Verity Coutts:

The recent Law Fair was very useful for me as a second year LLB student, especially as I’m keen to follow the barrister route. I attended the session held by the Careers Centre – How to make the most of the law fair; that gave us good tips on how to prep for the fair – something I hadn’t really thought about doing. It was very useful advice and proved invaluable on the day as researching the exhibiting companies meant I avoided asking questions like ‘so what sort of law do you do?’ and making myself look like a bit of a div! It also meant that I could draw up a ‘hit list’ of exhibitors I wanted to talk to and not waste my time or other peoples. Attending this session gives VIP access to the fair – that is entry to the fair an hour before it officially opens to all other students. Whilst this doesn’t really sound that amazing it was much easier to talk to exhibitors not least because it was still relatively quiet. Once the fair actually opened it was quite surprising how quickly queues formed at the ‘big’ exhibitors i.e. Allen & Overy, Blackstone Chambers etc, and the noise level in the room significantly increased.

The fair itself was incredibly informative. I got all the information I wanted and more specifically relating to what future employees are looking for in candidates outside of their academic results – their added extras. I concentrated on three exhibitors, Inner Temple, City of London Police and Blackstone Chambers. By approaching these exhibitors with prepared questions and superficial knowledge I was able to be specific with my conversation; actually find out information that I could use. I was sure to ask for the personal contact details of each of the representatives I spoke to and also gave my details for their newsletters etc. At the very least it’s a first-name-terms contact for future correspondence – an invaluable commodity in this incredibly competitive world!

Overall I enjoyed the experience of the fair, not just for the usefulness of the information we had access to but also because it gave me a real sense of the world I’m wanting to enter into; standing there ‘suited and booted’ talking to industry professionals and getting the inside story of life as a barrister made me hungrier than ever to succeed on this path. I thoroughly recommend it and personally I’ll be sure to be there next year too!

Kate Nutter:

On Monday 25th October, I attended the VIP preparation session for the City Law Fair. I wanted to find out information on the best way to present myself, what relevant questions to ask employers and find out how to generally use the fair effectively.

After the session, I researched the firms and organisations I wanted to speak to. As suggested by the Careers advisers I prepared three questions for each organisation. Having done so, I went into the Law Fair feeling more confident and prepared to speak to employers, without sounding immature and unprepared. I had been to the Law Fair the previous year, but felt that I had not used it wisely as I could have done. I would definitely recommend going to the VIP session before attending the fair, as it was incredibly useful in preparing me for the actual event. I will definitely be attending both again next year.