Barrister and author, Campaspe Lloyd-Jacob

After spending all day reading textbooks and cases, I am incredibly lazy when it comes to reading for pleasure. I don’t want to think too hard about what I am reading, I want something funny, quick and witty. “Ophelia in Pieces” is exactly that, the story of a female criminal barrister and everything that comes with life - interviewer Kate Nutter.

At the launch Edwin Glasgow QC suggested that every BPTC student, or indeed anyone thinking of entering the Criminal Bar should read this book, in order to see the highs and lows that come with the profession. The author, former City GDL student, Campaspe Lloyd-Jacob (who writes under the pen name Clare Jacob) discusses life at City, the profession and the book.

You completed your GDL at City Law School, can you tell us a bit about your time there?

I read English and Italian as an undergraduate and in my last year, I decided I needed to do something so I was more employable. I needed a professional qualification. I met some barristers who seemed intelligent and enjoyed their work. I was also a fan of John Donne and John Webster who qualified as barristers. I was taken with the idea of the law being a training for my mind, in the same way as it was for poets and playwrights in the 17th Century. I decided to become a barrister to understand the world a bit better and more clearly.

Why did you choose City?

I had heard very good things about City. There are not very many places where you can do the conversion course, but City was by far the best. It had very good lecturers, who came from top universities, and a good mixture of lectures and seminars. It was a very intensive course, but I needed it because it was a quick entry into a career. I enjoyed my year at City University. It was very focused and there were lots of very interesting people. It was where I met my husband, who was on the same course.

Is there one thing that you wish you had known before starting law school?

I suppose I feel about this about university generally:I wish I had worked harder at university, because the harder you work, the more you get out of it academically. On the other hand it is impossible to say that, because the reason you are not so engaged with university work is because you are engaged in lots of other things and growing up. I have never regretted working too hard at something, but I have regretted not making the extra effort sometimes.

In the book, Ophelia’s reasons for joining the Bar are based on her father’s arrest, but what were your reasons for joining the criminal bar.

I am rather a curious person and like to know about other people’s lives and stories. I have come to law through literature and a love of books and fiction. For me, criminal law opens you to all these stories and all this life, otherwise I would not have known about it. I grew up in a limited environment and felt not only my mind needed training, but that I needed a better understanding of the world I lived in and an appreciation of the minds of other people of the country I live in. For me, criminal law was a training in life. It has given me some interesting insights and taught me you can empathise with people you might not think you would. You can find humanity in people who have done terrible things and I think that experience is quite precious.

Do you find because of that you learn a lot from your clients?

Yes, yes you do. You understand better about their lives and you understand how to negotiate your way through conflict. One of the reasons I went to the bar was because I wasn’t comfortable with conflict, with holding on to my position and arguing it. I found it easier to make compromises or to look for a way to get round disagreement. I became aware this was something I needed to get a grip on. I needed to be able to hold my ground. Dealing with conflict is essential for a barrister; it is necessary to the relationship you have with your client, your opponent, and the judge.

Where did you do your pupillage?

I started doing a civil pupillage and then did a criminal pupillage at 3 Raymond Buildings, which is where I ended up. I felt very much at home there. It's quite an old-fashioned set of chambers. I very much liked my pupil mistress and all the grand QCs she was working with. They were funny and welcoming.

When you appear against other barristers in court, is there anything for you that stands out, for both excellent advocacy and for lack of skill?

There are so many ways of being a great advocate. Sometimes you see someone do something magnificent and think I will never be able to do that and sometimes you see tricks that you think work and you can copy that. There are some techniques that silks can get away with and juniors can’t, such as asking leading questions.

Interviewer Kate Nutter

One of the most difficult challenges working as a barrister is being able to answer an impossible question. Great advocates just change the subject, appearing to give some sort of answer when really they have just moved the goal posts. I think great advocates, whether in front of jury or a judge sound very relaxed. They make the tribunal feel they can trust what is being said.This comes partly from the advocate knowing the law and having a well-structured argument, and partly it is a human quality.

One of the key attributes a barrister needs to learn is to sound right, to be authoritative without being pompous or boring. One of the things I loved about mooting was having to think on your feet. As a law student you construct an argument with your cases and quotes, but in an exam no one can say, “but what about this?" That’s exactly what happens in court; they try to tease you.

