High academic achievement alone is not enough to guarantee that you will get a training contract or achieve professional success. Competition is fierce for training contracts and black and ethnic minority students bear the severest brunt as they are much less likely to be successful in their applications for training contracts compared to their white counterparts.

Doing a work placement at least gives you some advantage when applying for a training contract. The added bonus is that if you are clearly talented, work hard and have self-belief, the organisation will be keen to offer you a training contract.

Research the various organisations where you would like to do your work placement. Make the application at the right time as the deadline for the large law firms is usually January/February of the year before the placement commences. Some only offer summer vacation placements, whilst others offer placements at Easter and Christmas.

By the time you have completed your A-levels and most certainly by your first year as a Law undergraduate or second year as a non-Law undergraduate, you should have done a vacation placement and started identifying the kind of organisation you want to work for. By your second year (Law undergraduates) or final year (non-Law undergraduates) you also want to do at least one other vacation placement but by this time you also need to make your training contract applications to the larger firms. They will offer you financial assistance during your studies, should your application be successful. For training contracts with other organisations, research the deadlines meticulously, making the application within the required period.

We would advise you to read our other sections below:

CV Hints and Tips 

Interview Hints and Tips

Training Contract Hints and Tips