 I am being recorded for the first time, so I really appreciate the applause. I'm going to try and get through this quickly so that you can get as much of this out of it as you can, seeing as many of you have to leave. So my objective today is to try to give you a sense of, on the other side of the table, what we're looking for and why, because that's really important so that you can showcase that you've got what it takes to thrive in private practice. With respect to my background, I am a lawyer by trade and I've been in the professional resources and development type role for roughly seven, eight years now in large Atlantic law firms. And so I work very closely with associate lawyers. I work very closely with associate lawyers in terms of recruitment, performance management, professional development, and I basically support them in the practice of their law. I'm joined today by my colleague Don Cottro, who is the director of paralegal services and student programs at Stuart McAlvey. So if you have specific questions about the program at our firm, Don is probably better positioned to help you with those details, so feel free to ask questions as we go throughout. So law firms invest a great deal in this process and there's a reason why. There's a lot of hoops to jump through and that's because we're looking for a longer term relationship. It's not just about hiring you for a summer student position or an article in program year. It's about looking for the future lawyers in our firm. And so we want as many touch points as we possibly can to get to know you. There's a lot of talent in the pool and we need to get to know you as best we can to assess the best for our individual firms. So how do we do that? An important lawyer in my life, one of my uncles once said to me, and this was back when I was in law school with Sarah, he said there's a lot more to being a good lawyer than knowing the law. I didn't have a clue what he meant at that time. I just thought I have to get A's or I'm not going to get a job. But there's more to having strong academics to be successful, particularly in private practice. So we recognize as a starting point very, very few if any of you have direct legal experience. It's an unusual thing to apply for a job that you've never done before and that you have no experience whatsoever in doing. So how do we assess whether you've got what it takes to make a go at it? So what we try to do is look for relevant transferable skills that we feel would set you up for success in private practice. What you need to try and do is to set yourself apart from all of the talent in the mix to demonstrate I've got some of those transferable skills. I'd be a good fit at your firm. And so there's a variety of ways in which you can do that and that's one of my key objectives today is to give you some tangible tips, some takeaways that you can implement right away to showcase yourself against all the rest of the talent. So I'm going to focus on three aspects of private practice that are the typical demands that lawyers face on a day-to-day basis. And so when you're looking through our lens, this is what we typically have top of mind. Client service. It's pretty basic. Without clients, law firms don't exist. So it's really important that lawyers focus on delivering the best possible client service every day. That's what sets them apart from other lawyers. There are very many strong lawyers in the legal community who have excellent technical skills. But if they don't focus on delivering top quality client service, clients will walk. It is a very competitive market. Clients have lots of choices. They want consistency and top quality service. They want fast turnaround. They want accessibility. When I email you, I want you emailing me back. And I want to be your top client. I want to be your number one priority. So it's really important that when we recruit lawyers, that client service is a skill that that lawyer can implement on a day-to-day basis. So what can you do as a student who has no legal experience to demonstrate I can adapt to a client service model? Well, first of all, we're looking for those strong communication skills. And years ago, they were called soft skills. Well, in my world, those are the core skills because without effective communication, it's really challenging to deliver top quality client service. So what you can do throughout this process is demonstrate that you're a good listener. Don't underestimate the power of listening. You don't have to dominate conversation. And in fact, if you do that, you know, we're all taking note. They don't listen. They don't listen well. They're dominating conversation. It's not, you know, a back and forth conversation. Ask interesting questions. Demonstrate that you've taken the time to learn about the different firms and the people that you're going to interact with. If you are trying to attract a new client, that's what you would do about that client. If you were to investigate that client, you would learn ways that you can interact with that client, add value, learn about the business. Demonstrate that you have a desire to help and add value that you are solution focused. That's what clients are looking for. Solutions in their business or solutions for a certain litigation matter. Demonstrate that you can go above and beyond what was actually asked of you. So again, for client service, it's not just doing the isolated task. It's looking at the big picture. How can I add more value? So at your level, it's really important to identify relevant job experience that would, you know, indicate you've been in a service-based industry. I was a waitress before I went to law school, so things like that are important to showcase. Demonstrate that you've got strong communication skills. So again, in all of the social aspects of recruitment, demonstrate the active listening, converse, ask the interesting questions. Know your resume. So whenever you're going into whether it's a social aspect of recruitment or the interview