Our events season kicked off on the 2nd September Bright Network Future Lawyers Top 100. We welcomed 123 of our most outstanding law students graduating in 2021 to 8 Northumberland Avenue in London to personally meet 13 global leading law firms. This exclusive event gave the members the opportunity to find out more about what Vacation Schemes and training programs the firms offers and directly network with trainees, partners and recruitment teams. 100% of the attendees told us they gained insights at the event that they couldn’t get elsewhere.
"I couldn’t think of a better way of gaining genuine insight into the Legal sphere and learning about the intricate and nuanced journeys of their Lawyers! "
All our events are about making connections - with leading firms, but also with fellow members on the network. Therefore we started the day with a casual networking session lead by our Founder & CEO James Uffindell. The aim of this session for our members to network and meet with likeminded students to develop their personal networks by sharing their own stories.
Two of our Bright Network alumni Maaz Shahzad and Rebecca Wright joined us to share their success stories on how they secured roles as Future Trainee Solicitors at Slaughter and May and Covington & Burling LLP. In addition, they were on hand to answer all our members’ questions and provided their top tips on how to secure a role and submit an outstanding application.
The day continued to provide our members with unique insights to be successful in firm applications. They heard from a panel session which discussed what to expect in commercial law. Representatives from Covington & Burling, Forsters LLP, Macfarlanes, Mischon de Reya, Shearman and Sterling and White & Case provided top tips including ‘absorb all the information you are given; it’s the silly small things that make you stand out and learning from mistakes’.
The members were also able to get involved in Structured Networking – a unique and ideal opportunity to develop personal connections with representatives at every firm attending the event. The energy in the room was remarkable and our members really made the most of this opportunity by coming prepared with some great questions for all the partner firms including; Convington, Forsters LLP, Herbert Smith Freehills, Linklaters, Macfarlanes, Mishcon de Reya, RPC, Shearman & Sterling, Slaughter and May, Trowers and Hamlins, Watson Farley & Williams, Weil and White & Case. All the members were able to spend 10 minutes with each firm before rotating to meet some new representatives.
I had a fantastic day at Bright Network’s Future Lawyers Top 100 event today... I gained knowledge and insight through personal networking which will help provide for better researched vacation scheme applications this year. I also learnt how important it is to feed my interests into commercial awareness, to allow my enthusiasm to shine through. The event certainly has helped with my vacation scheme applications and hopefully beyond. – Shelly Lloyd
The structured networking was followed by the last panel session of the day. Students gained top tips for obtaining a vacation scheme from a panel of partners and graduate recruitment representatives from Herbert Smith Freehills, Linklaters, RPC, Slaughter and May, Trowers & Hamlins and Watson Farley & Williams. Here are some highlights from the session:
- Do your research to make a stand out application – tailor your application to the firm, we are looking for stand out different people so play to your strengths
- Take your time with your application form and answer the question that is being asked – Rachel Pinto, Herbert Smith Freehills
- Any work experience is relevant if you can explain what skills it developed that are relevant to law
- Inject your real personality into your application – don’t be afraid to show your fun side – this is great to draw on in your application.
In true Bright Network spirit, we finished off the day with an Awards Ceremony. Our partner firms chose to award top law students on our network with accolades for their achievements and excellent performance throughout their time at university.
Want to get an insight into what it's really like to be a part of this day? Read about our member Lucy's experience here.