Steph Day, Careers and Employability Manager at BARBRI, explains how to dig into firms properly, leverage non-law experience to your advantage and stay resilient in a fast-changing profession
“What drew me to this area is the gap that often exists between studying law and building a career in it,” Steph Day, careers and employability manager at BARBRI, tells Legal Cheek Careers. “A law degree teaches you the law, but understanding the profession, the firms, the clients, and all its nuances? That’s a different skill set entirely!”
At BARBRI, her work centres on helping aspiring lawyers “understand the legal profession” and “navigate it successfully”, through one-to-one and group sessions, presentations and initiatives including mentoring and qualifying work experience schemes.
She has been steeped in careers for quite a while: “I’ve been a careers advisor scarily for about 25 years,” she says, with experience across education and supporting individuals leaving the military, before focusing on law.
For students starting out and trying to work out where they fit in the legal landscape, Day’s first instruction is to start with self-reflection — in other words, know yourself! “I always say I would essentially put together a wish list of what you want from a job, and even an employer, and be quite specific.”
That “wish list” should be practical. What work do you want to do? What environment suits you? “Would you rather advise a large international business or do something more individual focused?” says Day. “Is a big firm with structure appealing, or would you prefer something smaller where you might be able to take on a bit more responsibility earlier?”
“Once you have a better idea of what you’re after, your research stops being overwhelming,” she continues. “Without it, it’s a bit like the scattergun approach. You need to be quite methodical and strategic with it.”
Day is also keen to dispel the idea that there is only one acceptable route into the profession. “ Nowadays legal careers aren’t linear,” she says, and it matters that students know “there are other routes, because it’s such a competitive profession to get into”. She admits that it’s a hard truth to swallow, but “unfortunately there are no guarantees you’ll get a vacation scheme or a training contract.”
In her view, the SQE pathway has broadened access to the profession by making it easier to get qualifying work experience (QWE) in different settings. So, if you are fixated on the law firm track, Day’s advice is to widen the scope. “Think inhouse, think charities, think NGOs, think public sector.” She also mentions the scale of the Government Legal Department and highlights apprenticeships as another pathway worth serious consideration.
Day also encourages candidates to look beyond the binary of solicitor and barrister, when in fact there are dozens of other legal roles out there. “There are lots of legal support roles that are really beneficial and important” and, for some, may be a much better fit than practice.
Once you have picked your goal, the next step is really understanding employers themselves and that means looking beyond slogans plastered over law firm websites. “Start with the work and the clients”, Day says, “because that shapes day-to-day life as a junior lawyer”. In private practice, “fee earning and billing is central”. Elsewhere, for instance in in-house roles, success might look different with “risk management, outcomes and relationships rather than hours billed.” And if you want the quickest route to the truth, you need to mix your online research with “conversations with people that actually work in these settings”.
On research, Day suggests building commercial awareness by finding out what firms are doing and -, tracking their recent deals, cases and press releases. LinkedIn is especially useful for what she calls “a bit of ethical stalking”, getting a feel for both firms and the people inside them. As for how deep that digging should go, she puts it simply: “You really need to drill down, almost be like MI5.”
She also describes The Legal Cheek Firms Most List as a strong starting point for this more in-depth research, and points to the plethora of other directories available online. For those completely new to the sector, she suggests Prospects as a starting point. More than anything, candidates need to be aware that law firm marketing will always present a “really idealistic view of the firm”, so speaking to trainees and junior lawyers is invaluable.
Legal exposure matters too, and it does not have to (and probably won’t!) begin with a paid vacation scheme or training contract. Day naturally recommends insight days, webinars and panel discussions but particularly wants students to take volunteering and pro bono seriously. “Pro bono is often underutilised”, she says, “yet the skills, experience and networking you gain can be just amazing, whether through a university law clinic, a legal advice clinic or shadowing someone you know.”
When it comes to applications, Day says all too often candidates tend to discount non-law experience. They “really do underestimate how valuable non-law experience can be”, because many jobs build directly relevant skills, from communication and teamwork to customer-facing problem-solving. And the so-called soft skills? “They used to call them soft skills, but they’re anything but soft.” The trick is to evidence those skills with context. “It is very easy to write a long list of skills”, she says, “but you need to give it a bit of context and explain what you learned and how it translates into legal work.”
A tailored application, in her view, makes the research visible. It should show “genuine research into the firm” and be specific — a deal, a case, a conversation at an event, proof you have “gone above and beyond”. Then you have to connect it back to you, including “what can you contribute, what are your motivations?” An under-researched and under-evidenced application is, for Day, like if someone says they want to be a pro footballer but “aren’t even part of a football team!”.
Even with effort, rejection is common. Day acknowledges that it can take “several cycles to clinch a job” and encourages candidates to treat applications as a learnable skill. “They do improve with practice and feedback,” she says. If you are doing it properly, job hunting “almost becomes a full-time job”, so feedback from mentors or university careers teams can be crucial, as can keeping options open and not putting “all your eggs in one basket”.
Looking ahead, she thinks the stand-out lawyers will be those who combine the basics with adaptability. Commercial awareness remains “one of the most important skills”, alongside resilience and a commitment to lifelong learning.
“Learning doesn’t stop when you qualify,” she says, and encourages developing skills in AI, digital literacy and an understanding of how to work “more efficiently with AI tools”. What matters, she adds, is the judgement that sits around it. “I don’t think those human skills are ever going to go.” She reminds students that relationship-building and the ability to explain complex points simply remain just as essential as ever.
Join us on the afternoon of Thursday 19 March for ‘Finding your fit: How to research legal employers — with BARBRI’, a virtual student event in partnership with BARBRI. Apply now!
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