Were the cases mentioned in the book, based on cases you have done in the past?

Nothing that happens in the book has ever happened, they are all fictional. But I suppose I have drawn on elements on cases I have been involved in and situations that have arisen to create a fiction that has a feel of authenticity.

As a mother yourself, how is it practicing whilst raising a family, the book shows how Ophelia copes with it?

It is difficult, but what you really need is fantastic childcare. You need a really good nanny, and that is expensive. I would say the big problem is that, and the other is you are away a lot and when you get home, your children will be at their grumpiest because they are tired. You arrive and it's bathtime and bedtime stories. In some ways that is the most important part of the day, because you are there helping them into sleep. On the other hand you do see them when they are at their most low and needy. It is difficult to be able to go sports days, school concerts and plays. It depends on what sort of barrister you are and how much time you spend in court, or whether you have to go to Manchester to do four month trials, which is incredibly difficult. It does create great strain.

In the last few years, there has been a lot of negative commentary about the criminal bar, with the cutting in Legal Aid Funds, and how it is not a good profession to go into. What are your views on the future of the Criminal bar?

I think it is difficult. I think it is still a fantastic profession to go into, because it is very interesting work and very important work. It is crucial that people charged with serious criminal offences are properly represented. You can see injustices happening or about to happen if people are not properly represented. Juries are definitely swayed by seeing a story from a different angle and where you have a defendant who isn’t particularly charming they can really suffer. I hope people will continue to go into it, but it is difficult when you are paid less every year for the same work. The rates of pay are shockingly bad.

It is difficult if you are choosing whether to go into commercial or civil work - which is extremely well paid - or criminal which is not. It is hard to not think that rates of pay reflect on your status, living as we do in a capitalist society. I do think it is difficult for people starting out at the criminal bar, but I would encourage people to do so. Not only is it interesting, but also if you are really good at your job, it doesn’t all have to be badly paid. There is private work which is paid at rates similar to commercial work and there will probably be more and more of that as Legal Aid rates becomes so low that many barristers are going to start to refuse to do that work. People who previously would have had a good barrister for free will now start to find money to pay for them. I think there are reasons to go into the profession, but I quite understand why students are depressed by what is happening to the renumeration.

In the book, Ophelia regularly works and looks up to a QC called Samuel, was the character inspired on a barrister you know?

He is based on a couple of people; he is an amalgam of sorts. They know who they are, I mentioned it to one of them, but not the other.

Ophelia finds herself attracted to the charming, but amoral Matthew Mars, a client she defends. It seems for Ophelia that her attraction is based on the lack of attention she receives from her husband, but what do you believe is behind Mars’ attraction, is it lust (since he has affairs previously), is it based on making sure she gets him acquitted?

He is a bit of a womaniser is Mr Mars. He says he likes intelligent women with thin ankles. I think he is a bit of a collector; just as with butterflies, he likes to collect intelligent women, and Ophelia falls into that category. What he will do with her once he has collected her is not entirely clear but he has the collector's impulse.

On your website you have included the line ‘After years of defending clients accused variously of terrorism, hiding cocaine in coconuts, and stealing underpants she decided to capture the lunacy and mystery of it all in a novel.’ Can you tell us the stories behind them?

In the book there is no mention of any of these things. In an earlier draft there was a character who had an obsession with green and white spotty underpants. I am afraid he had to go, but you never know - he might come up in the sequel!

That joins nicely onto my next question, are there any plans for future books?

I think there will definitely be future books, because I am obsessed with writing them. I love writing, even though its difficult and anxious work especially at the beginning, when you don’t quite know where you are going with the central story.

I am working on two things are the moment, one is a historical novel, which is also a courtroom drama in a way, because the central character is a calvinist character who is in the prisons of the Roman Inquisition. It is about her relationship with her inquisitor, why she is there and how she got there and whether she will ever get out. It is obviously a very different type of book and meant many days in the British library.

I am also plotting a sequel for Ophelia, because I feel it would be a shame not to, because I know all the characters so well. It feels like going into a normal day’s work, all the characters waiting for you at their desks. My main reason for writing the book was to show [the criminal bar] like it is.

