1. Do your research.
Lawyers are known for being good researchers. You spent countless hours in law school researching and scrutinizing information. Before every interview, know who you will be speaking with and research their background. Find them on LinkedIn, and conduct a light Google search to find any commonalities between you and your interviewer(s). Note down their accomplishments, awards, and accolades. Bringing it up during your interviews will show them you took the time to get to know who they truly are and gives them a sneak peek into your research capabilities.

On top of knowing the interviewers, walk into your interview with a deep understanding of the firm itself. After all, this is where you plan to dedicate your next several years. Having a good understanding of the firm’s founding story and partners will give you a good sense of the culture the firm builds.

Know what role in the firm you would have if you got the job. Knowing this in great detail will help you craft your narrative on where you want to take your career and how the firm closely aligns with your goals.

2. Be presentable and dress your best.
A Solicitors core job is to represent their clients, and coming to your interview polished and presentable bodes well. First impressions are powerful, and making it extremely important to you as you prepare for an interview will heighten your chances of being well received by your interviewers. The good news is law fashion has loosened up over the years.

3. Come prepared to ask questions.
What kind of lawyer would you be if you were not naturally curious and thorough? Let your curious nature shine through during your interview by coming prepared with well-thought-out and intelligent questions. Avoid questions that are related to your personal benefit. For example, don’t talk about money, vacation time, billable-hour logistics, and other related questions.

Think big picture and ask about the successes of the firm, where the firm is headed, and how you can contribute to their growth. Promote positivity in the interview and avoid any negative sentiment. If they were in the press for a controversial case, avoid bringing up uncomfortable topics that could sour moments in your interview.

4. Be personable and show enthusiasm.
Good Solicitors know how to build relationships. It starts with trust and one way to build trust is to be personable and get to know your audience. Show interest and enthusiasm for meeting your interviewers. They are taking time out of their busy days and their billable hours to meet with you.

Show respect by fully engaging in the conversation. Show up on time or early even. Being late is the kiss of death in the interview world. Be polite and courteous to support staff, such as secretaries, front desk receptionists, and other non-attorney staff. No need to come across as pretentious in the interview or ever for that matter.

5. Be genuine.
Repeat after me: Never, EVER, lie in an interview. There is no quicker way to bomb an interview than by starting to tell lies—even little white lies.

If you are invited to lunch during your interview day, don’t let your guard down. Those lunches are often strategically placed in the interview process to test how you interact in a casual setting. Be your usual genuine self, stay professional, and represent yourself just as polished over lunch as you would in an interview room. The same goes for virtual interviewing.

Sample interview questions and answers

Review these sample interview questions and answers to form your own responses:

Why do you want to practice law?

This question allows you to talk about what attracted you to the legal field. Your answer to this question can position you as the best person for the role and can provide the hiring partner with a glimpse of the knowledge and experience you can bring to the job. Employers want to hear how important this field is for you, so show your genuine interest in law when providing an answer.

Example: “I want to practice law because I’m passionate about bringing justice to clients and upholding the law of our country. I believe it’s important to be fair and unbiased, and I’d like to help someone experience that in their case. Being an attorney is more than filing paperwork with the court—it’s a chance to represent someone who needs help.”

What are your strengths as a lawyer?

Employers want to know your strengths so they can see how you could work with their current team. Since your strengths are unique, you can use your response to stand out from other candidates. Answer this question by relating your strengths to the job you’re applying for and the tasks you expect to be responsible for. Use the STAR technique to give a specific example of your strengths.

Example: “One of my biggest strengths is perseverance. I once represented a client who filed a suit against their employer for failing to pay for injuries they sustained while on the job. It was a difficult case to gather evidence since no employees claimed to witness the accident and there was no video footage. After performing some in-depth research and interviewing several employees, I was able to find out that there was a delivery driver present who corroborated my client’s story. Thankfully, we were able to settle quickly after that.”

What do you want your clients to know about you?

This question helps a hiring partner understand more about your client relations. Think about how you want a client to feel after an interaction with you in the office or courtroom. Consider what attributes you have and how you work that makes a client happy to have you represent them. Employers want to make sure that you treat clients well and represent their law firm in a positive light.

Example: “I want my clients to know that I’ll work hard in their case because they matter to me. I care a lot about their personal outcome and do my due diligence in researching their issue to offer solutions, file the appropriate paperwork and represent them in disputes. My clients should know that I am their advocate, and they can be honest with me about their situation and take comfort in the fact that I’m providing a safe space for them.”

Describe your approach in the courtroom.

How you perform in the courtroom can be the determining factor in winning your case. Answering this question is your chance to share how you interact with members of the court, present your case and represent your client. Give a detailed, step-by-step answer that shows exactly how you prepare and work in a courtroom.

Example: “Either the night before or the morning of a case, I study all of my notes so I’m fully prepared for the trial. I make sure any witnesses or evidence I need to present are confirmed. I usually take an aggressive stance during proceedings so my client gets fair representation. When the opposing side is presenting, I take thorough notes so I can counter effectively.”

Law firm interview tips

Here are some interview tips to consider so you can present yourself well to the hiring partner:

• Familiarise yourself with recent court rulings.
• Research the law firm.
• Bring examples of papers you’ve written.

Research the law firm

Especially if the law firm is well established in the community, the partners want to make sure you will continue to bring good representation to them. It’s important to show that you have researched the firm and are excited to work there. You’ll also be able to better explain what makes you a good fit for the firm and why you chose it as your new place of employment.

Bring examples of papers you’ve written

A large component of working at a law firm is being able to articulate your case in a clear, concise and professional way. Hiring partners may want to see evidence of your writing, so bring some examples. This could include court documents you have prepared, an extensive legal research paper you wrote in school or a legal memo.

About Clayton Legal

Clayton Legal has been partnering with law firms across the country since 1999 and during that time has built up an enviable reputation for trust and reliability. We have made over 5,000 placements from Partners to Legal Executives, Solicitors to Paralegals and Legal IT personnel to Practice Managers.

Whether you are building your legal team or are looking for your next career move, we can help. Call us on 01772 259 121 or email us here.

