Revealed: How Hard Is It To Get A Training Contract In Law?

I’m often asked: how hard is it to get a training contract?

My answer is it’s notoriously difficult, with the majority of candidates failing each year.

HOWEVER, the hurdles aren’t insurmountable.

In this article, I’ll explore why it’s so challenging and why it can be easier than you think. I’ll also outline proven strategies to boost your chances of success.

Let’s dive in.

5 Reasons It’s Hard To Get A Training Contract

Let’s start with the challenges.

Here’s why it can be difficult to get a training contract:

1. High competition

Thousands of candidates apply for a limited number of training contracts each year.

Some firms receive over 2,000 applications per cycle, making it difficult to stand out. Even strong candidates struggle to secure offers due to the sheer volume of applicants.

2. Steep learning curve

There’s a lot to learn, including:

• The legal sector (firm types, industry trends)
• Individual firms (practice area strengths, practice areas, culture)
• The recruitment process (applications, interviews, assessments).

This learning is also more self-directed than university, adding to the difficulty.

3. Demonstrating career motivation

Many candidates struggle with “Why do you want to be a commercial lawyer?” and “Why this firm?” questions.

Answers need to articulate clear, specific reasons that demonstrate genuine interest and understanding.

It’s not easy and is a major reason candidates are rejected.

4. Providing evidence of what the firm is looking for

Another big cause of rejections is a lack of evidential impact in applications.

Firms expect strong, specific examples to demonstrate the skills and attributes they require in trainees.

And this is hard when you have to figure this out on your own.

5. Bottlenecks in the process

Firms’ recruitment processes have multiple stages.

Each stage is a bottleneck where candidates get trapped. It can take time to break through each bottleneck, often requiring multiple recruitment cycles.

But these hurdles are also opportunities for you.

If you consistently focus on these challenges, you greatly improve your chances of success.

It’s about putting more effort into the right things. This will build a moat between you and other candidates who are behind you in the process. It’s how you get a competitive advantage!

So, now let’s look at how to make this easier.

5 Proven Ways To Make It Easier To Get A Training Contract

Whilst it’s never going to be easy, there are ways to make it significantly easier:

1. Treat it like a module in your studies

You’ve already proved you can work hard to achieve something during your studies.

So, bring the same mindset and work ethic to your pursuit of a training contract. Be organised, be proactive and schedule slots in your calendar for your learning, thinking, writing and practicing. Treat these blocks as non-negotiable, just like exam prep. If you don’t manage the process well, it can get increasingly difficult very quickly.

This is how you gain a significant competitive advantage.

There is one important difference to your studies, though.

During your studies, you’re given direction on what to learn and when. When it comes to the TC process, you’re on your own for the most part. Getting comfortable with the more self-directed nature of the TC process is an important part of success.

The key is to dedicate regular time and effort – because consistency wins!

As you’re pursuing consistency, you need to be careful your focus isn’t distracted by things you can’t control.

2. Don’t focus on the stats

Looking for statistics about your chances of getting a training contract is the wrong thing to focus on.

The main reason is most of them are inaccurate (some incredibly so!). There’s simply no way to know how many candidates are applying for training contracts in any given cycle. This is because candidates will include current law and non-law undergrads and graduates, paralegals and career changers – many re-applying after failed previous cycles.

So, if the stats aren’t accurate, don’t let them scare you.

Another reason not to be scared by the numbers is they only tell half the story.

Yes, lots of people apply for relatively few training contracts. But out of those people, a relatively small percentage are strong candidates who are doing the right things, tailoring their applications, practicing video interviews, and doing this consistently. Focusing all your efforts on getting into this group of candidates is how you gain a competitive advantage.

And the good news is this may be easier than you think because:

• A good proportion of applicants haven’t put the time in to learn what’s required from the application process.
• The majority of candidates submit weak applications.
• Firms say around 50-60% of applications are submitted on the final day or two – meaning many of them are rushed and will be rejected.
• Many applicants proofread too quickly.
• Lots of candidates fail to do enough research into the firm.
• Most applicants haven’t met anyone from the firm before they apply.

As you control your focus, you can spend time on planning who can help you increase your chances of success.

3. Interact with firms, lawyers & trainees

So many candidates apply to firms without ever interacting with them.

This is a huge missed opportunity. Whilst it’s still possible to succeed if you don’t, meeting a firm and its representatives can really differentiate you as a candidate. It gives you a chance to connect and impress them early in the recruitment process. You will also be able to refer to it in applications, which is a strong indicator of your motivation to train at that firm.

Demonstrating motivation is one of THE most important parts of the whole process.

It’s also a great way to learn more about the firm beyond the information available online to every applicant.

It gives you the opportunity to ask specific questions you have to deepen your understanding. This will help you make more informed decisions about firms and practice areas. It will also give you more unique information to use to demonstrate your understanding of the firm when answering their application and interview questions.

Doing this well is one of the most critical parts of the whole TC recruitment process.

These interactions are important as they will help you identify your ‘best fit’ firms.

4. Choose firms that are the best fit for you

Good firm selection is a critical part of securing a training contract.

Many candidates don’t do it well and struggle to succeed because of it. They fail to truly explore and consider which firms are the best fit for them. Instead, they select firms based on superficial factors such as prominence, name or prestige.

This is the wrong way to go about it and will have you swimming upstream when trying to get a TC.

I have no issues with wanting to work at a firm with a good name and reputation.

The problem is when that is the primary factor for choosing a firm. Instead, you need to spend time learning about the different firms and the work they do and considering what you’re genuinely interested in. Then, you need to review firms against your primary interests and use those as criteria for choosing your shortlist of firms to apply to.

By doing this, you can give an authentic and convincing answer to one of the most important questions in the whole recruitment process: “Why this firm?”.

And that alone will significantly increase your chances of success!

Whilst firm selection is a critical pillar for TC success, having a deeper commercial awareness is often the difference between success and failure.

5. Develop a deeper commercial awareness

The biggest mistake I see candidates make around commercial awareness is passively consuming information and hoping it sticks.

To be commercially aware, you must go beyond simply trying to acquire knowledge via email newsletters, business news and podcasts. You need to reflect on the information, think about connections between stories and issues and distil your learning into your own system of notes. To supercharge the system, you might even discuss commercial awareness with others to help you distil things further.

This way, you truly learn and understand key aspects of the commercial world work and the role lawyers play in it.

And that will make you stand out from the crowd!

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While the journey to securing a training contract is undoubtedly challenging, focusing on the right strategies can make all the difference. By being proactive, selective, and consistent, you’ll significantly improve your chances of success.