Legal Recruitment

Lawyers are known for writing wills, affidavits and agreements that contain complex legal terms, but when it comes to drafting their own resumes they can easily all go awry.

Why would it be that lawyers are not a fantastic resume writers? In a tough job market, where legal vacancies are at a premium, a law graduate needs to emphasize some key essentials that are required in the present legal job market more than ever. Your past performance in a reputed company may help you to land a better job, but for most young law graduates their resume is everything.

A resume is more than a piece of paper. It’s an identity. The resume represents it owner before a prospective employer, therefore, you must know how to write a valuable and impressive resume. For lawyers, searching for legal vacancies starts with writing a great resume.

Writing A Resume

There are no hard and fast rules to follow while drafting your curriculum vitae. You can start your resume with your name, date of birth, contact address, phone numbers and email Ids. but, there are some points, which you need to bear in mind if you want your resume to work miracles for you.

• Keep the resume straight forward and try to conclude it within two to three pages.
• Avoid over-writing. It can confuse your employer and he or she could easily discard your CV.
• Give even the minutest detail of your academic career. An academic achievement may seem irrelivant to you, however, it can be of great assistance to your prospective employer.
• If you have worked in a smaller law firm, then outline what you have done. Give serious thought to your career experience because that is what the employer is looking for.

Young law graduates generally do not have the experience of writing resumes. In this situation it may be very wise to seek assistance with this through working with legal recruitment agencies.

The society is governed by law. One has to abide by law while crossing a street, driving a vehicle, buying a house, using public services or doing anything. Various laws affect each aspect of the society. We must have the knowledge of the legal system but it is not possible for everyone to understand the complex terms of laws and so we take the services of a legal agency or a law executive. However, it is not possible for a law graduate to specialise in all law related fields and this is why law graduates specialise in a particular field (s) and make their career in that. So, today we have separate lawyers with necessary experience and expertise to sort out our various legal issues like civil, criminal and corporate.

Young law graduates can choose bankruptcy, probate, elder law, international law or any other field of their interest. Remember you could do wonders in your area of interest. So carefully decide which area of law attracts you the most. A legal recruitment agency could help you find legal jobs in your areas of interest. These days, environmental law is the favorite area for many lawyers. An environment lawyer represents public-interest groups, waste disposal companies and construction firms.

Lawyers could also opt to work as an in-house legal executive or go for their private practice. In-house legal vacancies allow you to work with large corporations and get a handsome package. In-house work deals in litigation, contract law, international law, corporate law and employment law. In private practice, a fresh law graduate can start as an associate to experienced lawyers and can earn good remuneration. A private practitioner has to deal with various laws ranging from property to criminal and divorce.

A law student in the UK typically has to study for up to 3 years to get his or her law degree and one year for completing the LPC. It is a quite expensive and time consuming process. After going through this expensive academic process, the prospective solicitors start their hunt for the training contract. For this they rely on various recruitment agencies and legal vacancies published in newspapers and magazines. But at present scenario a 2:1 at degree makes solicitors eligible for training contracts. Law graduates, who do not fulfill this condition, may find it difficult to get a training contract.

Training contracts are now mostly awarded to prospective solicitors two years in advance. Moreover, legal firms have more options and they can now pick the best. In this scenario, it has become mandatory for solicitors to get work as paralegal. It means that it will take a solicitor another 2 to 4 years after graduating to actually start a training contract. A paralegal job outside London can get anything between £15-20000 per annum. But it will take you a number of years to get £20-30000 per annum and that too depends on the area of law he or she is practising.

So what does a prospective law student should analyze in this situation? One can say for certain that to study and make a striking career in law is not for those, who are faint hearted. You have to expend a lot of money in law colleges and put in tremendous effort to complete with fellow graduates. It is better to look for other areas in law, which pay better and have plenty of vacancies. Corporate and commercial law and commercial litigation are such areas. A recruitment agency can better tell which area you should choose after going through your credentials.

A young law graduate may find it difficult to get a job all by himself or herself especially when there are other legal professionals in the competition. In today’s competitive age, you need a legal recruitment agency that can search legal vacancies for you. And it is not an ordeal to find a recruitment agency. As soon as you become a law graduate many of the recruitment agencies will call you to offer their services. However, lawyers can themselves access numerous agencies as they are available online. But it is slightly difficult to discern the best out of the rest.

A legal recruitment agency helps you evaluate your credentials and search the best ways to fulfill your objectives. The recruiter suggests how you can improve your resume. He also gives you valuable tips on how you can be a more competitive candidate. Your recruiter should be honest with you because it’s the recruiter, which will direct you to the most appropriate law firms that seek your level of qualification or meet your level of standards. It is very important on your part to describe in detail the information necessary for your application. The recruiter also should be interested in getting more about you. If you do not feel comfortable in dealing with a recruiter or your recruiter shows apathy towards you then it’s better to search for another recruitment agency without wasting much time.

You can consider it as a big plus if your recruiter has many years of experience in this field. But you should still strive to know other information about him such as the name of law firms he has worked with. It is not unethical to ask for the list of firms, whom your recruiter has provided candidates. If the recruiter has been in this service for years then he must possess a list of law firms.