Did you know that Leonardo Da Vinci, in 1482, wrote the first ‘official’ CV? It was addressed to the Duke of Milan in the hope of gaining a specific painting ‘gig’.

Da Vinci was well known for his intelligence and consequently focused the content of his CV on the project in question. He highlighted his prowess and results in using certain painting techniques he knew the Duke required for the painting in his ‘CV’.

Fact: Tailoring your CV to the role in question has always been critical.

I am sure Leonardo would have been astounded to discover that this humble communication piece would continue to be the start of the recruitment process over five hundred and forty years later.

Though candidates are taking to TikTok and other social channels to promote their personal brand, a CV continues to be the first communication piece your legal hiring manager requests from the team here at Clayton Legal.

So, what are the key elements you need to consider as you craft your CV to stand out to the law firm you want to work for?

After over twenty years of reading good, average, and downright diabolical legal CVs, we have a few suggestions to create a CV that profiles you as the legal candidate to take to interview.

Let’s start with the basics hiring managers look for on the first skim through.

CV Basics

Before diving into specific content and structure, let’s confirm some CV basics. This is the initial document your new employer will see alongside a cover letter should you choose to use one; more about that in another post.

It does not need to be more than a couple of pages long; brevity and getting to the point are key. Your hiring manager will explore more about you and your experience related to your CV in the interview. Remember to ask your legal recruitment consultant for help on this.

Ensure your full current contact details are visible and correct; name in bold at the top of your CV, followed by your full address, email and mobile phone number.

It is common for candidates to find their old CV on a hard drive and use this without checking that the details and phone numbers are still accurate. There isn’t a requirement for a photograph in the UK, nor should you add your date of birth or marital status. When it comes to pronouns, she/her, he/him, the decision is yours.

If you have a disability, it is not necessary to add this though it can be helpful for both your legal recruitment consultant and hiring manager to know when they are setting up an interview.

Create a new email address purely for job hunting. There is nothing worse than an overflowing personal inbox where email communication gets lost, and you end up missing vital emails from your recruitment consultant.

Though your name may be taken on Gmail or Outlook.com, adding private or personal or a number to your name should work.

For example, Angelasmithprivate@gmail.com looks professional and is easy for a recruitment consultant to remember. Avoid adding your birth year, for instance, AngelaSmith1977, as this could set up age bias. If you were born on the 27^th of the month, AngelaSmith27 would be fine.

This leads to formatting, fonts, and grammar. The more challenging something is to read, the less people concentrate, and key convincers about you and your ability to excel in the role you add to your CV can get missed.

Use a professional font, nothing less than 10 point and avoid any non-professional style; you are applying to a law firm. It is easy to think that standing out in this way is a good idea. It isn’t -leave that to the answers you give in the interview.

Have clear headings for sections, use spacing and bullet points and keep a consistent formatting theme in the body of your CV.

Read through your CV to check for context and content and that it reads well. Typos, spelling, and grammar can trip up the best of us, so treble-check everything and get a friend or significant other to read over what you have written.

CV Content

As Da Vinci worked out, tailoring your CV to the job you are applying for is critical, which you can do throughout each section I have highlighted below.

As a start, add a personal statement. This is a concise summary of four or five lines that summarises you, your work history, and your main achievements.

Your Personal Statement

Be specific in your work title; for example, add your legal subvertical and avoid jargon. In the legal profession, years of experience post qualification are critical to add here. Refer to any main achievements, and where possible, make these relevant to the job description as you now start to tailor the CV for the role in question.

Finally, give a couple of examples of what you can bring to the role.

Work Experience

When it comes to work experience, list your current position first and then work backwards. Add the title of the role, the firm in question, how long you were there and your main responsibilities. Then list the key results you delivered and align these to the job description. Talk to your legal recruitment consultant, who will be able to help you pull out what the firm in question is looking for.

Highlight Work Gaps

As you add the list of roles and firms where you have worked, highlight any gaps you have had and why.

Be transparent; the world is a very different place to what it was, and taking time off to look after our own mental health or family members, new and old, happens. Hiring managers in the legal world, as you might expect, are naturally predisposed to look for detail, and if they can’t identify what you were doing between 2011 and 2012, they will be left wondering what other details are missing.

I am sure you can answer the question well in an interview, but remember this is a screening stage where the hiring manager will likely read your CV in isolation.

Education and Qualifications

When it comes to education and qualifications, use a similar format with the most recent qualification first. State the type, result, the dates and the university or college. A brief summary of the areas of law you studied will be relevant here, as would any legal memberships you are a part of.

Relevant Skills

When it comes to skills, list anything relevant to the role here. This might be your new business development skills, a specific software package you can use or languages if they are relevant to the role, geography and the population the firm serves.

Interests and Activities

This area isn’t necessary on legal CVs. Adding an interest in reading or travel won’t really add anything to the conversation. However, if you are involved in activities that relate to your role and profile you as a team player or potential leader, then, of course, add that here.

Summary

When it comes to writing a legal CV, the devil is in the detail, and this is where the help of your legal recruitment consultant is vital.

We have shared a basic flow here, and it is up to you to fill in the gaps relevant to the specific role in question.

If you are ready for your next legal move, check out a selection of our current legal vacancies here and then upload your current CV here. Our team are based across the UK, and you can find all the relevant phone numbers here.

Download Our Guide Here – How To Develop Your Legal CV

Look the part.

Dress to impress regardless of the level of the role that you are going for. Make an effort and dress in a suit or if you don’t have one, your smartest interview clothes. (Remember 1st impressions count)

Know where you are going.

If you don’t know where you are going it never hurts to do a dry run prior to your Interview, failing this make sure that you leave plenty of time to get to your destination. It is better to arrive early and go over your research than to turn up late and flustered.

Know you target audience.

Research the company that you are going to interview for and use any additional knowledge that your consultant may have gained to improve your chances to blow them away!!

Don’t rely on the interviewer being a mind reader.

Ensure that you sell yourself to the best of your ability; the person interviewing you may have had nothing to do with short listing you and has only seen your CV 5 minutes ago, not having time to digest it. Use this opportunity to sell yourself into the job.