itself, you can be assured that the people that you're meeting, they have read your resume. Right? And they are looking for interesting aspects of it. So you need to be familiar with it too. And I guess what I would say is if you can always think about treating the firms that you're interested in as a prospective client, if you bring that attitude to the table that I want to learn about your firm, I want to be a part of your firm, then that will help set you apart from all of the other candidates in the mix, because you're essentially coming to the table and saying, look, I'm right for the job, choose me. Any questions about client service? Okay. Another key demand faced by lawyers is business development. So this comes back to the competitive legal market. And more than ever before, lawyers very early on in their careers, this used to be, you know, you talk about the rain makers who were the senior lawyers in any firm, they were typically responsible for generating new business and retaining existing business. Well, in today's market, you're seeing those pressures very early on in the career. In a small firm environment, it could be as soon as you're called. In a larger firm environment, depending on the community you're in, it can be within the first one to four years of practice. Either way, law firms are looking for students, prospective lawyers to be thinking about business development and to have a business acumen. So again, that's the lens we're looking through. You can't rely on clients to be loyal anymore. So this, you know, in combination with delivering excellent client service, you have to be thinking about ways to retain those clients. Now in my work with associate lawyers, many of them are daunted by the notion of business development because they immediately jump to the awkward cocktail party. And quite frankly, that is one method of interacting with clients, but it's more than that. The very basic element of business development is about nurturing and building relationships. So that's what we're looking for, are the skill sets that would help you build relationships. So how can you do that? Again, it comes back to you demonstrating that you have strong communication skills. Are you relaxed in conversation? Are you at ease? Can you maintain eye contact? Because that's important. If you can't maintain eye contact or you struggle with that, it can affect the confidence that others may have in you. So think about those little things when demonstrating that you have those strong communication skills. We talk a lot about the handshake, the firm handshake. The examples I've used in the past, I remember meeting a very strong candidate from Osgood, and he was a competitive hockey player. And when he shook my hand, he did the little tip thing. And I don't know if he thought, because I'm a woman, I can't shake properly or if he shakes all hands that way. But it impacted the way that was the last thing I remembered about him. Despite his excellent application, he conversed very well in the interview. So think about these little things that can leave impressions. It's all about people having confidence in you. We talk a lot about that at the lawyer level. Do you have confidence in this lawyer to handle your work? That is a question I ask. I'm doing performance reviews right now. I ask it about 10 times a day. So it all comes back to that. Do you have a question? It was just in this place. How do you then recover from that to say, okay, I recognize this wasn't as strong. If you're asking questions, can everybody just put your hands up if you agree and if you don't, don't answer? All right, because it would be so boring if we're just listening to me. Well, the answer to that, like anything in law, it depends on who you ask. If you were to ask me this question, I use humor appropriately when there's an awkward situation. So I would say, well, that was a great handshake. Let's do that again. But that depends. You have to really try to gauge, you know, like that would go over very well with me, with others perhaps not so much. I don't know if, Sarah, you have like an alternative suggestion there. Sometimes it's there. Yeah. Go in for it again. Yeah. It would be direct shiver. Yeah. You know? It's just distracting, right? That's it. You don't want the negative distractions because the pool is so strong and so competitive. You don't want any of those distractions, right, when people are looking at the strength of the candidates. You just want all the positives to remain on the table because there's often these tie breakers, right? And I know it sounds terrible because your jobs are on the line, but when you have that many people in the mix, you've got to make a decision somehow. One example could be you then go in for a second shake at the end of the conversation and you make sure that that's a good one. So that's another way to get around that if you don't want to use humor or recognize it verbally. Another one I like to emphasize, you know, think about in advance if I'm very comfortable in a social setting. That's why I do what I do. I really enjoy interacting with people, getting to know people. I ask lots of questions. But if you are uncomfortable with that and it's not natural for you, then think about it in advance. It's like preparing for anything, even the social aspect of recruitment. Think about the ice breaker questions. That can be part of your, you know, your prep in terms of the various firms. Maybe don't go around asking the same ice break or the same question as an ice breaker with all people you meet at the same function. But have like a little list of five, you know, your toolkit per se, if conversing doesn't come naturally. And you're always going to meet awkward lawyers. That's a given. So have one of them for those anyway. Even if you're great at it, you're going to meet an awkward lawyer. That's just a given. The one I do like to emphasize, because the demographics in law firms, you know, we've got lots of generations in the mix. And I think