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Since starting our first few months at Michelmores, we have found that our placement year has been an excellent opportunity to develop transferable skills and gain insight into a legal career. We have been involved in important legal work, learning from experts in our teams and developing our understanding of specific areas of law.
Beyond gaining practical experience, we’ve also had the chance to connect with graduates and colleagues across the firm, which has been invaluable in shaping our understanding of the profession and developing future career aspirations.
Reflecting on our experience so far, we have put together our top tips for anyone thinking of applying for a placement year.
Research Firm
Thoroughly researching the firm will help you to really stand out. Moreover, it will help you to understand whether a firm is the right one for you. As a starting point, we recommend researching the firm’s sectors, practice areas, values, culture and goals for the future. You can use the firm’s website to find out more, for example Michelmores has a helpful insight and news article page. For a deeper understanding of the firm’s work, we highly recommend using other sources such as tuning into Michelmores’ podcasts.
Attending law fairs and events enable you to meet and talk to the Early Careers team and current placement students. They can give you more information about the programme and what it’s like to work at the firm so we recommend if you’re interested in applying to utilise these opportunities to help with your research.
Don’t worry about legal experience
Although any prior legal experience can be beneficial, it is not necessary nor expected when applying for a placement year. Instead, focus on the transferable skills you’ve gained through the experience you do have, whether this is from part-time work, volunteering, or extracurricular activities.
The more examples you can draw upon the better. Make sure you understand what is required of you for the role and explain why your experience has made you well-equipped for this opportunity.
Be commercially aware
Strong commercial awareness will help you in your applications as well as navigating work as a placement student. It’s important to understand how changes and events can influence how a law firm works and to demonstrate this in your application.
To keep up to date, using news article pages on a firm’s website can help you to stay commercially aware. You can also keep an eye on current affairs on your favourite news sites e.g. BBC, Financial Times. When reading about a new development, have a think about how this would affect a law firm, their areas of work and their clients.
Michelmores holds an informative commercial awareness workshop that provides a useful breakdown as to what this concept means and how it may be developed.
Keep an eye out for events
As we’ve shared, attending events can help with your research and they are good networking opportunities too. Michelmores host multiple events both in person and online throughout the year, which provide useful information on applications and the Firm itself so make sure you look out for these here: Events at Michelmores.
An event we found particularly helpful was an application and interview skills workshop run by Michelmores at our university so we would suggest seeing what opportunities are running that you can sign up to.
Additionally, universities will hold career events with networking opportunities. This can be a great way to build connections and gain insider tips on how to succeed in a legal career.
Be yourself
While it may be a cliché, expressing your personality throughout your application enables you to present yourself authentically and emphasise the distinctive qualities that differentiate you from other candidates. It is important to be confident in what you have to offer to successfully pitch yourself. Identify your main skills, how you’ve developed these and why these will help you to succeed in a placement role. Additionally, consider what values are important to you and whether these align with the firm.
Ultimately, being yourself will help you in the long term; if you are offered the role, you can feel assured that you were selected for your honest self and the skills you have.
Reach out/get help
Applying for placements on top of the pressures of the academic year can be challenging so it’s important to keep in mind the support that is available.
Using a firm’s website to help with any questions you may have is a good starting place but if you have any further queries, reach out to their Early Careers team. We found that the Early Careers team at Michelmores were keen to offer help when needed.
Furthermore, utilise the placement team/careers team at your university. They were immensely knowledgeable and helped to ease the stress of applications. They can help guide you to any online resources that can assist your preparation for any psychometric tests and interviews that you may be invited to.