Smile!!! Be happy to be there.

Employers are not just looking for excellent skills but someone to fit into an existing team, smiling will help overcome your nerves and show the employer that you are a happy, enthusiastic individual that they should have on board.

SAMPLE INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

• Why do you want to join our organisation?
• What would you do if …….. happened? (hypothetical questions)
• Describe a situation in which you dealt with confrontation (for example a difficult customer).
• Describe a situation in which you influenced or motivated people.
• What other roles have you considered/applied for?
• Describe yourself in three words.
• Describe a situation in which you used your initiative.
• Describe a situation in which you solved a problem.
• Describe a situation in which you took responsibility.
• What are your hobbies?
• What was your biggest setback? Or how do you deal with adversity?
• Describe a situation where you had to plan or organise something.
• What is your usual role in a team?
• Describe a situation where you had a difficult decision to make.

EXAMPLE ANSWERS FOR QUESTIONS

Please note Clayton Legal does not advise that these are the correct answers to the questions listed but are a guide on how they may be approached.

Why do you want this job?

One of the most predictable questions and very important! You need to demonstrate that you have researched the employer and tie your knowledge of them into the skills and interests that led you to apply. Try to find some specific features on which the employer prides themselves: Their training, their client base, their individuality, their public image, etc. This may not always be possible with very small organisations but you may be able to pick up something of this nature from the interviewer.

Describe a situation in which you lead a team.

Outline the situation, your role and the task of the group overall. Describe any problems which arose and how they were tackled. Say what the result was and what you learned from it. Try and keep the examples work related and as relevant to the role you are applying for as possible.

Describe a situation where you worked in a team

Most jobs will involve a degree of teamwork. The interviewer needs to assess how well you relate to other people, what role you take in a group and whether you are able to focus on goals and targets.
Outline the situation, your particular role and the task of the group overall. Describe any problems which arose and how they were tackled. Say what the result was and what you learned from it.

What are your weaknesses?

The classic answer here is to state a strength which is disguised as a weakness, such as “I’m too much of a perfectionist” or “I push myself too hard”. This approach has been used so often that, even if these answers really are true they sound clichéd. Also, interviewers will know this trick. If you feel they really apply to you, give examples: you could say that your attention to detail and perfectionism make you very single-minded when at work, often blotting out others in your need to get the task done.

A better strategy is to choose a weakness that you have worked on to improve and describe what action you are taking to remedy the weakness.

Don’t deny that you have any weaknesses – everyone has weaknesses and if you refuse to admit to them the interviewer will mark you down as arrogant, untruthful or lacking in self-awareness, This question may be phrased in other ways, such as “How would your worst enemy describe you?”

Who else have you applied to/got interviews with?

You are being asked to demonstrate the consistency of your career aims as well as your interest in the job for which you are being interviewed. So if you have applied to one large Law Firm it is reasonable to assume you will be applying to them all.
What you can certainly say in your favour, however, is that the present employer is your first choice. You may even answer the question by explaining you have yet to apply to any other organisations for this very reason. Perhaps your application to the other firms is imminent, depending on the stage you are at in the recruitment cycle.

Give examples that are:
• Relevant – related to the business you are presently being interviewed for
• Prestigious. They will reflect well on the firm interviewing you
• Consistent. Not from lots of different job areas or employment groups of less interest to you than the present opportunity
• Successful so far. Do not list those firms who have rejected you.

What are your strengths?

This allows you to put across your “Unique Selling Points” – three or four of your key strengths. Try to back these points up with examples of where you have had to use them.

Consider the requirements of the job and compare these with all of your own attributes – your personality, skills, abilities or experience. Where they match you should consider these to be your major strengths. The employer certainly will.

For example, team work, interpersonal skills, creative problem solving, dependability,
reliability, originality, leadership etc., could all be cited as strengths. Work out which is most important for the particular job in question and make sure you illustrate your answer with examples from as many parts of your experience, not just university, as you can.
This question may be phrased in other ways, such as “Tell me about yourself” or “How would a friend describe you?”

Have you got any questions?
At the end of the interview, it is likely that you will be given the chance to put your own questions to the interviewer.

• Keep them brief: there may be other interviewees waiting.
• Ask about the work itself, training and career development: not about holidays, pensions, and season ticket loans!
• Prepare some questions in advance: it is OK to write these down and to refer to your notes to remind yourself of what you wanted to ask.

It often happens that, during the interview, all the points that you had noted down to ask about will be covered before you get to this stage. In this situation, you can respond as follows:

Interviewer:

Well, that seems to have covered everything: is there anything you would like to ask me?

Interviewee:

Thank you! I’d made a note to ask about your appraisal system and the study arrangements for professional exams, but we went over those earlier and I really feel you’ve covered everything that I need to know at this moment.

You can also use this opportunity to tell the interviewer anything about yourself that they have not raised during the interview but which you feel is important to your application:

Don’t feel you have to wait until this point to ask questions – if the chance to ask a question seems to arise naturally in the course of the interview, take it! Remember that a traditional interview is a conversation – with a purpose.

Examples of questions you can ask the interviewer

These are just a few ideas – you should certainly not attempt to ask them all and indeed it’s best to formulate your own questions tailored to your circumstances and the job you are being interviewed for! Make sure you have researched the employer carefully, so that you are not asking for information which you should be expected to know already.
• I see it is possible to switch job functions – how often does this happen?
• Do you send your managers on external training courses?
• Where would I be based – is this job function located only in …?
• What is a typical career path in this job function?
• Can you give me more details of your training programme?
• Will I be working in a team? If so, what is the make-up of these teams?
• What are the possibilities of using my languages?
• What are the travel/mobility requirements of this job?
• How would you see this company developing over the next five years?
• How would you describe the atmosphere in this company?
• What is your personal experience of working for this organisation?

About Clayton Legal

Clayton Legal has been partnering with law firms across the country since 1999 and during that time has built up an enviable reputation for trust and reliability. We have made over 5,000 placements from Partners to Legal Executives, Solicitors to Paralegals and Legal IT personnel to Practice Managers.

