Reading Time: 2 minutesInterview Question – What sort of response would we get from your referees about your professional and social manner? This question is asking you to consider the way you come across as a professional and also in a social environment. It is not asking you to give any details as to the type of reference…
Reading Time: < 1 minuteQ: What is the difference between contentious and non-contentious legal work? A: Contentious legal work relates to legal matters that take place between two or more parties, such as a court hearing or a tribunal hearing to resolve a dispute. Non-contentious legal work relates to transactions occuring between one or more parties, such as the…
Reading Time: < 1 minuteCrime Solicitor Duty Solicitor Rota Slot Shop is open for business for CDS12 Deadline Ten-Percent Legal Recruitment has been working with crime firms for over 10 years on duty solicitor, higher court advocate and police station vacancies. We have set up an online Rota Slot Shop for Duty Solicitors. So many firms are now using…
Reading Time: < 1 minuteUS Degree Classifications versus UK Degree Classifications Converting overseas degree classifications on CVs to the local equivalent is vital, particularly in the UK. Table for converting US degree classifications into UK degree classes. This is very important for US graduates wanting to work or train in the UK to try and use the UK equivalent…
Reading Time: 3 minutesFinishing your law degree is a massive achievement. The fact that you may have managed to get a 2:1 or a 1st Class Degree is wonderful and you are probably glowing with achievement right at this minute. If you got a 2:2 or Third Class Degree you are probably fairly depressed although even these are…
Reading Time: 4 minutesI have recently seen an advert in the Law Society Gazette for a well-known London university offering law graduates a chance to enhance their career prospects by taking one of their Masters Degrees. A question we regularly get asked by candidates is whether taking a Masters Degree will increase their chances of success in the…
Reading Time: < 1 minuteI have been involved in advising US and overseas lawyers/graduates in applying for UK based roles so many times and application forms can be very difficult indeed to complete. The main thing is to make sure that you assimilate to the UK standards, with A levels rather than High School graduation certificates, degree classes instead…
Reading Time: < 1 minuteThe answer to this is fairly simple. Apply to commercial law firms if you are looking at training contracts with commercial law firms. Apply to the high street law firms for the same reason. If you have a 2.2 or lower, you should be aiming at high street firms. If your academics are good and…
Reading Time: 2 minutesOne of the biggest mistakes candidates often make is to assume that recruitment consultants read covering emails if they are anything more than about 3 paragraphs long. As recruiters we are looking for very specific information in a covering email and have very limited time to read anything at all without heading straight for the…
Reading Time: < 1 minuteWriting a Good Statement for Job Application Forms If you complete job application forms for local authorities or the judiciary, they often come with a supporting statement, statement of qualities, information to support your application, etc.. etc.. These are all the same thing, and there is a simple technique for ensuring successful completion. 1. Take…
Reading Time: 2 minutesShould I include my date of birth or marital status on a CV? This is a question that comes up time and again. Why would anyone advise to include a date of birth or marital status on a CV? Well, I always recommend considering it, and I know that careers advisers across the country will…
Reading Time: 3 minutesI have to say that when I was in practise and completed the Police Station Accreditation Course I did wonder whether someone at some point would come up with the idea of charging people a fee for them to complete the Police Station Accreditation Course in full and become Police Station Accredited as part of…
Reading Time: 2 minutesWe have been preparing professional CVs for lawyers since April 2000 and the process is fairly simple. Firstly we ask our clients to send us over a completed form on the internet with lots of detail in. Alternatively our clients can send over their existing CV and we will work from that. Very often clients…
Reading Time: 2 minutesHow long is a piece of string? I get asked this question almost on a daily basis and hear a lot of different answers once I have given my response. CV – never longer than 2 pages? The usual or fairly common response is someone who has been told by a careers adviser when they…
Reading Time: 3 minutesThis article is divided into three sections. The first is for law students, the second is for graduates and the third is for qualified lawyers, solicitors and legal staff. How do I Dramatically Improve my Legal Career Prospects? We often get asked this question and people are often expecting an easy answer. It depends on…