it's fair to say that a lot of those with influence within the firms tend to still be rather senior. I'm in my early 40s. And I, I mean, it's only in the past five years I've started conversing by text. Right? So you've got lawyers who are much senior to me. So if they see you at a function and you're texting, they don't think of that as a normal form of communication. They think of it as being disinterested, rude, and not worth my time. So think about those things as well. You may need to modify your habits when interacting with law firm representatives. Okay. The other thing we look for is judgment. So in again, in the social context, thinking about business development, client service, transferable skills, is this individual client facing appropriate? And by that, I mean, is the choice of conversation appropriate? I remember being at a reception and a very strong candidate told me about how drunk he was at a party. Well, that, you know, I don't need to know that. I mean, I wasn't offended. I've got pretty thick skin, but not a good choice of conversation with someone you want to hire you. Have a professional demeanor and appearance. So on the choice, on the question of dress, this is one of the trickiest things for people to get their head around. You're on a tight budget. You know, your student attire isn't necessarily fitting for trying to find the job. So you're trying to figure out, what do I wear to the interview? What do I wear to all of the social engagements? And again, it depends on who you ask and it depends on the firm, whether you're looking at a small firm, a small firm, larger firm. What Sarah and I have said in the past is you've, you know, a suit is a great default. Not everybody has a suit at this point. I invested in a suit. I spent too much money on it, but I wore it for six years until it got holes in it in my second year. So if you can make it in the budget, invest in a suit because you'll get lots of wear out of a suit if you're looking to be employed in a law firm. You know, the whole notion of business casual is an individual assessment. It's easier, quite frankly, for men to pull off. This is business casual for me. That's business casual for me. Not for everybody. Some people, like on a Friday, I'll wear a nice jean with a jacket like Sarah's dress today. So this is a tricky one. You have to figure out who you're meeting in the context. Is the classic black the way to go or do people not really fit? I find this so interesting. If you want to wear a red suit, go for it. When I was in law school, we talked about wearing a red suit and you didn't want to be an aggressive woman wearing a red suit. But that was 15 years ago. Okay? To wear a black suit? Well, this is a thing. It's so subjective. It's very comfortable because you don't want to be what you're wearing to be distracting to you so that you can't put your best foot forward in an interview. And on that point, so for example, and this just sounds really silly, but wear clothes that fit. Right? Like I've interviewed people whose clothes are too tight, too big. That's distracting for the candidate and it is distracting for the interviewer. So it's all about trying to look your best and put your best foot forward. And so you need to be comfortable to be able to do that or you're going to be distracted. With respect to color, I think I'm not sure in what context that came up. From my perspective, it's a non-issue. Do you want to wear... I don't know. I mean, I've seen a lot of purple hair although in 2015 it's not supposed to be a current trend anymore. I did see that. But if you have purple hair and you are applying for a job in a conservative law firm, that could be distracting. It could be because purple hair is not typically conservative. So you've got to figure out where you're applying and is that the right fit for you. Because I don't think you ever want to change who you are to fit the mold of a potential employer. So again, I mean, I don't want to overthink this for you, but just look your best. We talk about looking polished. So that means it's not me, they have a class. Ironing your shirt. You wouldn't believe how many people wrinkly shirts. Press your clothes, make sure they're clean, no coffee stains. Look your best. What you're wearing right now is perfect business casual with a jacket and a casual shirt. I feel like I'm going to lose half of you. Anyway, if you have any questions, Dawn or myself, we are happy to answer them at a later time. Okay. So, bold colors like blue, for example, are confidence colors. Like a blue suit or like a charcoal gray. Something like this is more neutral. It totally says that a black suit is typically ill-advised because if you look at the people who are working at firms, they often don't wear a lot of black suits. Yeah. So you want something that's a little bit more... I have a friend that worked in London and he went to work with a brown suit in his law center. Really? London, England or London? He said totally avoid brown suits and tan. I just think you... Well, again, it's about being remembered for the right reasons, right? So if you look your best, I think you can't go wrong. And if you have doubts, ask students who have been hired, phone a clerk in a firm that you're interested in and get their take on it. You know? Okay. See you later. Other things to avoid? Oh, sorry. Yeah. Yes. How many interviews do you have? Oh, I see. Like the process with a given firm. Would anyone know? I know I wouldn't. And I'm pretty picky about stuff like that. That's not to say someone wouldn't. But I think that most firms recognize you have an envelope of a budget for a tire at this age and stage of your legal career. So I think if you choose to invest in a suit, take care of it. And, you know, I think changing the shirt in and out is a great option. Yeah. I love that show, by the way. Yeah. Really? On Netflix? No. I love a good bow tie. And this is about being true to your character. So if you're in an interview with me and you've got a bow tie