Why did you decide to write a book? Why change from barrister to author?

I have always wanted to write books. Probably most writers would say that the desire to write a book comes before you decide what to write about. As a barrister I tried to write a bit for many years - short stories here and there - but it was exceedingly difficult with a full time job to find the clarity and energy and to be rigorous and throw away stuff that didn't work. My chambers have been very generous. I may very well go back to practicing but I am going to see how it all goes. I miss some things about being a barrister. I miss the company. I miss the fun. I miss the feeling of finite task in front of me. I miss the feeling of more instant feedback, the drama.

On Tuesday 1st March 2012 at 7.15pm, Campaspe will be doing a reading at the Waterstones on Fleet Street. Tickets are free and will be available in due course from the Waterstones at City. Find out more about the book on the Clare Jacob website.

Many thanks to Kate Nutter, third year LLB student at The City Law School and Campaspe Lloyd-Jacob for this fascinating interview.

Credit: me'nthedogs

The City Law School will launch their new Evidence and Justice Forum (EJF) with a guest lecture by Michael Mansfield QC on February 22nd at 6.30pm.

Earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes and floods show us the extreme and unpredictable power of Mother Nature. These events leave devastation in their wake both human and physical. We can monitor the earth, we can build barriers, and nations can sign climate change agreements but there is little we can do to protect ourselves.

Is it time now to move beyond goodwill? Is it time to invoke the law - an international law on Ecocide, the environmental equivalent of genocide? Is it legally possible?

In September 2011, at London's Supreme Court, a Mock Trial played out as though this crime were already adopted by the UN. Michael Mansfield QC, the prosecuting barrister, and Nick Lickley QC, the defence barrister led the case for and against two fictional CEOs. The trial outcome was not pre-scripted; it was for the jury to declare whether or not the Earth's Right to Life had been violated and if the crime of Ecocide was proven. This trial was one of the first steps in a sustained campaign to raise awareness of these issues and to air them within Government, business and communities. This lecture continues that momentum. In his lecture, Michael Mansfield will give evidence to support such a law and aim to set out the implications for businesses - regardless of whether they simply provide the funding for activities which impact the environment or are the main protagonists.

(Background: Polly Higgins, barrister and international environmental lawyer proposed to the UN in April 2010 the need for an international law on Ecocide.)

The objects of the EJF are the advancement of research (including facilitation of the supervision of research students), scholarship and education in the fields of evidence and justice within both criminal and civil jurisdictions.  'Evidence and justice' covers such subjects as the process of proof, accuracy in fact-determination, probability theory, adversarial, inquisitorial and alternative dispute resolution processes, pre-trial, trial and post-trial procedure, advocacy, the roles of judges, magistrates, jurors and witnesses, including expert witnesses, and the use of 'special advocates' in relation to secret evidence. It also covers non-legal disciplines that have a bearing on evidence and justice, including, for example, psychology and the forensic sciences.

Be sure to book online for this launch event.

They report that High Fliers Research say things are on the up for graduates (not specifically Law mind you...) with a 6.4% increase in the number of graduate positions.

Now for the bad news: most firms are reporting an increase in the number of applications of around 19% (compared with this time last year) which means competition for positions is harder than ever.

Also, firms in the legal sector have pointed out that around HALF of all training contracts will go to those who have done work experience with the firm. Clearly, that means getting on a vacation scheme is more important than ever.

Find a full listing of the deadlines over at All About Careers.

Hidden treasure. Credit:Keith Bloomfield

Back in 2010 I persuaded a selection of our lovely students and alumni to do a series of video interviews.

Alas disaster struck when the cameraman went majorly AWOL during editing and the footage seemed lost to Lawbore forever:-( However they have been miraculously uncovered so we'll be featuring a new one each week for the coming few months.

Big apologies to the kind-hearted students/alumni who gave their time for this, only for it to vanish. Thankfully no-one has a terrible haircut they should be embarrassed about now.

Future subjects include a trainee at PriceWaterHouseCoopers Legal, a commissioning editor at a legal publishers, an IP agent, a government legal service lawyer and a solicitor at a global shipping firm.

