Reading Time: 2 minutesThis is a question we get asked every day by NQs calling us. Our usual advice is to start looking for work about six months before you are due to qualify. Register with up to three agencies (we would prefer you just to register with ourselves of course – or at least giving one agent a…
Reading Time: < 1 minuteAs recruitment consultants, we are not sure that this is good practice. In fact I would recommend avoiding confronting candidates head on with technical questions. Firstly, at an interview a candidate is nervous and slightly wary, secondly partners of law firms are notorious for asking questions that no-one on the interview panel knows or understands,…
Reading Time: 2 minutesFirstly, be aware that a lot of employers want to do the decent thing when it comes to interviews, and are open to requests. They are highly unlikely to offer to pay travel expenses unless you ask! You have to prepared to be proactive in interviews, and not expect everything to be handed to you…
Reading Time: < 1 minuteThere are certain times of the year when we get inundated with telephone calls from law graduates asking “have you got any training contracts” or “where shall I look for a paralegal post”, or just “um er have you got any jobs?” There are now more people looking for legal work and less jobs, partly…
Reading Time: 8 minutesWelcome to our Advice for Newly Qualified Solicitors. You can purchase our Guide for Newly Qualified Solicitors from the Ten-Percent Legal Careers Shop. Introduction Timetable for Job hunting Salary Levels and Negotiation Qualifying with Training Contract Firm Long Term Career Plans Introduction If you are reading this and are due to qualify in the next…
Reading Time: < 1 minuteThis is quite an easy question to answer as to a certain extent it has no hidden agenda, unlike a lot of questions, and does not leave you open to too much cross examination. One thing to be aware of is that if you come up with “I’d travel the world as I have a…
Reading Time: 2 minutesA cursed question to anyone who has not worked with business speak before. The reality is that the concept of teamwork is somewhat different in a law firm – the majority of decisions are made at senior level, and although more junior staff are informed that they need to be ‘team players’, very often the…
Reading Time: 2 minutesThis article also applies to recruitment consultant jobs generally. Becoming a legal recruitment consultant is a little like joining the Dark Side in Star Wars – it involves professionals giving up a well paid job with status to take on what is, in essence, a sales position, and very often viewed as a step down the…
Reading Time: 2 minutesI often have conversations with senior partners of law firms who ask me to find them lawyers who are willing to work hard, be committed to their firm, and show entrepreneurial flair and determination. However they do not want anyone lightweight or…. wanting to work part time. Usually the requirement is for someone who wants…
Reading Time: < 1 minuteI have to confess I asked someone this once, and he said “oh no, I have never been ambitious – I just want to earn some money”, which is an honest enough answer! In fact most employers would love this as in reality this is what they are looking for – a solicitor who is…
Reading Time: 2 minutesConveyancing is usually divided into two areas of work in a high street setting – firstly there is residential conveyancing, and secondly there is commercial conveyancing. The difference is exactly that – one is houses for individuals or investors, the other is offices and premises for business or commercial interests. On the whole, high street…
Reading Time: 2 minutesFamily law tends to be concentrated at the high street end of the legal profession, with the majority of family lawyers dealing with matters for both private or Legal Services Commission-funded (legal aid) clients, where there is probably one large asset (a house), a couple of children, and warring parents. Family law is divided up…
Reading Time: 2 minutesWills & probate is a real hybrid for law firms. There are some people dealing with private client work at very large law firms dealing with clients having millions of pounds of assets, and the majority working in regional and smaller practices dealing with the full range of work from unemployed pensioners with no assets…
Reading Time: 2 minutes(also applies to the term ‘Company Commercial Solicitor’) A company commercial solicitor is usually well paid, deals with a lot of administrative work, and spends an inordinate amount of time being nice to directors of companies from back bedroom start ups through to blue chip multinationals. In essence, company commercial work is all to do…
Reading Time: 4 minutesA locum solicitor is a lawyer who works on a short term basis only – sometimes for a few hours, and other times for a few years – to cover for absent members of staff. Commonly used in local authorities, where staff always seem to require more cover than in private practice (I would imagine…
