Researching employers? What should you look for?

Use this set of questions (originally from The University of Law) to drill down into the organisation you hope one day to join! And note - many of the answers can be found on the LawCareers.Net directory pages - just search for the firm name.

Basic details

Name of firm
Age of firm
Number of partners
Location(s)
Number of offices
Category (eg, corporate, national or high street)
Main practice areas
Deadline for applications

Recent cases/deals

Identify some recent cases/deals.
What, if anything, do these cases say about the firm/organisation?
What did the organisation do?
Who were their opponents?

Place in the profession

Who are their competitors (eg, in practice areas or location)?
Who are their main clients?
What is the ethos or culture of the organisation?
Does it have a mission statement or guiding principle?
What is the organisation’s reputation and on what is this based?
Has anything happened to the organisation recently (eg, merged or become an ABS)?
Are there likely to be any major changes soon (eg, looking to merge)?

The firm and you

What are your career prospects at the organisation?
What are the retention rates?
Where could you go if you decided to move on after qualification?
Have you met any employees of the organisation?
Have you asked anyone else in the legal profession their view of the organisation?
We hope this is a useful place to start. To perform well during the application process (and particularly at interview) you need to understand what makes this firm tick. Armed with information, you can also then work out what you don’t know, and ask some probing questions of the firm’s representatives.