Send a CV and covering letter to recruitment@kingsleynapley.co.uk

Full details

Author Marie

The City Legal Market - where leading solicitors gather - is a place that calls for versatile capabilities and wit along with the ability to adapt to new challenges constantly. And it’s a place where the faint-hearted or egoistic need not apply. Set against a background of Eurozone instability and the arrival of a number of US law firms on the scene, today’s City Legal Market is a far more competitive one.

Is there still a place for the GDL/LLB graduate whose goal is that increasingly hard-to-obtain training contract?

The answer is still a resounding yes. For it is said that competition brings out the best in us. And most certainly, while the entry of the US firms fosters competition between City firms, this also means that there is now a wider range of opportunities available.

Good news then for those seeking employment at City firms. For all that’s left to do is to prove yourself. Except that you need to do this in a more prominent manner than before. As City lawyers now play larger roles in the driving or organising of transactions, you need to be equipped with additional skill sets along with the all-important legal knowledge such as administrative and communication skills, a ‘what if’ intellect and the ability to lead.

What qualities should a trainee solicitor possess?

Key legal skill! Credit: JoelMontes

1. Reading and writing. To a very high standard. For the life of a City lawyer is dominated by documents, documents and more documents. Of which a detailed analysis is required.

2. The ‘what if’ intellect. A crucial ability that lets you identify the risks in a case and allocate them between the parties, in order to reach an agreement that’s in-line with their commercial intentions.

3. The team comes first. A good lawyer has the ability to integrate and coordinate well with others. The needs of the team always take predominance over one’s ego.

4. Project your best front. Or rather your best qualities to clients. For they often look to be impressed with character and personality. Beyond the mere ability to dispense legal advice.

5. Understanding/Communicating with the client.
Sounds simple, but grasping the client’s commercial intention and finding the right solution to their problem isn’t always easy. Especially when the client isn’t always right. The key to this is chemistry with your clients as well as your partners.

6. Get over your mistakes. Don’t cry over spilt milk (or at least
not for too long) as a good City lawyer needs the ability to get over his/her mistake quickly. But more importantly, confess and don’t make it twice!

What to look out for if you want to succeed as a City solicitor

When applying to the City firm of your choice, it’s important to engage in research, research and more research. Not doing your homework well in this area could limit your legal career even before you start. Things to look out for include the opportunities junior lawyers are exposed to, for example, the balance between transaction and advisory work, the chance to observe senior partners in action, the reasons for the early retirement of senior staff if any, the strategic direction the firm is set to take in the future amongst others.

And lastly, what of the Legal Services Act, which brings a new sense of freedom and the influence of outside investment into City law firms? Guest speaker, Mr Robert Sutton, Senior Adviser, Macfarlanes suggests that this is one significant change that will affect the City legal market in the near future particularly, the purpose that the outside capital is being used for. Is it for the benefit of the firm and its people or will it lead to short-term considerations where law firms may mortgage their future in the interests of existing partners?

Despite the influx of new challenges that the future brings, he believes the future of City law firms remains strong. “If you are not afraid of the intellectual and other challenges of being a successful City lawyer, then it can be a great profession.” Indeed, for while the stakes have been raised, the satisfaction of conquering these challenges will surely make the job of a City lawyer even more rewarding than before. So GDL/LLB students take heart.

Marie Tay is a former copywriter and editor currently studying for her GDL at The City Law School.

Credit:Elephant Gun Studios

In 1919 Parliament passed the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919, which permitted women to enter the professions and to serve on juries. In 1957, almost 40 years later the Law Society recorded that 356 women now held practising certificates; by contrast this qualification was held by 18, 244 men. Over the last decade the total number of women holding practising certificates has nearly doubled and now women account for 45.8% of solicitors holding practising certificates.

Massive progress has been made and it is now easier than ever for women to enter and progress in the legal professions. However, a glance at the proportion of women made up to partner in the major legal firms does not reflect this. Certainly not 45.8% of them are women. The general proportion is much nearer to 20% and in some City firms it is much less.

If you are a woman how can you maximise your chances of getting a training contract and then making progress through the ranks?

