So you need legal work experience... To get experience? I'm confused too!

Ok, so this post is about something that JUST this moment occurred to me! The title of this post is: So you need legal work experience... To get experience? I'm confused too!

And in essence I would be inclined to tell you that the answer is yes... And let me explain.

I have been applying for vacation schemes recently (closing dates on most are the 31 of January if you didn't know) and the questions have been pretty much what I expected. Why do you want to be a commercial lawyer? Where do you see yourself in the firm? Describe a position of responsibility you have held in school or college? Blah, blah, blah.....

And then you get to the work experience part of the online application. And if you're like me you start to panic. Yes I have undertaken legal work experience, I've worked in my local CAB, did a week in the Birmingham Crown Courts and a solicitors around the corner from there but then it hit me. I need legal work experience to gain legal work experience?

Surely, that can't be true. But it is! After having one application rejected on that basis it got me thinking. Between the ages of 16-21 you are expected to suck up every legally inspired position you can find, while studying and if your families anything like mine dealing with a WHOLE load of stress. Then you get to uni, and if you went to the University of Derby you will know that legal work experience was restricted to the type of module you undertake i.e. the Skills module in 3rd year. This may have changed now but this was the case at the time. So where is this experience meant to come from other than the CAB which I am now thinking may not even be enough.

Then you go for a post graduate degree to invest in your future and develop your skills, and you find out all the pro bono work is aimed at undergraduates and you are no longer an undergraduate so this is no help to you at all. So you go back to the CAB, where you started, to gain MORE work experience.

Now, I'm not saying law was ever going to be easy. And for me it's not a bed of roses, I'm a black, Muslim woman (blog post coming in the future on this topic) hitting at least 3 of the under recruited sectors in the working world but come on! Someone give me a break!!

In realising all of this I thought I'd give my top 4 points on how to prepare yourself for this particular section of the online application forms, especially if you're just thinking about a career in law and you're either still in secondary school, just about to start your degree or you're a post graduate like me. 

1. A lot of firms are now participating in schemes that encourage secondary school pupils to pursue a career in law. Grab this opportunity with BOTH hands! Nothing even on this scale was available to me when I was in secondary school and I think this is a GREAT initiative. 
2. Contact your local CAB (Citizens Advice Bureau). It may not be glamorous to start with but it's good hands on experience and cannot be passed up because you don't want to roll up your sleeves and get down to the nitty gritty.
3. Write and phone as many law firms as you can, asking for a week, or even a day of shadowing someone for experience. It may feel like you're cold calling like a sales person but this is your career, it requires work to reach the top.
4. Start your own pro bono work. Now this may sound daunting but it is something I am looking into myself because of the SERIOUS lack of post graduate opportunities there are at my university. Any changes that could be made to the system unfortunately will be made too late to benefit me in any way. If you see a niche or something that needs doing, do it. As the phrase goes if you want something done properly you have to do it yourself.

On the topic of transferable skills, I would say don't underestimate these either but you will need to sell them HARD like you work on a market stall. In my opinion, firms say they want transferable skills but I'd imagine they're take legal work over these any time. Join societies and clubs but don't let them cloud the end goal. playing for the local 5-a-side sounds good but where does the law come in?

Well, I hope this helps. Feel free to leave comments and tell me your experiences with legal and non- legal work experiences. 
I'm going to a commercial awareness panel at Linklaters LLP this evening (post on this coming soon). Commercial awareness is always a tricky one to pin point and hopefully I'll be able to help you with that as well.

Take Care,
Christal :D