Law placements and internships are vital for two reasons. First, having some real-world law experience demonstrates that you know what your graduate career in law will be like and that you are committed to it. Second, internships are used by all firms as part of the graduate-recruitment process for training contracts.

’The great advantage of doing a vacation scheme is that it makes you aware of the range of requirements you will face in the job and whether a career in law is really for you,’ says Jo Wilson, Graduate Recruitment Officer at international law firm Denton Wilde Sapte.

Because they are used as part of the graduate-recruitment process, getting an internship or placement is a major step towards a training contract. Some firms treat internships like a first interview for the awarding of training contracts, while others view them like an assessment centre and include group exercises and psychometric tests in the programme.

Law placements and internships

Law internships tend to be quite short, between one and four weeks. They are paid (between £125 and £270 per week, depending on location and type of firm), and usually take place during the spring and summer vacations. Deadlines for formal internships are usually in January or February.

A big regional firm will offer about 40 internships over the course of a year, while some of the Magic Circle firms offer upwards of 100. If you’re unsuccessful in securing a formal internship, other opportunities include attending open days, arranging unpaid work shadowing or setting up your own informal placement with a local high-street firm. Exploit any contacts you may have.

What do legal recruiters prefer?

Although it is vital to show evidence of a commitment to law, this doesn’t mean that without a formal placement you will miss out on a training contract.

’We know how difficult it is to get commercial legal experience, so we don’t require our candidates to have already done any sort of legal placement,’ says Sally Brewis, Recruitment Manager at regional firm Dickinson Dees. ’Some experience of the law helps, even simply watching court proceedings for a couple of hours every week, or helping out at a high-street firm.’

Securing a law placement

Lawyers care about evidence, and the most important thing you can do on an application form and in an interview is provide concrete evidence of the skills and qualities the firm is looking for. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, for example, looks for evidence of the following:

• academic ability: have you got high A-levels and a good degree?
• analytic ability: can you make sense of complex situations?
• determination and drive: do you manage to fit a lot of work in?
• curiosity and flexibility: do you adapt easily to new challenges?
• teamworking and interpersonal skills: can you show how your people skills make a difference?
• organisation and discipline: can you multitask and keep cool?
• commercial sense: it is important to show an interest in business and the ability to take a calculated risk.

Deborah Dalgleish, Head of Trainee Recruitment at Freshfields, says that once an interview has been secured, candidates must also have thought through what it is about that particular firm and type of practice which is, or may be, of interest. ’We don’t expect candidates to know what is going to be right, but they do at least need to have thought about why it might be right for them.’