Reading Time: 2 minutesA crime solicitor used to have a little bit of credibility about him/her, but in recent times it has almost become an embarrassment to be one. Rates for the work haven’t gone up in years, and currently a crime solicitor could earn more working the night shift at Asda stacking shelves than going to a…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion: Hi there – I would be very grateful if you could please give me so advice. I feel as if my law career is going nowhere. I have nearly 3 years continuous paralegal experience which i have gained in different departments. I spent 2 and a half years with one firm and i have…
Reading Time: 2 minutesPQE stands for ‘Post-Qualified Experience’, and is usually given in years or half years for solicitors and also for legal executives as well. For example, if a solicitor was admitted to the Roll in England and Wales in September 2005, he/she would have 5 years PQE by September 2010. It usually refers to every year…
Reading Time: 2 minutesBonus schemes are either loathed or hated in equal proportion by solicitors. I recently read an article about recruitment consultant’s salaries, which was talking about the average bonus given to consultants and the way it was done. It was surprising to find that in what is considered a sales orientated environment, most consultants were getting…
Reading Time: < 1 minute“Hello, I’m an LPC graduate, can you help me find a training contract?” A telephone call we receive on a very regular basis. The very quick answer to this query is usually no, followed by a very pregnant pause. The person telephoning almost sounds surprised! I am more surprised that someone has been on our…
Reading Time: 3 minutesFor the last five years, a UK university has invited me in to talk to their LPC students about their CVs. I receive a copy of the CVs beforehand, assess them, and then base my talk upon each groups’ CVs when I go and talk. Some years I find the standard to be very mixed…
Reading Time: 3 minutesAt some stage in a solicitors career, this conundrum will almost always arise. It usually follows the stint of a locum in a firm for a longer period of a few weeks, and someone in the firm discovering that the locum is getting paid more than one of the junior partners for doing a much…
Reading Time: 2 minutesQuestion: I am thinking of going back to uni to do a GDL and work towards a career in law. The problem is I have pretty average A Level results, B,C,D and a 2:1 in business from an ex-poly. (I think I have always been capable, just not really motivated during A Levels.). I really want…
Reading Time: < 1 minute1. Whatever you do – do not get drunk. This is about the worst thing that can happen (and the best if it happens to someone else!). 2. Do not sit next to someone who you don’t like and get drunk. This can result in fights, particularly if it is your boss. 3. Avoid mistletoe…
Reading Time: 2 minutesI have conducted career coaching sessions for a number of years for law students and lawyers, and once someone come to see me to ask what they needed to wear for a legal job interview. It almost seemed like the primary reason she had travelled over 200 miles to see me, and I am not…
Reading Time: < 1 minuteOne of the reasons that law firms struggle to recruit when they are looking for solicitors of between 3 and 10 years PQE is because when solicitors spend 3 years or more in private practice, they have either: a) got set on a career path to partnership with their current firm. b) seen the light…
Reading Time: 2 minutesSurviving a recession is a little like writing a blog – you have to constantly look at your save button to ensure you dont lose any work as I have just lost this article and am now retyping it! Top tips are: 1. Make sure you are invaluable to your firm. Even if you are…
Reading Time: < 1 minuteThis used to be fairly popular (both ways), but as more lawyers realise that life is not that rosy on the other side, we find it less common. If you are about 2 years PQE (post-qualification experience) or above, in a field of law related to in house work – employment, company commercial, conveyancing, property,…
Reading Time: 2 minutesNot so long ago, we recruited for a firm looking for a candidate to work in Bermuda. Within one week of a Law Society Gazette advertisement, we received 75 applications, all from conveyancing solicitors. Normally when advertising in the Gazette we receive 2-3 enquiries from each advertisement, so this was quite a shock! Relocating abroad…
Reading Time: < 1 minuteOverseas lawyers have over the last 4-5 years or so found it easier to source work in the UK. We do not intend to discuss the issue of work permits etc.. as there are plenty of sites with excellent advice available on them already. With the increase in bulk conveyancing, telephone advice services, local authority…