Whether you are building your legal team or are looking for your next career move, we can help. Call us on 01772 259 121 or email us here.

Rejection rarely feels good.

I am sure we can all remember that amazing boy or girl we thought we would be with forever who then unceremoniously dumped us.

Ouch!

On the upside, although being rejected for a role in a firm hurts, it’s rarely personal, unlike Mr or Miss Right, who cuttingly informed us they didn’t feel the same way we did.

Over the years, we have placed thousands of candidates, and the law of averages naturally suggests our clients have rejected many more. In today’s post, we wanted to share insights and ideas on how to bounce back, learn the lesson and move on to something even better.

Managing Your Mind

Our minds are amazing. They keep our body working like clockwork most of the time and enable us to do the most incredible things. For example, inventing technology that allows us to speak to our friends in LA or design our new fitted kitchen online with one click.

All good, although unfortunately, our brains always want to keep us safe and consequently swerve towards the negative more times than the positive, evidenced by the latest neuroscience research.

So, how does this relate to your interview rejection?

Candidates torture themselves when the hiring manager says no, often forgetting the bigger picture. Rejection is regularly blown out of proportion and viewed as a huge sign of failure.

By thinking objectively, you can use the experience to build on your strengths and address development areas, which helps you find the next role and law firm that suits you best.

Being objective, let’s start by asking for feedback to plan your next interview in an informed way.

Ask For Feedback

Always ask for feedback.

It might not be easy to hear, yet it is the best way forward if you want to make improvements.

Ideally, you will receive this from either the hiring manager or your legal recruitment consultant. If you are working with another recruitment consultant, not Clayton Legal, ask for it.

You might be surprised that there isn’t any feedback because the explanation might be as
simple as:

• another candidate might have additional or relevant skills, or
• worked in the role slightly longer, or
• had gained more experience in a specific sub-sector.

All logical reasons why now wasn’t your time.

On the other hand, maybe there were gaps in your CV that you didn’t explain.

Perhaps the examples you shared were not relevant to the questions asked. Maybe interview nerves got the best of you, and your presentation floundered.

The key here is to use this useful data to hone your approach next time. With practise and focus, all of these areas can be improved.

Plan Your Future

The most common reasons for rejection are lack of technical skill, capability, experience, cultural misalignment and poor interview skills.

Let’s look at each in turn.

Technical skills and experience take application and time. It might be that additional training and self-development are required or looking at a sideways move to gain additional experience before moving upwards.

Cultural misalignment isn’t something you can always predict and in honesty, being turned down is probably a good thing. If you are very friendly, bubbly and enjoy a practical joke, being with a super analytical firm isn’t going to work long term for either of you.

Poor interview skills can be improved. These can range from being more confident, answering questions in detail about the results you have achieved for other law firms and communicating your worth.

It is not uncommon to find out that a candidate hasn’t shared some of their results or specifically how good they are at one part of the role.

Interview skills work both ways, and surprisingly your interview may be carried out by a partner that isn’t experienced in interviewing or remembered to ask you what you can bring to the role.

Always be prepared to answer questions in detail and have your top three results you are proud of that align with the job description you are working to.

Then communicate these achievements during the interview.

Knowing which areas need work is a great opportunity to create your plan, which can be in conjunction with your recruitment consultant.

Here at Clayton Legal, we work with our legal candidates confidentially, often years and months before they are ready to move.

Knowing the goals for their legal career, we can map out a logical approach and next steps. This might include suggesting a sideways move before going for a Head of Practice role or staying put for a year to gain stability and experience that specific law firms are looking for.

Finally, Look For The Gain

Though it isn’t always easy to see, rejections are often good for us. They help us identify what we are missing and do better next time with more knowledge and awareness.As recruitment consultants, it’s not uncommon to see a candidate rejected who, a few months later, gets an even better opportunity; imagine if that could be you?

How Can We Help?

Here at Clayton Legal, we have multiple clients looking for skilled and ambitious candidates like you. For a confidential conversation about your legal career goals and your next move, please get in contact with one of our team here.

About Clayton Legal

Clayton Legal has been partnering with law firms across the country
since 1999 and has built up an enviable reputation for trust and
reliability during that time. We have made over 5,000 placements from
Partners to Legal Executives, Solicitors to Paralegals and Legal I.T.
personnel to Practice Managers.

If you are building your legal team or looking for your next career move, we can help. Call us on 01772 259 121 or email us here.

As I sit down to write this post, my phone has pinged to let me know that the UK economy has rebounded with the fastest growth since World War Two. A 7.5% increase despite falling back in December due to Omicron is a positive situation for business in the UK.

In contrast, our cost-of-living worsened in December after inflation jumped to 5.4% – its highest level in almost 30 years – driven by the higher cost of clothes, food, and footwear; this is likely to get worse as the cost of fuel doubles for many.

Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank of England, says to ask for a pay rise now is to cause further economic decline.

In fact, according to a recent analysis by the Office for Budget Responsibility shared in the Newstatesman, the UK is on course to endure two more decades of stagnant wages, revealing the negative news that we should expect to earn less in 2026 than 2008.

Confusing when we consider the legal sector.

The last two years have seen many law firms report their best year ever, which we can confirm with the number of recruitment instructions we are receiving from our clients.

As a hard-working and productive legal professional, what are your options? Let’s share a few suggestions in this post.

Know Your Facts

The legal candidates we work with here at Clayton Legal are switched on. They know how their firm is faring in the market and what growth is anticipated in future years.

When law firms plan growth, they also understand that they will need to plan financially to increase headcount and ensure their current team is engaged and recompensed appropriately.

Well, hopefully, that is the case.

Though not in every firm.

Taking your time to research salary packages puts you a step ahead because it demonstrates that you have evidence to back up your pay raise request. This data is vital because it will give you leverage when starting the negotiation.

The question then is where your current firm sits on the spectrum, and are you being paid the going rate?

This brings me to the next point.

Know Your Value

Pay and remuneration is a prickly subject, and we aren’t guaranteed a pay rise every year for simply turning up and delivering on our objectives.

