Getting the most out of a law fair

When you study at university it is almost inevitable that your university will hold a law fair at some point during your time there. Most law schools will hold a law fair once or twice a year. With this in mind, today’s blog is going to look into how you can use these fairs to your advantage and get the absolute most out of law fairs.

Firstly, it’s important to know when the law fair is going to take place. This will give you plenty of time to prepare questions and to think of areas that you want to talk about (for example graduate employment rates). This also gives you time to find out the law firms that will be attending and which of these firms you want to talk to.

Once you have arrived at the law fair it’s important to take your time and move at your own pace. It is likely that there could be 100+ law firms at the event and they are all going to be very welcoming and willing to answer your questions. My first piece of advice when attending the law firm is to talk to as many people as you can. Being able to talk to a wide range of people from a broad set of law firms can be invaluable. The more people you speak to the greater insight you will get of a future career and this can help guide you.

Being confident in your questions and knowing exactly what information you want from the law firm is a perfect way of showing that you are; competent, knowledgeable and have a willingness to work. Now, showing this is important as the person you could be speaking to ultimately may be deciding whether or not to award you a place on their scheme in the future. With that in mind being smiley and enthusiastic is a great way to get yourself remembered and ultimately could be the difference between achieving a graduate place and not.

Whilst talking to the law firms it’s ok to be personal and in some cases, this will help you relax and get the information you require. However, it may be that you only have a couple of minutes speaking with each firm so it’s important that you get the questions you want answering first and then go from there.

When looking around the firms at the fair do not be deterred by the fact that you may not know any law firms or have a clue what area of law you would like to go into. There are thousands of law students across the country in the same boat. These events are an amazing place to discover what you want and what your dream firm and job would look like. In these cases, I would definitely suggest speaking to as many firms and you can and seeing what sort of areas grab your attention throughout your conversations.

I good idea would be to take a journal or diary with you when attending the fair. Having a place to write down your thoughts and observations can really help in the future when it comes to applications. Having small bits of information that isn’t readily available to others can be gold dust when applying for a place at the firm. Journals are also good for times and dates of specific firm events and when applications for certain things like summer vacation schemes open and close.

When you have found the law firms that you think you like the look off utilise the information they have with them. Nearly every law firm present will have some form of flyer or leaflet with further information that you can use in the future (e.g. the firms working areas or partners in the firm). Having these handy can make writing applications more coherent and can help make your work stand out in what might be a very congested application process.

Some representatives and firms will be very happy to have you follow them on socials like LinkedIn and Twitter. This can be a good way of staying in contact with the firm after the event and may even allow you to see events that you would not otherwise have seen if you hadn’t been to the fair.

When you’ve finished at the fair it’s a good idea to take some time to think over what you have been told and what each firm would be able to give you and how your career would ultimately benefit for working alongside the company.

We hope these tips are helpful to you and you can put them into practice next time you are at a law fair and we would also love to hear all of your stories about law fairs and the memories you have of the fair.

We have been The Almost Lawyers and until the next, we thank you greatly for your continued support.