Training Contract Applications: 3 Mistakes to Avoid …

Spelling or Grammar Errors
This is the number one training contract application mistake to avoid on every recruiter's list. There are good reasons for this.

It this is something that can be easily avoided. Quickly pasting your work into a word processor for a grammar and spelling check should get most of the job done. Printing a hard copy and proof reading it, with a pen in hand, will do the rest. Do this when you are completely cold to what you have written, the next morning for example.

Making these types of mistakes shows a lack of attention to detail, which is not taken lightly by prospective employers. Given the type of service that Law firms provide to their clients, attention to detail is especially important. Errors in drafted legal documents expose cracks in a firm’s amour of professionalism. You can imagine that a client will then start to question the firm’s competence in other less visible but more important areas.

Drafting errors also provide ammunition for the opposite side and their lawyers. In the manoeuvreing that happen during negotiations it is much harder to hold your ground and assert your side of the argument if your work is being questioned for lack of quality.

In a profession where a firm’s reputation and the perceived quality of its work are the cornerstones of its business success, unpolished work is a big no-no. Enough said.

Cutting and Pasting
There are no shortcuts to a well-written and constructed application. Next to spelling and grammar errors, cutting and pasting from other sources is not only a waste of time with applications, but also easy enough to detect.

Copying and pasting is often betrayed by inappropriate or incorrect information. Addressing the application to the wrong person or company happens all too often.

Plagiarism is also something that is not tolerated by the reviewers. If the work has been taken from an internet source, a quick Google check will expose the work as copied in a matter of seconds.

Much more common is a subtle mismatch between the question and answer – indicating that you have used a template paragraph for more than one application. A candidate who does this on something as important as their law training contract application may take similar short cuts with the firm’s clients. Amen

Inappropriate Language
Keep in mind that the tone and style of writing should match the purpose. Prose drafted by you during a solicitor training contract will be for legal documents, not articles for tabloid newspapers. Therefore, you should avoid colloquial language, and stick to a clear and concise manner that is both easy to read and understand.

While it is important to have your own opinions, avoid a bias for one side of the argument that reveals more about your own preconceptions than it displays about your intellect.
Inappropriate language includes repeating the firm’s own marketing literature back to them. The recruiters will be only too familiar with what is in their brochures. They will find it somewhat disingenuous if they discover that you have the exact, word-for-word, qualities that they seek for their candidates.

Spelling or Grammar Errors
This is the number one training contract application mistake to avoid on every recruiter's list. There are good reasons for this.

It this is something that can be easily avoided. Quickly pasting your work into a word processor for a grammar and spelling check should get most of the job done. Printing a hard copy and proof reading it, with a pen in hand, will do the rest. Do this when you are completely cold to what you have written, the next morning for example.

Making these types of mistakes shows a lack of attention to detail, which is not taken lightly by prospective employers. Given the type of service that Law firms provide to their clients, attention to detail is especially important. Errors in drafted legal documents expose cracks in a firm’s amour of professionalism. You can imagine that a client will then start to question the firm’s competence in other less visible but more important areas.

Drafting errors also provide ammunition for the opposite side and their lawyers. In the manoeuvreing that happen during negotiations it is much harder to hold your ground and assert your side of the argument if your work is being questioned for lack of quality.

In a profession where a firm’s reputation and the perceived quality of its work are the cornerstones of its business success, unpolished work is a big no-no. Enough said.

Cutting and Pasting
There are no shortcuts to a well-written and constructed application. Next to spelling and grammar errors, cutting and pasting from other sources is not only a waste of time with applications, but also easy enough to detect.

Copying and pasting is often betrayed by inappropriate or incorrect information. Addressing the application to the wrong person or company happens all too often.

Plagiarism is also something that is not tolerated by the reviewers. If the work has been taken from an internet source, a quick Google check will expose the work as copied in a matter of seconds.

Much more common is a subtle mismatch between the question and answer – indicating that you have used a template paragraph for more than one application. A candidate who does this on something as important as their law training contract application may take similar short cuts with the firm’s clients. Amen

Inappropriate Language
Keep in mind that the tone and style of writing should match the purpose. Prose drafted by you during a solicitor training contract will be for legal documents, not articles for tabloid newspapers. Therefore, you should avoid colloquial language, and stick to a clear and concise manner that is both easy to read and understand.

While it is important to have your own opinions, avoid a bias for one side of the argument that reveals more about your own preconceptions than it displays about your intellect.
Inappropriate language includes repeating the firm’s own marketing literature back to them. The recruiters will be only too familiar with what is in their brochures. They will find it somewhat disingenuous if they discover that you have the exact, word-for-word, qualities that they seek for their candidates.