Remember, no legal manager likes being held to ransom and at the same time, they appreciate honesty. If you aren’t happy with your remuneration package, you have to tell them; as uncomfortable as that conversation feels.

At Clayton, whenever a candidate comes to us where pay is a problem, we always ask if they have had a discussion with their manager first.

It’s surprising how many people haven’t.

Sometimes a straightforward conversation like this works. Sometimes it doesn’t, and this is where honesty with yourself is important. Here are a few questions to consider.

• What value are you delivering to the firm?
• What results did you achieve last year that were above what was expected?
• Is your manager or HR fully aware of your contribution to the firm?
• Considering this, how will you demonstrate how valuable you are?

As a first start, use your performance objectives showing all your achievements. This way, you will let your firm appreciate your worth and what it might cost to replace you.

You could take your manager through the goals that were agreed upon together and what actions you have taken to achieve the results you have.

You will be surprised how well this works. Your manager could be responsible for a lot of people. They are human too, and might not have all your performance wins etched in their memory.

Know What You Want

This final point is key; know what you want, and here are a few things to consider.

• Do you have a figure in mind?
• Is this based on your personal need?
• Your analysis of the current market?
• How much you think you are worth?

It is important to know what you want and why and have justification for the figure you are asking.

Here is something else.

Is money your real motivator, or are there other options to consider? The world of work is changing, and many firms could consider hybrid working for day weeks and sabbatical leave. These are all options that are now on the negotiating table that wasn’t just a few short years ago.

Know Your Walk-Away Point And Your Options

You might be pleasantly surprised that your pay rise suggestion is accepted, especially in the current talent market.

However, be prepared that it might not. Therefore you need to consider your options.

The upside is that we are currently in a candidate-driven market because of the skill shortage fuelled by Covid-19.

For you, this means that your options are open, and if you are prepared to move, you can potentially join a new law firm and continue to develop your career while being appropriately rewarded.

And this is where we can help.

The team here at Clayton Legal have placed literally thousands of legal professionals.

Our twenty + year record of success has enabled us to develop trusted relationships with many of the UK’s law firms, including the Legal 500, Top 200 and smaller and independent regional law firms. We work in partnership with all our customers to deliver on both career expectations and business drivers.

Depending on your role and experience, we may be able to personally represent you to our clients too. If you would like to have a confidential conversation about you and your legal career then do get in touch. You will find all our contact details here.

What Next?

Though many workplace sectors experienced poor growth last year, the legal sector wasn’t one of them. Here at Clayton Legal, we have multiple clients looking for skilled and ambitious candidates like you. For a confidential conversation about your legal career goals and your next move, please get in contact with one of our team here.

About Clayton Legal

Clayton Legal has been partnering with law firms across the country
since 1999 and has built up an enviable reputation for trust and
reliability during that time. We have made over 5,000 placements from
Partners to Legal Executives, Solicitors to Paralegals and Legal I.T.
personnel to Practice Managers.

If you are building your legal team or looking for your next career move, we can help. Call us on 01772 259 121 or email us here.

At the start of a new year, many of us review where we are in both our personal and professional lives. For those of us working in the legal sector, it’s no different.

The specific details of the legal path you want to take might differ slightly. However, the five fundamentals we are sharing today form part of any successful career planning process, as we have observed placing more than 5000 legal professions over the last twenty-two years.

First, let’s put some context around the impact of the new ‘norm’ when it comes to creating your plan.

The New Norm

As we navigate our way out of the pandemic and multiple new variants, it is fair to say that the new normal hasn’t impacted the legal sector as much as others, except for improved technology, communication channels and virtual recruitment.

We noticed here at Clayton Legal that the phone continued to ring after the initial few weeks of the first lockdown as clients asked us to help fill their roles. This continued throughout 2021, accelerating at pace as the year went on. 2022, so far, shows so sign of this appetite to hire slowing down.

Hybrid, home, and remote working are still major debates across firms as they consider the permanency of such working arrangements.

As predicted by the Microsoft Workplace Trends report, many candidates we speak to are keen to have some flexibility around working in the office or at home. Consequently, we are seeing more firms willing to consider hybrid working moving forward.

The critical piece of the conversation is that skilled legal candidates are in short supply. This results in employers counter offering employees to stay with them rather than moving to a new law firm. Some legal candidates continue to have multiple offers on the table.

In summary, if you are a skilled candidate looking to move, this is your time.

What an opportunity, though let’s have a sense check here. Jumping into a new role with an improved package and a hybrid working opportunity is OK, provided it is part of your long-term plan.
Therefore, consider this as you plan your career. Moving and building your career takes time, depending on the level you want to achieve.

So, what should you be considering in your overall plan?

Decide What You Want

Goal setting and tweaking can happen at any time of the year. As Professor Maxwell Maltz shared in his New York Times bestseller, human beings are success-seeking creatures, and therefore we want to achieve success.

Without goals to inspire and drive you, it’s impossible to know if you’re moving in the right direction. In simple terms, if you don’t know the destination, then you can’t plan the journey.

Deciding what you want allows you to take control of your professional life.

Simply saying that you want something isn’t enough. Goal setting is a strategic process that considers what you want to achieve through a series of milestones and action steps and ends with hard work and dedication.

Therefore, setting a goal and then moving towards it is a logical process we would all be advised to tap into.

Most legal professionals want:

• • To work in an area of law that they enjoy and find interesting

To receive sufficient income for their work to enable them to live comfortably

• To be considered as being professional and knowledgeable
• To achieve a work/life balance that allows them to enjoy a life away from their work

No matter your opinion about setting goals, you will find yourself meandering around with no real sense of purpose unless you are clear on what you want.

Choosing stretch goals means finding the right balance between targets you can realistically achieve and aims that challenge you.

However, don’t set goals that are too easy, either. It’s essential to challenge yourself, as that way, you can reap the rewards of feeling accomplished and driven. Find goals that help you raise the bar on your work and performance.

Always have both short- and long-term goals in mind.