Reading Time: 3 minutesWe have recently taken an order from a US client looking for a CV to use with UK law firms and to present a CV in a way the UK law firms would understand it. Ten Percent Legal Recruitment & Careers Services have been assisting US, Australian, Chinese, New Zealand lawyers for many years with…
Reading Time: 2 minutesOne of our senior candidates has been in touch this morning to point out a slight issue that keeps coming up in adverts both on our site and job boards. “I have been looking at family vacancies on the web and noticed that some vacancies refer to Family Panel Members or Resolution Accredited Specialists. I…
Reading Time: 2 minutesThe first thing to say about a personal profile section is that if you have nothing to say, the best personal profile section for you would be an empty one and the space used more effectively for something else. You only need a personal profile section to explain about six points. These are 1. Your…
Reading Time: 2 minutesLegal Careers Question : I have a 3rd Class Degree from the University of Ife in Nigeria. I have no legal work experience in the UK and I am not qualified. What are my prospects of finding work? Answer: I think that your chances of finding work are just above 0 %. A 3rd Class…
Reading Time: 3 minutes“Recently my firm have offered me a role as a salaried partner and informed me that I am being promoted. My salary will remain the same because they cannot afford a paying fee but I will be invited to partnership meetings and asked to assist with the management of the firm. What should I do?…
Reading Time: < 1 minuteGood question. This really depends on your career plans. Our advice is always to get the Legal Practice Course over and done with as quickly as possible if you can afford to. Completing the Legal Practice Course LPC part-time or by distance learning is only really relevant if you have to work whilst you are…
Reading Time: < 1 minuteEvery year we get asked this question by lots of different students wondering whether they should go to the College of Law or complete their LPC (Legal Practice Course) with another provider. We think that unless you have an outstanding academic background and it is looking as if you will be heading for a large…
Reading Time: 2 minutesIf you are making an application for a legal job or speculatively approaching a law firm for any type of position including solicitor work or paralegal/work experience, you need to make a decision on how you send your details over. Do you need to handwrite a covering letter, send a covering email or print out…
Reading Time: 2 minutesThis is a very common email and telephone call to our offices. Firstly, if you are sending emails to legal recruitment agencies asking for advice and assistance you may be surprised to find out that most of them will not respond to you. Legal recruitment agencies have much better things to do than reply to…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQ Why do you offer career coaching to lawyers and law students? Good question! Together with 3 other lawyers I set up Ten Percent Legal Recruitment back in April 2000. Within a few months we were being bombarded with CVs from law students and graduates desperate for training contracts and work experience. We obviously could…
Reading Time: 2 minutesNo. We can’t help and you may be surprised to know that we will be quite annoyed if you telephone us. We have warnings all over our website detailing who we can help and how we can help and sometimes the sheer volume of students and law graduates without any work experience calling us overwhelms…
Reading Time: 2 minutesI was asked yesterday about the likely interview style and questions to be thrown at someone from a city law firm during a pre-selection day interview. This was to be with the HR Manager of the firm and would last for about 30 minutes. Does it matter who takes a legal job interview and is…
Reading Time: 3 minutesI am sure in Australia lawyers often see adverts from recruitment agents telling them of shortages in the legal profession in the UK and particularly law fields. This has been the case in years gone past in the Law Society Gazette in England and Wales. Adverts are still around now for law firms looking for…
Reading Time: 4 minutesPeople often get in touch to say that they are looking for a training contract and will do anything to get one. Really? I can almost guarantee that in the majority of these cases if we were to push them further on this they would not have walked up and down high streets banging on…
Reading Time: 4 minutesWe regularly get calls from graduates and paralegals wanting us to find them work or work experience and we give the same answer pretty much every time. You cannot phone recruitment agencies and expect them to find you meaningful employment if you do not have any experience and nothing to offer a potential employer. All…