Like it or not, women are seen as being meticulous in their attention to detail, conscientious in their attitude to work and caring towards others.

Play to your strengths

Attend to the details in your CV and application letter. Make sure that they demonstrate your precision and excellent presentation skills. Make sure there are no sloppy spelling and grammatical errors – prove to your prospective employers that any advice that you give to clients will be not only be well thought out and accurate but also legible and easy to understand.

Demonstrate your conscientiousness by thoroughly researching the firm you are applying to and tailoring your application to the firm’s requirements. Don’t say that you are interested in Media Law if the firm does not offer that but specialises in Human Rights work and equally don’t trumpet your concerns for the downtrodden if you are applying to a major corporate firm – they may applaud your humanity, but give the contract to someone else. Remember that law firms are businesses and need to make a profit in their chosen areas of legal expertise.

Research the demographics of the firm you are applying to. Looking at the “Our People” lists on a firm’s web-site can give you some idea of the number of women lawyers in the firm and their relative seniority. If there are only 5 women in a firm with 50 lawyers ask yourself why this might be. The reason might not be institutional gender discrimination, it may be that 7 female lawyers are on generous maternity leave, but be alert.

There really is no substitute for pre-application research.

Showing your caring side

To some extent this is simply another name for social skills, the ability to make other people feel comfortable and important. In a firm with a strong private client bias you will be dealing with the problems of individuals rather than of large companies and the ability to analyse technical material, to apply it to practical situations and then to explain the results to individuals with precision and patience in language they understand is highly valued.

Definitely worth a compliment! Credit: valeyoshino

Practise this skill on your family and non-legal friends. Explain to them what the process of buying a house entails or what is involved in making a Will. How quickly can you make them understand the different implications of holding property as Tenants in Common or Joint Tenants? Could you find out what someone’s real concern is in making a Will, whether it is to save tax or to ensure that all the people they care for are properly provided for on death?

But don’t overlook that fact that even large companies are not walking Articles of Association. They are represented by individuals and the ability to show genuine but not intrusive interest in the concerns of even very senior executives can sometimes lead to their asking for you by name the next time they require legal advice. You don’t need to play rugby or football to note that the Chairman of X plc is a fanatical Arsenal fan or to ask the Finance Director of Y Ltd about his recent visit to New Zealand to watch the Rugby World Cup. Admiring a senior female executive’s Christian Louboutins (the ones with the red soles) or Armani suit is acceptable, but don’t be sycophantic. If you get that one wrong, just make sure that you get it wrong on the side of luxury – mistaking M&S for Christian Dior suggests that the female executive concerned is naturally elegant, but making the error the other way round....

Dressing the part for interview

There’s no need to pretend that you are a man in the way that you dress. However fetching you might look in a dark trouser suit, white shirt and stripey blue tie, it merely suggests that you are trying too hard. But you should not look as though you are heading off for a good night’s clubbing either.

The impression that you want to give is of someone who pays attention to detail and cares just enough about how she dresses. You should be neat, in a suit with trousers or a not too short skirt, your top should not be low-cut or transparent and you should not wear flashy or noisy jewellery. You should give the impression that it would be easy for you to turn up for work every morning looking neat, clean and ready to be wheeled out to clients at a moment’s notice. Looking “sexy” will impress for all the wrong reasons, can provoke hostility in some senior female interviewers and inappropriate thoughts in the minds of male ones. Don’t distract your interviewers from the task in hand, which is to assess your suitability for their firm – and with luck to give you the job.

One of the boys

Getting ahead in the Law, or even getting that all important training contract does not require that you become “one of the lads” matching them pint for pint at after work drinks. If you learn to nurse your drink you will not only end up hangover free the next morning and be able to avoid difficult situations with your fellow trainees or more senior lawyers, but by being alert you will probably acquire all sorts of interesting information. Don’t put yourself in situations where you can be construed as inviting sexual harassment.

Elizabeth Cruickshank and Professor Penny Cooper of The City Law School are the authors of ‘All you need to know about being a Trainee Solicitor’ (Longtail, 2008) and together with Boma Ozobia of “The Survival Manual for New Wigs” (Odade 2010).

Our author, Dola.