Let’s take an extreme example. If you are a trainee solicitor who wants to become a barrister, you will have to move, study, and gain experience over several years to achieve what you want. This will therefore inform the steps you need to cover in your plan.

Remember, the legal field has many options for you to consider. The more you learn about the legal space, the more you’ll discover new career opportunities and paths you can take.

A Goal Setting Framework

One of the most popular goal-setting strategies involves creating “SMART” goals. There are variations on what the “SMART” acronym stands for, but most experts agree that it requires your goals to be:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Relevant
• Time-Bound

Your legal career goals must be clear and defined. A vague goal like “I want to get a promotion” doesn’t provide sufficient direction. Determine what kind of promotion you want that will fit your plan and when you want to accomplish that target.

Conduct a Skills Audit and Contact A Legal Recruiter

To accomplish what you want in your legal career, you will have to up-level your skills relevant to your desired roles. Knowledge is power, and this is where talking to someone who has the ultimate position you want can be useful.

Although, remember that a lot has changed during the last few years and what was once required for a role, either skills or experience, might have changed.

This is where talking to a specialist legal recruiter will help. Here at Clayton, we have over twenty years’ experience recruiting legal professionals and can guide you on the best next steps according to the specific legal career path you want to take.

With the specs for your ideal job to guide you and your CV in hand, write a list of the skills you need to work on and rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 4. A rating of 4 indicates that you’re an expert in the area, while a rating of 1 means that you have very little knowledge or skill in that area.

Once you know which elements need the most work, you can develop a list of activities that will help you close the gap.

Managing Your Mind

The first step in developing your legal career is to embrace the right mindset by managing your mind. More than ever, the pandemic has highlighted the importance of working with our mentality to handle whatever is happening globally.

It’s easy to assume that creativity, intelligence, or talent are the things that set successful people apart from the rest of the world. However, the truth is that all the most powerful people in business today reached their goals through perseverance, grit, dedication, and the right mindset.

Your ultimate goal may take a few years, and the more you can manage your mind through the process, the better.
Good Luck!

What Next?

Though many workplace sectors experienced poor growth in 2020 and into last year, the legal sector wasn’t one of them. Here at Clayton Legal, we have multiple clients looking for skilled and ambitious candidates like you. For a confidential conversation about your legal career goals and your next move, please get in contact with one of our team here.

About Clayton Legal

Clayton Legal has been partnering with law firms across the country
since 1999 and has built up an enviable reputation for trust and
reliability during that time. We have made over 5,000 placements from
Partners to Legal Executives, Solicitors to Paralegals and Legal I.T.
personnel to Practice Managers.

If you are building your legal team or looking for your next career move, we can help. Call us on 01772 259 121 or email us here.

For legal professionals considering a career move, navigating the job market, now more than ever, can be daunting, especially in practice areas where creating stand out is key. Making sure your application is the one that gets noticed, makes that vital positive first impression and works hard to get you that interview, and into that dream role is key. Read our top 10 tips:

1. Do the groundwork thoroughly

You’ve scoured the market, you’ve seen a new opportunity that has piqued your interest, and you know you’re a great fit – but taking a step back and researching that new opportunity beyond the advert is important. Research the firm thoroughly, even if you’re already aware of their brand and reputation in the market. Look at their digital footprint, their social media channels, their brand, and voice across the sector. What are their values, their mission and vision? What are their growth plans and future aspirations? If, at the end of the process you’re sure you’re on the right path, this undertaking will pay dividends at interview stage in demonstrating your knowledge about them as a potential employer.

2. Give your CV some TLC

Neglect your CV at your peril. This humble document is still a pivotal tool to sell your skills, competences and experience and is often the first opportunity you have to impress. Pay close attention to spelling and grammar and don’t forget the basics – clear formatting, chronological work history, personal contact details – but above all make the time to make it relevant to the role you’re applying for. For those who have previous experience outside of legal, perhaps just include the basics here – Company, job title and employment dates. You can then use the remaining space you have to focus on the experience and skills from your most recent roles – applicable, of course, to the role you’re applying for. The same applies if you have many years of experience – you won’t have the space to describe in detail each role and your responsibilities and achievements; particularly as we’d recommended a CV should be on average 2/3 pages long – and at most, 4 depending on your level of experience. Leveraging those skills and experience to make it clear you’re a match is vital – make it compelling, engaging but above all, specific.

3. Learn to love a cover letter

Whilst some believe the ‘cover letter’ as a tool in your application armory has had its day, many in the legal sector concede that they do still have a part to play in allowing lawyers to further demonstrate suitability for roles and illustrate relevant skills and experience. Again – making it specific to the role and that Firm is key. Demonstrate you’ve done your research about that Firm and highlight why you’re the person they need to hire. Be clear, concise and don’t ramble. We’d recommend keeping it to the one page if you can.

4. Hone that elevator pitch

Refining and perfecting your elevator pitch is time well spent as a jobseeker – and will add value when you’re in an interview scenario further down the line. Being able to articulate your intent, unique attributes, experience, and skill set in 30-60 seconds is an art, but once you have this crafted, it can be used to help define your personal statement and across online application forms.

5. Set aside time

Taking time to search the market for new opportunities takes time, and with those prospective roles in sight, formal job applications often take much longer than you might think – especially if you take on board the advice to personalise your application and supporting documents. Setting time aside in your schedule to dedicate to your job application activity is crucial; factoring in time to proofread, spell check and customise.

6. Embrace the tech

The pandemic has certainly brought about a lot of change when it comes to hiring legal professionals – virtual interviews and onboarding made possible through the rapid acceleration and adoption of tech solutions. As a job seeker, look to standout with alternative ways to raise your personal profile. Video platforms for example are a great way to add personality and weight to your application far beyond the traditional CV and cover letter duo. Requests for video supported applications are increasing, and often facilitated by recruitment agencies. Embrace these tools if they’re offered as another vehicle to demonstrate your suitability.

