An External Candidate’s Experience of the Training Contract Application Process at Lanyon Bowdler.

The application process at Lanyon Bowdler for a training contract was different to any assessment centre (a day where an individual is assessed against the relevant competencies in order to understand the suitability of an individual for the role of trainee solicitor) that I had participated in before.

This positive contrast was one of the reasons why I chose Lanyon Bowdler, as I genuinely felt that Lanyon Bowdler wanted to assess my strengths as a person, by wanting to know the 'real me', whereas in other assessment centres that I had done, it was about getting 'the right answer' in scenario-based and situational interview questions. For some people, including me, an assessment centre can be a frightening challenge, and although we have the potential to succeed as a solicitor, we don't necessarily perform on the day as expected, due to a range of circumstances. However, Lanyon Bowdler recognises this and through their assessment centre process, they have a range of different exercises to understand and know the candidate. This includes legal questions to assess critical analysis, a role-play exercise to assess communication skills and a presentation to understand what motivates/interests you. This tailors towards more creative candidates like me, who can naturally 'be ourselves' in these types of situations.

Stage One

The first stage of the application process involves the submission of a personal statement and CV. The personal statement is a chance to express why Lanyon Bowdler interests you, and why you think you would be a good fit for Lanyon Bowdler. As someone who applied for Lanyon Bowdler during multiple training contract cycles, I realised the difference between a successful and unsuccessful personal statement was the level of detail used. My successful personal statement genuinely showed why I wanted to train at Lanyon Bowdler. I focused on specific features, which only applied to Lanyon Bowdler, and could not be compared to another law firm, to show why Lanyon Bowdler was a good fit for me. I then linked this to myself to show why I was a good fit for Lanyon Bowdler. This approach came from listening to an episode of 'The Legal Lounge', a podcast where Brian Evans stated how, as a recruiter, it was so clear for him to see how a personal statement was drafted from a generic template, compared to where an individual had put genuine effort, thought and enthusiasm into this. It is also important to check over your CV and personal statement for any grammatical or spelling errors, as a high level of attention to detail is also assessed.

Stage Two

This involved a 1-2-1 interview involving a partner, which was where I first experienced how Lanyon Bowdler were interested in knowing the 'real me'. The questions focused on my personal, legal and professional interests and experiences. The assessor made the effort to understand my responses and where I was challenged or asked to provide further information, I answered this confidently and enthusiastically, because I was talking about a subject that I understood and was important to me. My advice would be to not give an answer that you may think the assessor wants to hear, as if you are questioned on this, you may find it difficult to convey your enthusiasm. However, if you give an answer that may be different, but personal to you, you will naturally feel more confident when answering the question.

Stage Three

The final stage of the assessment process involved a quick-fire session on legal questions, a case-study role-play exercise and a presentation where I was teaching three partners something 'new'.

I realised that the chance to teach the partners something 'new' would enable me to get my personality across, and allow me to be different to other candidates, who may talk to the partners about the law or developments with AI. This is because candidates may feel that this is 'the right answer'. This was another example of how Lanyon Bowdler wanted to know the 'real me'. With this in mind, something personal to me is Sikhism, as this forms my identity, so I spoke about the history of Sikhism, and the significance of the turban. I also spoke about how individuals like Diljit Dosanjh, are proud to wear the turban, and are therefore promoting the wearing of a turban to the younger generation. This allowed me to confidently engage myself in the presentation, as I was talking about a topic that I knew, and that I wanted to talk to others about.

The legal questions were different to anything I had experienced, but again, this was something that I particularly enjoyed, as I saw this as an opportunity to showcase my legal knowledge to the partners on different cases and principles. The areas of law that I was quizzed on were: Contract Law, Trusts, Wills and Equity, Land Law and Tort Law.

I also enjoyed applying knowledge to real life concepts, and exploring different avenues based on nuances in facts, which I had the opportunity to do during the role play of a fictional legal problem. This allowed me to feel like a solicitor and gave me the opportunity to demonstrate the way I thought and how I applied my legal knowledge to concepts. If I was unsure on how to apply the law or what to say when advising, I showed my line of thinking to demonstrate how I came to my conclusion, and where I was incorrect, I took the opportunity to learn from the feedback. This was microcosmically symbolic of the role of a trainee solicitor – we don't need to know everything at this stage, but it is important to have a positive outlook on feedback.

To summarise, the application process for a training contract at Lanyon Bowdler involves three different assessments, including:

• CV and personal statement
• Interview with a partner to understand the candidate
• Legal questions, a presentation on teaching the partners something 'new' and a role-play exercise on a fictional legal problem with three partners.

This is not only Lanyon Bowdler's chance to see whether you are a good fit for them, but whether Lanyon Bowdler is a good fit for you, which was definitely the feeling that I got, as I felt that they wanted to get to know the 'real me'.