Given the financial climate at the moment it’s little wonder that all the chambers evenings directed at GDL students come purely from commercial sets. Legal aid reforms, designed to cut public expenses, have hit the criminal sector hard so when 6 King’s Bench Walk (6KBW) decided to hold a chambers evening I had to attend. A brave invitation I thought by 6kbw, which came with a clear warning from David Herling (Director of the GDL), that only those interested in this field should attend.

Truth is none of us were sure if it was the route to pursue, and what were the reasons for 6kBW inviting us? They were not short of applicants i’m sure. However there is no denying the quality of the GDL cohort at City, a course known for its additional edge of academic rigour in an already intensive (and what many would describe as) painful nine months. The result? Some of the best barristers in England and Wales.

On the evening direct questions about the criminal bar were fired (it may have been the wine)...

How much will I earn? Will I ever be able to leave my parents house? Why is so much emphasis placed on academic ability when we are helping people mostly from working class backgrounds? How does someone with a first class honours and from a middle class background relate to criminals from a different background to their own?

Their answers to these very general questions? They stated that, yes the bar does place great emphasis on intellectual ability because historically that is how it has always been. They acknowledged the problem of being able to relate to clients and represent them to the best of your ability when you are not from the same background, especially in criminal law. Yet they stated they did not rule out people with a high 2:2 who demonstrate other qualities, similarly those with a first class honours with no experience do not just walk straight through the doors. Reassuring advice, I thought, useful to a post-graduate, I was won over already.

6KBW’s website is swarmed with positive reviews from Legal Directories (Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners), and the location of the chambers itself already tells you the history attached to the chambers. No promising criminal barrister would decline an offer from 6KBW. It made me wonder though, what is it about the criminal bar that despite its shortcomings, students still choose it as an area of practice? Are there really that many students who want to work for long hours on low pay just to help people? Because that would have to be your motivation, the rewards are not financial.

It’s touching that students want to work for the greater good and when you ask your peers why they want to be a criminal barrister this is usually their answer. But what makes people stand out in mini-pupillage or pupillage application form to somewhere like 6KBW?

How do you get in the spotlight? Credit: Sarah G...

Well, 6KBW places great emphasis on intellectual ability, proven dedication to the bar through pro bono work and extracurricular activities. You need to be able to pinpoint exactly why you want to be a criminal barrister and lastly, tailor your covering letter to their specific chambers. The most common mistake by students is using a generic covering letter, just changing the name of the chambers for each application. This pointless time-saving device screams out to chambers, particularly when you forget to change some fact or other to suit the appellation in hand. The sad thing is all this effort is wasted, and you rarely know why rejection has landed at your door (few chambers give individual feedback). My advice, yes covering letters are time consuming but it’s worth it, you want to apply to chambers knowing that you did your best to gain a place there.

Within the criminal law sector, 6KBW has a vast range of expertise including international criminal work and fraud. Those on a pupillage will rotate every four months in order to capture the many areas that the chamber covers. 6KBW are very proud of their pupillage training programme which includes an advocacy course entailing mooting, legal ethics training for the crown court, in which you will be representing in by the end of the pupillage.

Both pupils taken on this year were from different professions. One from investment banking, and the other a solicitor from a magic circle firm. I asked the ex-banker about the hours he works and he stated that he is used to early mornings because of his previous employment and that he liked to have that time to gather himself together before his pupillage supervisor came in. The ex-solicitor was tired can you believe, of commercial work. She stated that she had to ‘kiss goodbye’ to her maternity pay package and other privileges which do not come with self-employment, but stressed how the move was important to her and she enjoys her work.

We heard about Sarah Whitehouse, called to the bar in 1993, who was awarded ‘Junior Barrister of the Year Award 2011’ by Chambers and Partners. This demonstrates the quality of 6KBW as well as how hard one works as a barrister. To me, this is an amazing achievement. I think as a student one is worried about what happens when you finally do become a barrister, what happens next, what does one work towards? The award answers this question, I think for me especially it is important to see progress in one's career. 6KBW seems a set of chambers where the work is never short and the prospects of being a successful criminal barrister are not limited in any way.

Dola Ajibade is a current GDL student at The City Law School.

