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Posts Tagged ‘law training contract’

Gaining some legal work experience is vital for anyone wanting to improve their chances of getting a training contract. A key reason for this is that the experience of studying and practising an area of law can often differ for people so the more real world experience they can get the better it is for them.

Many students will find that they enjoy more than one subject when studying, for example commercial law and criminal law. But when they start looking into which firms to apply to they will find that firms will tend to practise one of these areas or the other.

Consequently, they may think that they want to apply to both of these sorts of firms. This may be risky, however, if they have not gained some practical work experience of the different types of law.

The risk is that when they start a training contract with a law firm that only then do they discover that they do not like the practical application of that type of law in the same way they liked it as a study option.

This highlights the importance for students to get some practical experience with different types of firms.

The person in the above mentioned example would have been better advised to spend time on law placements at different law firms specialising in criminal law and commercial law separately. By getting some work experience they would have reduced the risk of making a mistake by having much more information to base their decisions on where to apply to for their training contract.

Legal work experience exists in various forms from formal summer vacation schemes to more informal work shadowing or voluntary work.

It is important to look into the various work experience possibilities not only in the area you live to study but also where you might be living during the university or law school holidays if different.

After doing the research you then need to form a written plan about who you are going to approach for work experience and when. Not only will this ensure you get practical experience in the areas of law you are interested in, it will also give you a broad experience to help with your decisions making later on.

To find out more on legal work experience visit: http://www.traineesolicitorsurgery.co.uk. You will also get more pointers on how to get a law training contract.