on and you happen to be sitting with Mark Bursey, who may very well also have a bow tie on. One of the things that most interviewers will say is like in my notes, bow tie. Because it's a way of me recalling you. We meet so many people. So again, I think to set yourself apart in the right way, to show your character, I think is a great thing. And you can do that through good judgment choice, fashion choices. Yeah. There's bow tie day and everything, right? I mean, a good bow tie. Okay. In terms of things, conversation points, the good judgment piece. Again, professional demeanor and appearance, appropriate alcohol intake. I am not a beer drinker. I enjoy a glass of wine. But it does make me flush. So when I go to events like this, I'm working. It's an employment gathering, not a social one. So, you know, go and maybe go to events like this. You know, it doesn't matter if you react strongly to a small amount of alcohol, but monitor your intake at these events. You know, it's a marathon, not a sprint, right? This is an exhausting process over a very short period of time. Many of you have assignments due. You have classes. You may have jobs. So party afterwards is my recommendation. Have fun. But make sure that your alcohol intake is appropriate. Avoid asking questions that deal with money early on in the process. If towards the end of the process you feel you are a strong candidate and there may be multiple offers coming in, that's when you would have a conversation about what's the compensation package going to look like. And you might want to do that through a clerk or a junior lawyer. Not necessarily the recruitment team, but give that some thought. I'm going to ask someone for the first time at a reception. Avoid chewing gum, turning your phones off, all of those things and using humor appropriately are all good things. But again, overall try to be yourself and try to build rapport with the people that you meet throughout the process. I've got a note here to manage the nerves as best you can. So whatever works for you, whether that's making sure you get regular eyes, stay hydrated, practice with friends, scream at the top of your lungs before you enter a certain room. I don't know. Whatever it takes for you to get the nerves in check, because you've got a finite period of time to really showcase what you can bring to the table. And again, you want to be remembered for the right reasons. Workload management. So I work very closely with our lawyers on managing and juggling all the balls in life. And the reality is with clients having the high expectations they have and each individual client expecting to be the number one client, in addition to that you've got most men and women now in private practice are taking an active involvement in raising children, actively involved in the community, through volunteerism, sports, whatever it may be. So strong workload management skills are really critical for long term success in private practice so that you enjoy practice day to day. So what can you do at this age and stage to show that you can handle those pressures and manage them effectively? Well, we're looking for people who can demonstrate the ability to multitask, obviously. And, you know, someone who is fairly organized, that's very important to thrive in private practice. So with respect to multitasking, do what you can to demonstrate, look, I have strong academics, but I also do these things, whether it's a part-time job, sports, volunteerism, active involvement with my family. With respect to organizing it's really important that you can demonstrate the ability to plan ahead anticipate next steps. You know, it comes back to that point with respect to delegating lawyers who are internal clients or the external client having confidence in your abilities. And one of the four stories can be a senior lawyer walks into a junior lawyer's office and there's paper everywhere and that senior lawyer says, my file is in there somewhere. So it's about having confidence that you've got the ability to have it all well in hand and move files forward. So with respect I know the resumes were due today or they've already been submitted, yeah. So with respect to being organized for interviews and correct me if I'm getting this wrong on the rules now what I would do is depending on how many interviews I would have like a one page cheat sheet for every firm. You know a little bit of history about the firm some interesting facts that you've researched, do some due diligence on those who are interviewing you, maybe do a snapshot of their picture so you don't forget who they are you have a list of three to five questions that you want to ask in an interview and I'm a paper person for stuff like that so I would have a binder if you want to use an iPad or something you could use one note I find is great for that kind of thing just so that you're very organized and whether you're permitted to take that into the interview or not at the very least what you can do is prior to going in scan that one pager, refresh on that individual firm and then as you're leaving that interview you can make notes about that firm which comes in handy as the process progresses so if you wanted to send a personalized thank you you could reference something that was discussed in that particular interview don't underestimate how exhausting this will be and it will be very challenging and taxing on you to remember everything so don't underestimate the importance of jotting things down. The other thing that I often coach our lawyers on is about work ethic and resilience lawyers work really hard and depending on the firm in which you choose to practice that can vary but either way you've chosen a career that you've got to work hard at so it's important that you assess your gas tank and your ability to handle the pressures that come with private practice and having a great personal life so from our perspective we are looking for indicators of that ability to handle a lot of that and so we make note of those who have