Application advice for prospective trainees

Here is a handy little article in the Guardian that advises prospective trainees on some of the questions they are likely to encounter in the application process for training contracts, and what law firms will be looking for in the answers. It takes the application form from DLA Piper and examines questions such as: * What skills do you believe you would need to have as a commercial lawyer?; and * When selecting firms to apply to, what criteria did you use and why do you believe that DLA Piper satisfies those criteria? My personal favorite part of the article, though, refers to the part of the application that invites applicants to ‘Describe an unusual situation you have found yourself in, humorous or otherwise’. The author of the article, Alex Aldridge, has this to say: “As I touched on above, corporate law firms want people capable of fitting into their culture. Perhaps betraying an anxiety about their reputation for being a bit dull and over-serious, they often try a little too hard to portray themselves as laid back, fun-loving dudes. Hence this cringeworthy question. Applicants really have no choice but to attempt some sort of gag here, though. And if you're too cool to try, you're probably too cool for corporate law.”

Application advice for prospective trainees guardian.co.uk Mon, Jan 30, 2012