7. Time to get personal

Without a doubt, your (relevant) experience, skills, qualifications, and education are the hero elements of your legal job application– be that in your CV or a Firm’s own application form. But highlighting your interests out of work is still a great technique to demonstrate your personal qualities, and how you might fit with company culture.  Often an optional section of your application forms or CV, that doesn’t mean they’re a waste of time. Rather, used smartly, hobbies and interests can really strengthen your application and make you more ‘human’.  Try to stay away from stipulating interests that don’t really demonstrate a skill or quality that you’re hoping the hiring manager is looking for. ‘Going out with friends’ for example may be something you do outside of work, but it does little to further exhibit your strengths, skill set, personality, or transferrable qualities relating to the job at hand.

8. Audit your own digital footprint

Like it or not, hirers may conduct their own research into you as a potential employee far beyond the documentation that you have sent to champion that application. Therefore, it’s always wise to sense-check your social media channels to either set to private, or ensure your profile is one you wouldn’t mind your new employer seeing.

9. Boost your network

Connecting with the Hiring Manager at the Firm you’re applying to on LinkedIn may seem bullish, but it can be a savvy move and increase your chances of getting an interview. The connection request should be seen as another opportunity to introduce yourself and interest in the role and wider Firm. Being proactive means you could also open up conversations around the role in more detail that the job spec advertised, and a reciprocal ‘follow’ or connection will offer that individual another window into your experience and voice in the market. It is also worth saying that at this juncture, keep it professional. You don’t want to pile any pressure on regarding your application at this stage.

10. Enlist the help of an expert

Formally registering with a specialist recruitment agency will undoubtedly give you a head start with your job search – furnishing you with market insight as well as the inside track on the Law Firms that are hiring. And, when that dream role is in sight, you’ll be offered practical advice on the basics, refined by experts who live the hiring process and all of its anomalies day in, day out.

Next Steps

If you would like to speak to us confidentially about market conditions, opportunities in your practice area or geographical region, or if you are actively looking for a role and would like us to help give you that competitive edge, we would love to speak to you.

About Clayton Legal

Clayton Legal has been partnering with law firms across the country since 1999 and has built up an enviable reputation for trust and reliability during that time. We have made over 5,000 placements from Partners to Legal Executives, Solicitors to Paralegals and Legal I.T. personnel to Practice Managers.

If you are building your legal team or looking for your next career move, we can help. Call us on 01772 259 121 or email us here.

We were delighted to take part in a Live Q&A event in association with The Law Society earlier this month where we offered our advice and expertise to legal professionals on how to make a compelling legal job application.

In the session we covered a wide range of subjects – from how to master CV basics, to revealing some recent market research where we spoke to Partners and Hiring Managers about what they’re looking for when reviewing applications.

If you weren’t able to join us, you’ll be pleased to know that the session was recorded – click below to view.

We also spoke in detail about current market conditions, and the so-called ‘war for talent’; much documented in recent weeks across many professional sectors. According to statistics from Broadbean, despite a 20 per cent rise in vacancies advertised in Q1 2021 compared to the last three months of 2020, applications to those roles rose by only 4% in the same period.

Law Firms are once again competing for the same, sometimes scarce, pool of legal professionals; some of whom are reluctant to move roles against the backdrop of a pandemic and perceived market uncertainty, and others who do have that confidence and find they have a number of options available to them.

Despite the backdrop of the pandemic, the market is awash with opportunities for those considering a move. If you are indeed in the market as a jobseeker, making your application compelling, engaging, and one that works hard to give you standout is still as important as ever – whether you choose to go direct to the Firm, via a job board, or utilising the services of an experienced legal recruiter.

Top 10 Tips for Supercharging Your Legal Job Application

For legal professionals considering a career move, navigating the job market can be daunting. We were recently asked to share our top 10 tips for creating a standout legal job application with The Law Society which we also wanted to share here:

Click here to have a read

If you would like any further guidance on current market conditions or would like to speak to us in more detail about the opportunities within your region or practice area, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

About Clayton Legal

Clayton Legal has been partnering with law firms across the country since 1999 and during that time has built up an enviable reputation for trust and reliability. We have made over 5,000 placements from partners to legal executives, solicitors to paralegals and legal IT personnel to practice managers.

The new year is a time to think about your career goals; where you are versus where you want to be.

For the most part, 2020 was a year where many things were put ‘on hold’. As the world battled the pandemic, thousands of legal professionals shelved their plans for a career move.

What is different about 2021?

For a start, the pandemic has changed significant parts of the recruitment market, and this shift means that now is the ideal time to consider your career move.

Yes, you could go it alone though working with an experienced legal recruitment company is a better choice; let me explain why.

1. We Understand the 2021 Legal Jobs Market

If finding a new legal role has been on your radar, but you have been putting it off – the jobs market will be completely different from the last time you looked, due to the pandemic.

We have been recruiting throughout the Covid crisis, and we have expert knowledge as to what has already happened, and what this means for future opportunities. We can advise you on legal career options that you may have otherwise been unaware of if you were job searching on your own.

2. Helping You Discover What You Want from Your Career

The role of a recruiter is often misrepresented as someone who finds positions that the candidate is interested in; in reality, we do so much more.

Clayton Legal are legal career experts, and we can help you find what it is you are looking for from the next stage of your career, even if you aren’t sure what that is yourself. Our goal is to help you find a role that fulfils you and helps you get closer to your ultimate career goal – and this is something we offer with our free careers advice service. Get in touch with us here to find out more.

3. Updating Your CV for a Post-Covid World

Updating your CV is the next step to finding a new legal role in our post-Covid world, and where a dedicated recruiter is invaluable right now.

We have worked with legal employers throughout the pandemic, so we know the specific skills and attributes they are looking for NOW in their new hires.

We can support you to tailor your CV to highlight the skills employers are looking for now, such as:

• Legal technology skills,
• demonstrating your emotional intelligence to be able to work effectively as part of a team from home,
• having foresight about specific legal challenges in your specialism.

These are all skills which are on the top of employers’ ‘must-have’ list for candidates right now.

4. Reducing Stress

Changing jobs can be one of the most stressful life events you will go through.

The stress of searching for a new role can often lead candidates to give up on their search and stay put in a position where they aren’t being fulfilled. And with the added pressure that 2020 brought, we are finding that many candidates are choosing to stay put rather than attempt to find a new role.

