Last Monday’s legal career week session featured Nikola Bjelobaba, who shared a clear, experience-driven roadmap for securing a training contract, from early university decisions through to final offers.
Early Foundations: First Year Matters More Than You Think
Bjelobaba emphasised that, contrary to common academic advice, the first year is pivotal. While grades may not count towards final classification, they are often the only academic results firms initially assess. Alongside academics, early engagement in first-year schemes, open days, mooting, negotiation competitions, and law societies provides both exposure and critical transferable skills.
Short insight schemes, sometimes lasting just one or two days, serve as more than introductory experiences. They are strategic opportunities to gather firm-specific insights (“intel”) that later strengthen applications and interview responses.
Building a Competitive Profile
A strong candidate is not defined solely by academic excellence. Bjelobaba highlighted that differentiation comes from commercial awareness, practical engagement, and authenticity of experience. Understanding law firms as businesses and their clients as commercial entities is essential. Activities such as mooting and negotiation demonstrate communication and analytical ability, while even small-scale entrepreneurial ventures can significantly strengthen an application if framed effectively.
His own experience running a short-term rental business provided tangible commercial insight, helping him stand out in applications.
Strategic Applications Over Volume
Rather than submitting a high volume of generic applications, Bjelobaba applied to fewer than ten firms, focusing on quality and tailoring. This approach led to multiple interview invitations and ultimately offers from leading firms.
A key success factor is demonstrating why a specific firm, not just the law, is important. Candidates must clearly articulate the differentiation between firms, drawing on insights gained through research and direct engagement.
Vacation Schemes: The Critical Gateway
Vacation schemes, typically lasting three weeks, are the primary pipeline into training contracts. Unlike early insight schemes, these involve real legal work. Candidates may be tasked with legal research, drafting documents such as leases, conducting due diligence in transactions, and participating in client calls.
Performance during these schemes is critical, as conversion rates into training contracts can be high but are not guaranteed.
The Application and Interview Process
Recruitment processes vary across firms and may include written applications, video interviews, psychometric or gamified assessments, and multiple interview stages involving both HR and partners.
Partner interviews tend to focus less on technical legal knowledge and more on motivation, commercial thinking, and personality fit. Bjelobaba advised candidates to be confident without overstating their abilities, remain authentic, avoid overly rehearsed answers, and consistently link their experiences back to the firm. Demonstrating a genuine interest in business, rather than purely in law, is particularly important.
Commercial Mindset Over Academic Focus
A central theme throughout the session was that firms are not seeking purely academic lawyers. Instead, they prioritise candidates who show a strong interest in business and markets, understand client needs, and demonstrate adaptability and problem-solving ability.
Legal knowledge can be taught; commercial instinct and mindset are more difficult to develop later, making them key differentiators in the recruitment process.
Technology and the Future Lawyer
The discussion also touched on legal tech and AI. While not a requirement, candidates who demonstrate awareness of industry developments and curiosity about tools shaping legal practice gain an advantage.
Firms increasingly value agile, tech-aware thinkers who can contribute to evolving workflows and innovation.
Key Takeaways
The first year emerges as a critical period for both academic performance and experience-building. Insight schemes provide valuable differentiation by equipping candidates with firm-specific knowledge that strengthens later applications. A focused, high-quality application strategy is more effective than submitting large volumes of generic applications. Vacation schemes remain the primary route into training contracts and offer meaningful exposure to real legal work.
Commercial awareness stands out as the most important differentiator, supported by authenticity, confidence, and clarity in interviews. Ultimately, candidates who demonstrate a proactive, business-oriented mindset are best positioned to succeed.
