The Long March From Freedom: 7 Tips to Find a Career After Law School

If you’re anything like me, you may have felt a very strange juxtaposition of weightless excitement and growing confusion following your graduation. The question ‘What do I do now?’ tends to present itself halfway through the celebratory bottle of wine. Many students leaving law school will have already secured training contracts or jobs, but for some it may not be that simple. After around 10 years of the same routine of term-time, summer, term-time, winter, repeat, it can be disorientating to find yourself let loose on the world and told to plan your own time. And although university, and law school, imbues you with many skills, practical life experience is perhaps not one of them. Like it or not, at university, and at law school, you are inevitably cocooned in a community of people who are of the same age and mentality – the real world can be a sharp, sudden shock in comparison.

But fast-forward a year from that puzzling day, and I’ve found myself living in Hackney and working at a technology law firm in central London. If you’re treading water after graduation day – and perhaps nursing a headache too – I’ve got a couple of pointers below I wish I’d had whilst I was still studying.

1.      Remain Flexible

There are different types of graduates – those who know exactly what they want from age 5, and those who have no idea. But no matter which of these groups you may fall into, it’s important not to limit yourself by sticking rigidly to a single, specific path. Let’s say your dream is to work as a barrister in high court – it’s very unlikely that you’ll leave law school and walk straight into the Court of Appeal, be handed a wig and robe, and sent on your way. You’ll be starting out small, and doing so will give you the chance to continue to build on your skills and features that make you attractive to employers. Starting off by working at a firm, or shadowing a barrister, will saturate you in the kind of environment that exposes you to new ideas and fields you may not have previously considered. By remaining open to different options, you’ll also be able to lean on the varied experiences you’ve had in job interviews later. Hold on to those dream jobs, but expect the journey there to be a wavy one.

2.      Boomerang

Some graduates may have been able to secure a training contract or job in their final year of law school, and some may not. Either way, it’s likely that there will be a period of limbo in between, in which you will either be waiting to begin a new job, or attempting to find one in your chosen area. During this time, I can confirm that most of my friends and fellow students returned home for varying lengths of time for an obvious reason – it’s cheaper. Your parents are, hopefully, unlikely to charge you the extortionate levels of rent you can expect from agencies and landlords, and it’s far easier to budget. Although many students don’t like the idea of moving home after the independence and freedom of the last couple of years, I would wholeheartedly recommend it. Living at home will give you more opportunities to save up, and if you’re starting a new job or planning to move to a different city for work, you’ll need the extra cash – even if it’s only for a couple of months.

3.      Be a Tech-Head

I may be biased given my role, but I’d argue that technology is at the centre of most businesses. Most training contracts and job applications are likely to ask you if you are able to competently use Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook and other vital programmes which working professionals use on a daily basis. If you find yourself with a little extra time, it is a good idea to familiarise yourself with programmes you are unaware of or haven’t used before. There are endless resources online to take you through the basics, and a basic knowledge of the workings of common programmes will stand you in good stead during applications.

4.      Check Your Second-Self

Guess what – the people who are looking at your CV have Facebook too. These days, employers are far more likely to look you up online to get an idea of your skills and personality. You should try to manage your social media presence so that you come across as approachable and mature – unfortunately, this may mean removing some of the messier photos from your time at university. Also, if you haven’t yet made a LinkedIn profile, now is most definitely the time. You’ll have the chance to offer a professional profile, list your work experience and explain what skills and talents you currently have. Some of my friends have been approached over LinkedIn by recruitment firms or by businesses who liked the look of their page and wanted to talk more.

5.      Pull Your Head Out the Sand

Networking is an essential part of getting into candidate pools, especially in large cities. If you have a specific company or role you are aiming for, make sure you show your interest by attending events where your paths are likely to cross or showing interest in their recent activity. Many of them are free to attend, and there’s always a few freebies if you can’t resist a detail. If you’re unable to get to such events, or if they’re simply too expensive, don’t be afraid to reach out to people online. For example, if you have a chosen field in mind, and a firm you particularly admire, there’s no harm in approaching a Partner or Trainee via email to ask about their experience in their role. Some may not be able to respond due to time constraints, but some will surely be willing to give you a brief idea of what they did to succeed.

6.      Know What You’re Selling

Of course, each law graduate is different. Do your best to capitalise on your differences, and focus on what experiences set you aside from others. This can be as simple as a society you were involved in at university, an organisation you volunteered with, or an internship you signed up for. If you feel you don’t have anything to say at this point – now is the time to improve. A quick Google search will show you what’s going on in your local community, and you may even find yourself picking up a new obsession along the way.

7.      Take a Look through the Binoculars

At the end of the day, the most important thing to do is to map out your plans for the future. The phrase ‘five-year plan’ can seem quite alarming to a law graduate, particularly if their career path is not yet completely clear. However, you can simplify the question by breaking the time down into smaller sections – for example, in six months, would you like to be living at home, or elsewhere? Why would you want to move there, and what opportunities might open up as a result? In a year, are you planning to be completely self-sufficient, or do you expect to still be leaning on savings, family, or loans? Would you like to have a meaningful position in a specific sector within two years, or would you rather have had more superficial experience in lots of different fields? By approaching the future like this, it’s far easier to pin down what you’ll need to start working on in the present.

And if in doubt, I found one thing pretty comforting – countless hordes of students have come and gone before you, and they are all currently out in the world working at something. If they can do it, why not you?

But hey, don’t just take my word for it. What did you find worked for you?

Two trainees here at White & Black, Amelia and Alexander, each had some tips to add to the mix:

“My main advice would be not to put too much time pressure on yourself. As a graduate, you feel like everyone is expecting you to walk into your dream job and be sitting on the board by the time you’re 30 but, in reality, something really worthwhile takes time to acquire and, anyway, most people older than you are simply wishing they were as young as you again!

The fact is you’re still so young and whether you land that dream job now or in a couple of years’ time probably isn’t going to make much of a difference to your career in the long run. Focus on your passions, consider where you are willing to compromise and where you are not and trust your instincts. You have your whole life ahead of you to develop your career but your early twenties will be gone in a flash. Shrug off the self-imposed pressure and throw yourself into a new world which you’ll likely find to be full of unexpected opportunities.”

-         Amelia Day, Kings College London & University of Law

"Take your time and be honest with yourself when asking the important questions – what do you want to be doing, where do you want to be, what type of place do you want to work? Work hard and be patient – things don’t happen overnight.

Working life (when you finally get there) is a world away from the student bubble (no matter how hard you think you worked!) so make sure you have plenty of time to wind-down and relax – or else you’ll burn out by Christmas.”

-         Alexander Smith, University of Reading & The City Law School