1st – 5th November

In this session, a member of the graduate recruitment team spoke to us about the application process; the different stages and how to excel in each of them, how and where to stand out, and gave us a detailed breakdown of the continual process of assessment during the vacation scheme.

After this, there was a Q&A session with a few trainees from the firm about their experience with Reed Smith so far. They spoke about some of the affinity groups that they are a part of, the amount of exposure to clients they are given, and about the biggest challenges they have faced in their training contract and how they overcame them.

This event offered panel discussions followed structured networking sessions. The keynote was made by a partner at Clyde & Co and focused on the importance of communication from very early on in your career.

This was followed by a panel session on diversity and inclusion in law. Here, a few representatives from the participating firms spoke about the different initiatives that each firm has available. They also spoke about making the most out of your career journey by seeking out a mentor. They went on to give us key pieces of advice to remember when starting our careers such as ‘be resilient’, ’embrace constructive criticism’, and ‘be yourself’.

We then moved on to the first formal networking session, where we spent 15 minutes with 4 different firms. I enjoyed gaining an insight into the firms, especially as I had not heard much about the firms in my first session.

We then had our final panel session on transferable skills and felling confident. We were given the 5 key skills for a career in the legal profession:

• communication
• time management
• adaptability
• attention to detail
• resilience

We then had the final round of structured networking with 4 new firms.

I thoroughly enjoyed the event and found out quite a lot of useful information about applications and about the culture of firms that I would not have been able to find out elsewhere.

This day had several virtual sessions running alongside unstructured networking sessions that you could attend as wish.

I attended a few sessions such as; SQE – What does it mean for me?, Preparing for interviews with Clifford Chance, Working at a US law firm with Wilkie, and The lawyer of the future with MIlls & Reeve.

Each of these sessions offered a little bit of an insight into the legal profession from different angles.

The first session gave a better insight into what the new training system could look like for students and how to decide between this new path or taking the old LPC route (as that is still an option for the next 10 years).

The second gave an insight into the application process for Clifford Chance and how to do well. While I am not planning on applying there, the information at a broad level will help me with any of my applications in the future.

The third gave an insight into the life of a worker in a US firm, the type of training you would receive and the expectations of each trainee. I found this session very useful as it helped me realise I would not thrive in this sort of environment.

The final session gave an insight into the future of the legal industry in regards to our interaction with tech and its use in problem solving.

In terms of unstructured networking, I visited a few stalls but I spent most of my time with Osborne Clarke (a firm I intend on applying to).

I got to hear more about the entrepreneurial spirit at the firm and the ways in which they encourage trainees to seek out opportunities for personal development.

In this session, we went over the importance of psychometric testing and the best ways to approach different types of test. We did this by analysing each test and breaking down the steps needed to complete the questions. We then worked through several examples together to contextualise the information.

I found this session to be incredibly helpful. I am now able to break down what each assessment wants from me and the right type of approach to take based on the situation of the test (e.g., is it timed? Can i review answers? Is there negative marking?). I am also able to look back at my notes and the examples if I ever need to clarify what the specific test wants of me (e.g., in the Watson Glaser test, the deduction section wants us to disregard all common knowledge and solely focus on the text, whereas the inferences section gives several options where the ability to make a value judgement will rely on common knowledge and the passage)