a calm demeanor when I talk about getting the nerves in check it's important for that because it comes back to the never let them see you sweat right fake it till you make it so putting your best face forward in terms of having a calm and relaxed demeanor that is a great way to set yourself apart anything else on that so then about you I think it's really important and I know it's incredibly competitive to do a fit assessment from your perspective that's really important that you do your own due diligence up front to try and figure out what firms would be the best fit for me so you want to ask about whether if mentorship is important to you do certain firms have mentorship programs what is the culture of the firm like is it an open door policy is their teaming on files what are the expectations of practicing lawyers in terms of client interaction internal interaction what resources are available at various firms to support lawyers in the practice of law some firms have the benefit like the Atlantic regional firms of having dedicated professional resources departments others do not but that's not to say those supports don't exist it may be that a lawyer internally is dedicated to that get a sense from existing students and associate lawyers within those firms don't be hesitant to reach out whether it's through a referral or a cold call and just see if you can go to coffee with somebody and learn more about what is it like to work there on a day-to-day basis because coming back to my original point we're looking for that longer term relationship so I think it's really important on your end to get a sense of that too I think one of the primary goals during articles is not only to be admitted to the bar as a newly called lawyer but it's also to get hired back so you don't want to invest a year of your life at a firm that ultimately isn't a great fit for you meet as many people as you can from the firm to do that assessment at various practice levels the students may be on the staff side as well ask yourself some key questions don't underestimate the fun factor would you actually enjoy working with this group of people day-to-day the practice of law can be pretty grueling so it's important that you would enjoy the people that you'd be working with a question that's often overlooked what kind of client base are at the various firms what are the viable practice areas so we're not looking for students at this age and stage to say I want to practice criminal law or I want to be a business lawyer we're not looking for that if you feel that way already then don't apply to a firm that's never going to give you that kind of an opportunity so make sure you do that due diligence in the firm in the Halifax office we don't practice criminal law we get a lot of applications though that say I have a very strong interest in criminal law so that gets put in the other pile so do your homework up front and then I have stuff here about have fun be yourself be prepared be organized be professional and good luck spaces there kind of gain something or learn something more about the front of that I think importantly it's an opportunity opportunity for you to demonstrate you have done all that homework so even if you position it as look I have met with so and so but I'd like to get your perspective on X don't if anything don't waste that opportunity don't say I don't have any questions that is noted if someone does not have a question for me in an interview that's the last thing I write and that's a tie breaker so take advantage of that and if nothing came up in the course of the interview that's new or caught your interest that you want to follow up on then go back to your standard list of questions because that if anything demonstrates I've taken the time to investigate your firm I've come prepared they don't need to know you've already done you've already got the answers you need but you're demonstrating that I've taken initiative then have to use judgment if it's been a great conversation and the interview has gone long then perhaps ask one question or say look I know we're out of time do you have time for me to ask any questions quiet group mind you there's only 12 of you yes I think it's important to have a big believer in talking about the elephant in the room level Chan who is the partner who leads the recruitment team at our firm is quote unquote from away so what you might want to do through your research is look through the bios or through your contacts at the various firms through the student at the student level figure out what lawyers did come from away securing positions and maybe reach out to that lawyer and you know inquire about his or her experience I think it is important that it's referenced on a cover letter because again that's the initial screening point and so when there's so many talented candidates in the pool when you scan a resume and there's no other connection to this community other than law school then I need to see something in a cover letter that suggests to me a level of commitment to stay in this community and this simply comes back to the point of us from our perspective looking for a long-term relationship and in many cases work isn't enough to keep people in a certain community so I think it's important to recognize it and you then need to be honest about what are your motivators and what is it about Halifax if Halifax is the community that makes you want to stay I don't know if based on other discussions if you have anything to add to that I think that's great advice because if you're not genuine when you relate your commitment to stay these lawyers will know that's what they're trained to do other questions okay by a letter I meant an email sorry is that what you were asking about the distinction okay yes I meant an email and so again taking great care there you know making sure you're addressing it to the intended recipient and I think it's really good to personalize it when you can so if you after an interview make a note of a unique discussion