Work experience to impress Scottish law firms

If the ‘work experience’ section of your CV is emptier than Santa’s toy sack on Christmas morning recruiters will struggle to believe you have the necessary skills and capabilities to work for them. While academic grades are important you also need to provide graduate recruitment teams with evidence that you’re capable and committed outside of the lecture theatre as well.

So how do you go about building an impressive work experience portfolio? While summer vacation placements with Scottish law firms are the best way to gain practical legal work experience, all work and life experience is beneficial. Recruiters look for well-rounded candidates with a background of diverse interests and experiences, so whether you’ve spent a summer working for a commercial organisation, coaching children’s sports teams or spent time travelling, your experiences are hugely relevant – you just need to sell them to recruiters and highlight how the skills you’ve acquired are advantageous to a legal career.

Work shadowing with law firms and other employers

This is a great way to show initiative while gaining a broader experience of different work environments. Work shadowing opportunities tend not to be advertised and are much more common with smaller firms and businesses than large firms. Most opportunities arise from speculative applications or phone calls. You’ll observe members of staff and gain an insight into their daily duties and pressures. Recruiters will be impressed by the fact that you’ve sought out work experience opportunities while also experiencing first-hand how different types of businesses and law firms operate.

Open days and events in Scottish law firms

Open days provide large numbers of students with a snapshot of life inside a law firm. Most will involve a tour of the office, the chance to meet trainees and attend presentations on the type of work and training opportunities offered. 

Casual and part-time work

You may be in it for the money but the skills acquired through casual and part-time work are highly prized by recruiters. Whether you’re stacking shelves in a shop or serving customers behind a till, recruiters are interested in the skills, competences and commercial experience you’ve gained. Part-time work demonstrates to recruiters that you are motivated, have a good work ethic and can successfully balance the demands of university life with your personal life, while also building the following:

• good communication and interpersonal skills (dealing with customers, clients and colleagues)
• a good level of numeracy (working with money, budgets and figures)
• strong organisational and multitasking skills (planning your work, prioritising tasks, and managing your time efficiently and effectively)
• teamworking abilities (working with colleagues to find a solution or deliver a project)
• commercial awareness (understanding how a business works and its role in the wider business environment).

Mooting

A moot is a bit like a debate. Teams are required to prepare a skeleton argument beforehand, listing the cases they intend to cite, and there is a strict time limit. As well as informal moots in university law departments, there are national mooting competitions and teams often compete abroad. Getting involved in extra-curricular activities such as mooting or debating is a great way to build your self-confidence, as well as your oral and presentation skills. The experience will sharpen your mental resources and teach you to think on your feet, and is good preparation for life at a solicitors’ firm or as an advocate.

Time out

Many students wrongly assume that recruiters look negatively on an application if you’ve taken time out when, in fact, the opposite is true. Travel and volunteering opportunities abroad are fantastic ways to gain exposure to different cultures, social infrastructures, working practices, currencies and an entirely different way of life. Not only are you able to develop your independence and self-reliance but the experience will also build your confidence as well as strong communication, interpersonal, judgment and life skills – all core skills for a legal career and highly sought after by recruiters.

Societies and clubs

Your motivation for joining a university society, sports team or choir may be purely social but interests and pursuits outside of the library and lecture hall can be equally as important – and telling – to recruiters as your academic performance. Recruiters look for well-rounded individuals who can successfully balance work with social commitments: involvement in activities such as ballroom dancing, amateur film making, rugby or debating are all good ways of demonstrating your ability to do so. It’s also important to mention any positions of authority you hold (for example, captain of a sports team, events organiser, club treasurer) and list the key skills you feel the position has helped you develop.

Work experience checklist

• Ask lots of questions. Not only will this raise your own awareness but it will demonstrate to those you’re working with that you’re switched on, enthusiastic and genuinely interested in learning new things.
• Keep a record of what you do. This way you’ll have a ready-made record of achievement that charts your skills, competences, personal growth and training to dip into when writing applications or answering interviewers’ questions.
• Network. Chat to everyone and ask for contact details.
• Use your initiative. Don’t wait to be asked or told what to do.