Our careers service

A successful careers service - 84% of our LPC graduates were in legal work just months after graduation*
One-to-one advice, and access to our legal vacancies database, as soon as you accept a place at The College of Law
Summer workshops, e-mail and telephone advice before you start at the College
Our connections with leading law firms and chambers, all around the country, give you a head start

^{*based on known records of students successfully completing their studies in 2010}

When should you use the careers service?

Who should use us?

The simple answer is - anyone who needs us.

While your career is your career, and final decisions rest with you, why not take advantage of the help on offer to you?

If you are just starting your job search, we can help you to identify the types of firms, chambers and areas of practice you might be interested in or could be suited to you. We can also help you research these areas of practice, draw up a list of potential employers and identify the correct application procedure so that you know what you need to be doing and when.
If you’ve already decided who to apply to, we can help with writing CVs, covering letters and application forms to ensure you make the best applications possible, giving you the best chance of securing an interview.
If you’ve been invited to interview, we offer advice on interview preparation, presentations, assessment and psychometric testing, as well as offering tailored mock interviews.
If you have a job offer or job offers, we can help you identify the pros and cons of the different options available to you.
If you are a career changer, we can suggest ways to present your previous experience to greatest effect and help you target the right firms for you.
If things haven’t gone to plan, we can help. If you’ve made lots of applications but received no interview offers or had several interviews but no offers of a job, we can work with you to identify what’s going wrong and offer suggestions that may help turn the situation around.
If you have a ‘gap’ year to fill before taking up a training contract or pupillage, we can give you ideas for work, further study, travel or even programmes abroad.
If you decide not to pursue qualification, we can even advise you on legal-related or alternative careers.

When should you use the careers service?

Given the long recruitment process of many firms and some chambers, it makes sense to start using the careers service as early as possible.

While smaller firms, high street and legal aid employers usually have shorter recruitment time-scales, you still need to get advice early on. For example, you may be able to improve your CV by obtaining additional work experience or experience of a different kind. But this takes time to organise and implement, so you will need to start investigating opportunities as soon as possible.

Before you accept a place at The College of Law

Take a look at our Student Employability Programme (StEP) on the Future Lawyers Network, an online community for anyone and everyone who's interested in working in law.
Attend an open day where teaching and careers staff will be available to answer your queries and to give you advice about what you should be doing and when.

Once you have accepted a place, we offer the following services to new students:

Access to our JobSearch, our unique database of vacancies including training contracts and pupillages
One-to-one counselling from our careers specialists
Access to the Careers libraries at each centre
A series of summer workshops
E-mail and telephone advice

Once you’ve started your course, we offer the following additional services:

Careers workshops throughout the academic year
A range of employer talks
The opportunity to apply for the College mentoring scheme
A free copy of the Training Contract and Pupillage Handbook and Chambers Student Guide when published while stocks last

How to contact us

You can contact us by phone, e-mail or in person. We will use e-mail to contact you about future events, suitable vacancies and careers news, so please check your College e-mail address regularly.

We welcome your feedback

We are constantly developing the service we offer and welcome your comments on the experience you’ve had as well as any ideas you may have for services you would like to see in the future.