point you could perhaps reference that so if a lawyer gave you advice or commented on something that was of interest you could recognize that in the thank you email again you've got to use your judgment don't write a book I've got a rule about email I like to see it on my screen and if I've got a scroll oh it's painful so thank you for your time or something great meeting you as the subject line and then addressing that person by name trying not to do the cut and paste on all of them personalize them in some way because that is an indicator to us that you've taken the initiative to stop pause personalize attention to detail all of those attributes that we look for in the delivery of client service there was one here was that the same question about there are no trivial questions um this is again this is so subjective right so I remember when November first came out and it's it's around the time of the the schmoozing right and I remember being at one of these events and I'm forming all these judgments and I'm like what the hell are these kids doing coming to these events with these crazy mustaches you know and then someone educated me that it was a very important fundraiser so um it's very subjective it comes down to doing your homework about uh the firms there are some firms that are young and hip and probably wouldn't think twice about not being clean shaven there are other firms that are more conservative and the distinction is typically the client base right and the seniority within the firm like the level of generations in the firm if you're applying to a firm a smaller firm that's all young maybe lawyers in their 30s probably not an issue depending on the client base but I think you need to go into any recruitment process feeling comfortable you know if it looks like you didn't shave for two days that could be perceived as didn't take the time but if it looks like that's how you typically would wear your facial hair then that's just who you are I don't know if I'm explaining that well enough but if it looks like I was out partying all night and I didn't take time to shave before this interview that's not a good thing yeah that's a great tip exercise caution because the reality is the practice of law in this community is still relatively conservative it's a conservative industry the reality your hair looks fine to me and I've always had short hair I would never have made a mental recognition of your hair either way positive or negative yeah you've got long hair Sarah any comments on that you know if someone had ponytails at the top maybe that would be distracting yes but I work with many practicing women who have long hair and they wear it down they never put it up or anything do they like a clip or anything no it's always worn down yes well the starting point is being genuine and identifying that is a conversation point so if you're going to write something about that you can expect it to be discussed in an interview so make sure it's truthful as a starting point things that I have seen people will comment on relatives in the community in some cases students meet a significant other during law school and they talk about that volunteerism I've seen as the connection to that community and wanting to stay trying to think of other things I mean level tells a great story about this he just fell in love with Halifax and he was here for I think two of his degrees so it's a unique to you but my caution would be truthful and honest about that don't just make things up you know if there's no other reason other than getting a job yeah so when does it all start is it next week yeah yeah so everybody is participating in Super Saturday any questions about that stay hydrated don't underestimate the power of a water bottle and granola bars little snacks you know to keep your focus I used to say maybe I don't want to do 10 interviews but they are trying to schedule more than 8 interviews like what's what's a good manageable load that is probably a good Sarah question I think it's a very personal assessment so again I know it's a very tight market and having articles is really important you need your articles to become practicing lawyers so I think there's a general reluctance to limit yourself right because you've got to cast the net wider I think though if you have a sense going in which firms are of more interest to you then focus on your prep give them more weight in your prep right if you know going in which firms you are truly interested in then focus on those firms in your prep so that you can truly shine with respect to pacing yourself I can't even remember what the standard is so like maybe don't go to DOMA stuff Thursday get some good sleep Thursday and Friday and I mean it sounds like we're making a big deal that it is a long day and it's tiring trying to sell yourself repeatedly to people who I mean sometimes interviewers are going to be asking why are we spending like 5 minutes of this 20 or 10 minutes of this 20 talking about that type of thing it can be it can be pretty challenging so if you have to know yourself and if you know I think that is really important though to if you know yourself and you know how much of a gas tank you have don't underestimate rest being hydrated just don't go drinking the night before that's just a smart move drink that night drink afterwards like decompress go out with your friends but this is an opportunity for you to get your foot in the door if you don't prepare yourself it could be a wasted opportunity so approach it as the beginning of the process again it's a marathon and you want to start off strong okay I see you're ready too alright you can reach out to yourself and any of the recruitment team at all of the law firms all of the lawyers are happy to discuss any of your questions a great source of information though are those who are closer to your age and stage of the legal practice so students who are still in the law school clerks are great just go for a coffee and learn what you can about the firms you're welcome