– Research law firms

Law firms expect you to understand who they are and what they do and this will be tested during the application process – via their application forms or your covering letter, during assessment centres and in interview.  So, it’s absolutely crucial that you are able to articulate your knowledge of who they are and their position in the industry.

But…what do you need to know and how do you do it?   Here’s some resources that will be useful for you:

• LawCareers.Net have put together a great list of questions that you should answer see https://www.lawcareers.net/Solicitors/ResearchingFirms
• LCN also has great podcast explaining why this research is so important and resources that you can use – there are also comments from law firms:- https://soundcloud.com/lawcareersnet/episode-11-how-to-research-a-law-firm?_sm_au_=iVVSJS4Z16kWQrW5vMFckK0232C0F
• Chambers Student has a host of useful resources including:
  • True Picture– the information here is obtained by speaking with people who trained in a firm whether they stayed or left at the end.  This way, they get a ‘true picture’ of the good and bad during the training years.   The Get Hired‘ article for each firm in the True Picture details the application and selection process.
  • Chambers Reports,
  • Solicitors’ practice areas,
  • Practice areas at the Bar
  • Comparison tables of Application and selection criteria and Salaries and benefits
• The legal press. The Lawyer, Legal Week and the Law Society Gazette, as well as legal gossip websites, can all be of value. Things to look out for include information on firms’ business strategies as well as case and deals highlights.
• Legal Cheek – the Firms Most lists are great for comparisons of things such as working hours, salary, retention, diversity, international reach etc.
• The firm’s blog pages – they often write about their cases; what they are working on or challenges to the industries they work with and how to manage them or challenges to the legal industry.    Obviously, you won’t be able to read everything but look at the headlines to see if these are topics you find interesting; read a couple of articles to see if you like their style of communication; how does the firm present itself in these blogs – can you tell how it ‘sees’ itself?
• Firm’s newsletters/podcasts etc – many do regular updates.  Follow them.
• Don’t overlook social media – check out their pages on Insta/FB/LinkedIn – how do these pages reflect the firm?

This page is not a comprehensive list but the above are great starting points.