any recent cases that you have worked on at the firm, and the skills you have utilised whilst working on those cases.
Thank you!

 

[gabynosaure]

Good morning!
I was wondering what are the common pitfalls to look out for when applying to the firm ?

 

[Lawyerwithadream]

Good morning, thank you for offering up your time to answer our questions how can I best showcase resilience in an interview. Are you looking for specific examples? How can I stand out in the video interview?

 

[Joy1]

Hi everyone good morning.
I have two questions.
Firstly how can a graduate with no legal experience use their non legal experience in TC applications?
Would you advice one applies for a vacation scheme rather than a TC if one has little legal knowledge

 

[ReedSmithBecca]

Hi everyone! Thank you for introducing me @Jaysen - we’re really excited to get started!

I’m Becca and I’m the Graduate Recruitment Manager at Reed Smith. I’ve been at the firm for around 1.5 years and love working here, I’ve found it to be a really inclusive, innovative and exciting place to work.

Prior to Reed Smith I worked in Legal Education running a range of careers events and helping launch the SQE.

I’m very happy to answer all your RS questions but also anything you want to know about applications and the route to qualification more generally.
Becca

 

[annalaw]

How is best to approach a 'why do you want to attend this open day' question? I am planning on mentioning specific practice areas and why I would like to learn more about them.

 

[ReedSmithBecca]

How do you showcase your commitment to law as a career changer?

Firstly, I wanted to say that we really value career changers and the wide range of skills and experiences they bring! Our current and future trainees includes those who have transitioned from sectors as varied as finance, journalism and teaching.

One of the things I’d recommend to anyone is to use the application stage to really demonstrate that you have researched the firm you are applying to in particular, rather than just law in general. This shows that you’ve taken the time to really consider where would fit you best.

Legal events, like the ones TCLA and others such as All About Law, Law Careers.net and Legal Cheek run are also a great legal CV builder and can demonstrate you’ve invested time in researching the sector as a career changer.

Finally, really consider the skills and strengths you’ve gained from your previous career and describe how they would be an asset as a trainee.

 

[ReedSmithBecca]

Hi everyone, I hope you all are doing well. I would like to know how can the graduate recruitment team can make reasonable adjustment for international applicants. As I am no longer in the UK, is there an option to virtually attend assessment day?

Yes, we’re able to offer virtual assessment days. Successful candidates can pick from a variety of time slots to hopefully find one which suits their time zone. If successful we are also able to sponsor visas for our Vacation Scheme if required

 

[ReedSmithCharlotte]

Hi everyone! Thanks for having us @Jaysen . I am the Graduate Recruitment and Development officer and I have been with Reed Smith for just over a year now. I do a bit of everything in grad rec, with a particular focus on our innovative Professional SQE programme. Happy to answer any questions

 

[ReedSmithCharlotte]

Hello! Thank you so much for doing this for aspiring applicants. I am a recent graduate looking to apply to direct training contracts after completing a vac scheme over the summer. Would you advise applying for a direct tc or a vac scheme with Reed Smith? Thank you so much in advance! @ReedSmithBecca @ReedSmithCharlotte @ReedSmithKaren

Hi there! Congratulations on graduating recently . At Reed Smith do not offer a direct route to a training contract. We run a week-long vacation scheme in the spring and summer of each year as we want all candidates to have hands-on experience with the firm before going on to accept a training contract with us. A vacation scheme is not only a great way for us to see how you get along at the firm, but for you to see if you like us! It's very much a two-way process.

 

[ReedSmithBecca]

Good morning!
I hope you're well. What do you think is the best way to prepare for the situational strengths test? Is there anything in particular we could do such as practice tests for example to pass this stage of the recruitment process?
Thank you very much!

Hamaaida

Good morning!
I hope you're well. What do you think is the best way to prepare for the situational strengths test? Is there anything in particular we could do such as practice tests for example to pass this stage of the recruitment process?
Thank you very much!

Hamaaida

Hi Hamaaida,
We’ve refreshed our assessments for this cycle and will have a situational judgement test plus some verbal and numerical reasoning tests. All will be based on typical trainee scenarios so to help you prepare I would recommend researching the typical tasks trainees do and considering how your skills align to them. Our model is potential based so we are not expecting you to be working at a trainee level, we’re looking at your current skills and strengths to assess your potential to be a great lawyer.
Becca

 

[ReedSmithBecca]

Good morning! What are the 3 most important characteristics that Reed Smith looks for when screening applicants, whether that be skills in organisation, analysis, leadership, communication, commercial awareness, etc.?
Additionally, I would love to know of any recent cases that you have worked on at the firm, and the skills you have utilised whilst working on those cases.
Thank you!

Good question, however unfortunately I can’t pinpoint just 3 skills. We want to ensure that our trainees have a wide range of skills and strengths, so there aren’t particular ones that we target more than others - we instead want evidence that you have considered what you are good at, how it aligns to the role of a trainee and, where possible that you can provide an example of a time you demonstrated that skill.
Equally, it’s also impressive when candidates consider what they are NOT so good at, and how they are getting better at it. For example, it could be something like “when I first started at university I struggled to manage my deadlines and workload, so I can struggle with this. However, I trialled a few tools and now use notion to track my assignments and deadlines for each module which has helped me to develop my time management skills”.
Doing a really honest audit of your strengths, and starting to build experience where you have weaknesses really helps applications.
I’m not a lawyer, but the Reed Smith LinkedIn is a great place to look at recent cases the firm has been involved in!

 

[applyingfortc]

Hi everyone, hope you are doing well! I am an international student and have just finished my undergraduate law degree in the UK. I am interested in applying for your vacation scheme and training contract. Do you have any advice on whether it is a good idea for me to self-fund the SQE at BPP in the meantime (as I understand that RS has an innovative Professional SQE programme)? Thank you!

 

[ReedSmithBecca]

Good morning!
I hope you are doing well. Thank you to @ReedSmithBecca, @ReedSmithCharlotte and @ReedSmithKaren for taking the time to answer our questions today and thank you to Jaysen for facilitating yet another great opportunity.

I would like to ask about Reed Smith's approach to mitigating circumstances. In particular, I would like to know a little bit more about the extent to which such circumstances are used to contextualise grades (e.g., a low 2:1, a 2:2).

Additionally, is doing well on modules more related to commercial law (e.g., contract law) more important to yourselves than the overall classification?

Thank you!

Hi, you’re very welcome and thanks for your question!
We’re really pleased to be using Rare’s contextual recruitment system this year which will allow us to take their contextual markers into account when a candidate hasn’t met our 2.1 requirement.
We also have always taken the mitigating circumstances candidates provide us into account and these are considered on a case by case basis. If you have a confidential question about your grades specifically then please feel free to email us at [email protected]
We don’t generally look at specific module grades where the candidate has achieved a 2.1 or above, but would consider these when a candidate hasn’t. For example, these can help if a 2.2 or 3rd in one module in particular has impacted their average.
Hope this helps!