"...designed to provide people with disabilities and long-term health conditions an insight into the true nature of the opportunities for graduates interested in pursuing a career in law"

Sessions planned include a guide to the recruitment process and clarification over the requesting of adjustments. You'll also get a chance to meet the firms, network and listen to panel discussions with senior representatives from the law firms participating. Firms include: Allen & Overy, Ashurst, Clifford Chance, Eversheds, Freshfields, Hogan Lovells and Linklaters.

So how do you sign up? Places are limited so you'll need to email over your CV and covering letter.

Find out full details of the event and how to apply at the OPEN 2012 website.

No, not this type of vacation silly...

I applied for several vacation schemes when I was sitting the GDL, and I was fortunate enough to secure a two-week placement at large American firm during the summer. My experience may be limited compared to others, but I nevertheless hope that my 2 cents will be of help when you decide to apply for a vacation scheme and ultimately a training contract.

Approaching your work:
My placement allowed me to choose and sit in two areas of practice, and I picked litigation and capital markets. I had read about what the firm had done in those areas, and I was interested in learning more about the work going on in the London Office.

One reason why a vacation scheme is so valuable is because you have the opportunity to ask questions – and you are encouraged and expected to do so during your time there.

My work consisted of drafting, editing and legal research most of the time. Of course, this will not give you a full picture of the work you will be doing, but that is not the main point of a placement! You are not there to polish your legal skills. You are not even there to show that you are competent (this is expected of you when you are given a vacation scheme). You are there to show that you have a professional and proactive attitude towards your work. See your work not so much as a set of chores to keep you busy, but rather as a chance to for the supervisor to evaluate whether you can handle even more difficult work that he/she may have for you. And when I say that your supervisor is evaluating whether you can handle more difficult work, I mean that he/she is not only looking at the finished product, but also in how you approach your work – are you asking good questions, taking the initiative, building upon feedback etc.

But sometimes, that may not be possible. There may be a lull in the workload, and your supervisor – as impressed he/she is with you – simply cannot give you more work. But what about the rest of the staff in the department? Sometimes, if the day was going by slowly, I would go around the department asking others if I could be of help – trainees included! During the vacation scheme, it is important to that you take the initiative. Go around the department during the first day or two and introduce yourself to the associates and trainees – especially the trainees! (3 reasons: You will rarely know how many people are assessing or observing you, you will usually end up having more work, and most important of all you get to know some great people). Follow up with them, and ask if you can be of help.

Timing is everything! Image credit: ornello_pics

Approaching the exercises:

My firm also organized a series of group exercises for the group. For instance, my group participated in two negotiation simulations one afternoon. Again, the firm will be assessing you here, and one of the things they are looking for is your leadership and your ability to work with a team.

One observation I have is that ‘timing’ – knowing when to speak – is incredibly important if you want to succeed in negotiations. Knowing when to speak up is crucial and it is just as important – if not more so – than what you say. You will not always have an opportunity speak - nor should you seek out every single minute opportunity to be overbearing and dominate the negotiations at the expense of your colleagues. Instead, you should seek to guide and facilitate the negotiations – set and direct the agenda! (There are of course, many other ways to be effective in negotiations, depending on your role and person) Also, do not hesitate from asking the other side questions, and do so in a succinct, but courteous way. A good negotiator always asks questions, and in doing so they guide and shape the outcome of the negotiation.

The best part of the vacation placement:
I will honestly say that the best thing that I took out from the two weeks was getting a chance to meet and know the trainees and associates who worked at the firm.

They gave me the common-sense advice that I have echoed here, and they gave substance and truth to the old cliché that the people make the organization. When I first applied for a vacation scheme, I was attracted by the nature of the work and the international presence of the firm and by many other things. But in applying for the training contract, I highlighted one simple reason before my interviewers: I wanted to work alongside the people I had met during my placement, because they were the best of the best in every sense of the word.

You may have many, many, good reasons for wanting to work at a particular firm. But if you use your time during your vacation scheme well, the best and most persuasive reasons (persuasive for you, that is!) for working at the firm will naturally stand out, adding clarity, substance and focus to your training contract application.

Jon Feng completed his LPC at The City Law School in June 2011.