We understand that things have been tough recently – this is even more of a reason to work with a dedicated legal recruiter; we will enhance your career prospects in a stress-free way.

5. A Passive Search for the Future

Even if you aren’t looking for a new role to start immediately, it is best to get in contact with a legal recruiter for your future plans.

The legal sector has changed so much in the past year, with specific areas such as family law, property and litigation needing more talent than ever to keep up with demand.

When you reach out to a legal recruiter, they can start searching right away, or you can ask them to keep you in mind for any upcoming vacancies a little further down the line – it’s entirely up to you.

5. Moral Support Throughout Your Job Search

Finally, it is worth noting that if you are looking for a job right now and are finding it particularly tough, a recruiter can be a great source of moral support for you.

As I mentioned earlier, a recruiter is more than just someone who searches for job opportunities for you – we can offer real support for when you need it most.

If your legal job search isn’t returning the results you hoped for; if you would like access to more opportunities, interview guidance and legal careers advice and support – we can help.

Next Steps?

Is it time you put into action your plan to find a new role that was shelved due to Covid?

Get in touch with our team of career experts on 01772 259 121 to find out how we can help you in your legal job search today.

About Clayton Legal

Clayton Legal has been partnering with law firms across the country since 1999 and during that time has built up an enviable reputation for trust and reliability. We have made over 5,000 placements from partners to legal executives, solicitors to paralegals and legal IT personnel to practice managers.

If you are building your legal team or looking for your next career move, we can help. Call us on 01772 259 121

If you would like to know more about recruiting trends in the legal sector this year, download our guide here.

The end of one year and the start of another is typically when our thoughts start to turn reflective about our work and home life.

Questions to ask yourself to further in your legal career:

• Are you where you want to be?
• Did the challenges of this year highlight that you’re not entirely happy in your current role?
• Are you where you want to be in your legal career?
• Did you level-up this year and want to flex your new skills in a role with more responsibilities and a higher salary?
• Have you been toying with the idea of a change but have been dissuaded thinking that now isn’t the ‘right time’?

All of these thoughts will be going around in the minds of many legal employees. Even more so this year, after such significant shifts have happened in both our work and personal lives.

Today we look at how legal candidates can start planning now to take advantage of legal career opportunities in 2021.

What Do You Want from Your Legal Career?

This year has provided many of us with additional time to reflect that we didn’t know we needed.

The extreme circumstances of lockdown have been the catalyst for some significant mindset shifts.

Some legal employees found that during their firm’s time of crisis that they were truly working within a team and for an organisation that they were happy with – for others, it provided the clarity to realise that they were not.

In some cases, there might have been certain career opportunities that you were promised which have not come to fruition, and this year might have shone a light on your employer’s dedication to your training development.

The rise of remote work this year has highlighted the importance of flexibility for both legal employers and their employees.

Even next year, when the vaccine means that people can safely return to offices, how many will want to on a full-time basis?

Many legal employees have seen the value of not just remote work, but a flexible approach to working, and will be looking for this from their employer.

I spoke to a candidate recently who was looking for a new role due to their employer’s inability to be flexible with remote work even though it was a success during the lockdown, and I’m sure there are many other candidates in a similar position.

Another area where candidates are placing their focus on is their training and development in a post-pandemic world.

Training and Development

Of course, this year has not been easy for many firms, but employees must feel assured that their employer is invested in their development.

Some law firms were quick to adapt digitally and offer staff all of the help and support they needed to work from home successfully. But other legal professionals have found that they were not supported in a way that is conducive with career progression.

Even despite the pandemic, there are legal firms who have continued to train and develop their teams this year.

Are you regularly being supported and offered training and development in your current legal role, or has it been put on hold because of the pandemic?

If you feel that your employer is not providing you with substantial development opportunities, this is a sign to look for a role with a company that will.

So, where are the challenges and the opportunities within the legal sector for 2021?

Redundancies and Skills Shortages

Like all industries, the legal sector has had areas which have suffered due to the pandemic and others which have thrived.

Personal Injury law is one area where we have seen redundancies, whereas property law, Conveyancing and Family Law has been in high demand.

There are currently skills shortages across Conveyancing and Property Law, so consider this if you are considering a 2021 career move, but talk to your legal recruiter about where the opportunities are in your area.

If you are going to be applying for new legal jobs in 2021, now is the time to revisit your CV.

Getting Your Legal CV Ready

January is historically a buoyant time for the jobs market, and 2021 is set to be no different.

When looking for a new role, you will want to appear to prospective employers as the legal candidate to invite to an interview – and you can do this with some tweaks to your CV.

Think about what you can offer potential employers based on the challenges you have faced and the growth you have achieved this year.

Employers are looking for emotionally intelligent employees with a growth mindset who can flex. Demonstrate how you have overcome challenges this year in regards to remote working, helping your employer as well as your colleagues through the challenges of Covid.

Digital skills and the willingness to learn are going to be essential in 2021 too.

For example, “In my role this year, I used my previous cloud computing knowledge to help our firm make the switch from office-based to home working. I stepped up and offered to be the facilitator and help my colleagues remotely with WFH challenges such as digital file-sharing and taking digital payments”.

If you need assistance tailoring your legal CV, we can help. Contact us here or call our team of legal career experts on 01772 259 121 to find out more.

Next Steps?

Where do you want to be at the end of 2021 in your legal career?

Some great and underutilised and underdeveloped legal candidates are staying put because of perceived risk, but now is the time to think about what you want.

We can help you with career planning, CV writing, your legal job search and setting up interviews.

Get in touch with us by calling 01772 259 121 or contact us here to discuss your legal career options for the new year.

About Clayton Legal

Clayton Legal has been partnering with law firms across the country since 1999 and during that time has built up an enviable reputation for trust and reliability. We have made over 5,000 placements from partners to legal executives, solicitors to paralegals and legal IT personnel to practice managers.

If you are building your legal team or looking for your next career move, we can help. Call us on 01772 259 121 or email us here.