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Happy New Year! Application season is well underway and deadlines are coming in thick and fast. Part of the fun of pursuing a legal career lies in the wealth of firms and practice areas available. Whilst there are lots of opportunities, it can be tricky to work out where you want to apply. Applications are time-consuming and it can be difficult to prioritise them whilst juggling other commitments. I definitely know the struggle of balancing my applications with work and study! So how do you know where to apply?

Vacation schemes may be the best way to build insight and knowledge of firms interesting to you, and maybe bag that TC, but they’re not always easy to secure. That’s where open days come in! Open days give you the chance to meet a firm up close, without a lengthy time commitment. They usually require a short application, or might not need one at all! Most large law firms offer a couple of open days a year, so keep an eye out for dates and deadlines. I’ve done my fair share so thought it might be handy to give you the insider info!

## **Are you dressing smartly?**

Frequently, firms use open days to connect with aspiring lawyers they hope will apply for vacation schemes and training contracts with them. Open days are therefore a two-way street. It gives the firm the chance to sell themselves to you, and for you to make a good impression with them. In the age of remote and virtual open days, there is no excuse to not dress to impress!

## **Can they see you?**

Recruiters want to see you, that’s why they invite you to open days! It’s far easier to connect online when you can see and speak to one another. It’s also polite to show that you are engaging with the speaker, who has probably taken time out of a very busy schedule to speak to you. Naturally, tech problems do occur which make this difficult, this is totally fine! Just make sure to drop the recruitment team a message explaining this, I once lost my internet connection during a virtual social and the recruiters couldn’t have been more helpful and understanding!

## **Are your notes useful?** 

You’ll hear lots of insights from first hand experiences on open days, information that will not be available even from the most dogged of legal journalists! Trainees, associates, and partners alike often speak candidly about their experiences and life at the firm. It’s an opportunity for you to get a feel for who they are, and if the firm is right for you. I know applications take a lot of time and energy, the struggle is real! I have found applying whilst studying and working to be exhausting at times, making it all the more important to decide where to put your energy. Noting down how you found the day will help you figure out if you want to make an application, and how to show you’re what they’re looking for!

## **Are you taking part?**

Open days often include exercises for you to gain an insight into the life of a trainee. I’ve encountered exercises on acquiring distressed assets, pitching to a new client, and legal research to name but a few. Firms, and I cannot stress this enough, want to know that you are fully aware of what you’re signing up for when you apply to join a vacation scheme or for a training contract. Activities on open days are a chance for you to sharpen your skills and apply all that you have learned or will learn in the classroom. Discussing these experiences in applications shows proactivity, and also can be really good fun!

## **And lastly, what if you are undecided?**

There may be firms you are quite interested in, but not quite sure about. You may feel that you do not know enough about them or perhaps you may not be sure if they’re right for you. I can relate to hearing a million different things about firms and not knowing what to believe. Well, these are the perfect firms for you to attend open days with! Whether you leave an open day eager to start a vacation scheme or training contract application, or decide against applying altogether, open days help you figure out your next steps and plan the applications you want to dedicate your precious time to.

In sum, open days are an excellent opportunity for you to build your knowledge of firms and prepare you for applications. Remember, this is a marathon, not a sprint. Go at a pace that works for you, take your time, you will get there.

**Additional Resources:**

* [How to: give good answers in legal job interviews](/blog/how-to-give-good-answers-in-legal-job-interviews) - Maybe you’re facing a good old fashioned job interview? Here’s our advice for giving good answers to challenging questions.
* [How to see if a company is eco-friendly/socially responsible](/blog/how-to-know-whether-a-company-is-truly-environmentally-and-socially-responsible-from-the-outside) - Trying to figure out how ethical a company is from the outside can be tough - but it’s not impossible.
* [5 reasons for law graduates to join Flex Legal](/blog/5-reasons-for-law-graduates-to-join-flex-legal) - Want to gain some valuable legal work experience? Joining Flex Legal can expose you to a world of interim legal opportunities!

  [](https://flex.legal/blog?category=Industry%20Insights)

5 helpful hints to help you ace open days

blog banner 5 helpful hints to ace your open days

5 helpful hints to ace your open days!

This year our business flipped from paralegals in offices to remote supervision and we’ve learnt a lot from this experience. In light of the recent news that office workers should ‘work from home’ where they can for the next six months, we (the Client Services team) wanted to share some of our principles for a successful remote paralegal placement:

## Safety first

We know that some teams prefer to work in the office for supervision, morale or security reasons. If you would like our candidates to join your team in the office, we need to be sure it’s a safe environment. Please be prepared to show F-LEX and the candidate your H&S policy or COVID-19 measures.

Please understand that some of our candidates may be shielding, uncomfortable using public transport or be living with a vulnerable family member, and therefore may not wish to leave the house.

## Set clear expectations

We’ve helped hundreds of teams through peaks of work by providing an extra pair of hands. In our experience, teams who provide clear expectations can build trust and move at a faster pace.

If you have an idea in mind of how long a task should take, we recommend telling the paralegal early on so they can update you if things are taking longer than expected.

> **Top Tip**: You may also wish to ask the paralegal to send you a daily summary of what they’ve done and how long they’ve spent on things so you have an idea of how the time is being spent.

## Provide time to answer questions

F-LEX paralegals are eager, ambitious and always strive to perform well. They may ask questions to ensure they understand the work. Please ensure there is someone readily available to answer questions and supervise their work, particularly in the first few days.

> **Top tip:** Instant messaging platforms like Slack, Teams or Lync can be a useful way for paralegals to ask quick questions.

## Technical issues may arise

WiFi going down, laptops crashing, software not loading… we’ve all been there and we know it’s frustrating for everyone involved.

Please be prepared that things may take a little longer to set up at home and timesheet hours will be incurred if the paralegal needs to be on hand to fix the issue.

> **Top Tip:** If there is a technical issue which is preventing the paralegal from working, please make it clear that they are not expected to work and please provide the time or date when they can return to work to avoid any timesheet quibbles

More top tips:

* [Lessons from the F-LEX tech team: How to effectively manage remote teams](https://blog.flex.legal/post/2020/6/15/check-your-distance-how-to-effectively-manage-remote-teams?rq=remote%20working)
* [Gunnercooke: when remote working is business as usual](https://blog.flex.legal/post/2020/3/18/when-remote-working-is-business-as-usual?rq=remote%20working)
* [Cybersecurity: how to stay safe when working from home](https://blog.flex.legal/post/2020/5/22/covid-19-virtual-sessions-what-you-need-to-know-about-cybersecurity?rq=remote%20working)
* [Hire a remote paralegal](https://flex.legal/booking)

Hire a remote paralegal

Principles for a successful remote paralegal placement

<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/mooreje/">James Moore</a>, <a href="https://flex.legal/">F-LEX’s</a> Co-Founder and CTO, recently ran a webinar in collaboration with <a href="https://www.lawnet.co.uk/">LawNet</a> where he shared his top tips on effectively managing a remote team.&nbsp;James has been managing remote teams for 15 years. These have incorporated different time zones, geographies and cultures, and have made James well-accustomed with the different obstacles which may hinder remote workers. Now managing an entirely remote team, James has found the adjustment to current conditions relatively seamless.The biggest question a remote manager must ask themselves is ‘how can the project progress?’ Fortunately for readers, James has found a few key strategies which help to answer this.<h1 style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Distinguish between co-located and remote teams</h1>When everyone works remotely, there are fewer communication issues because everyone is in the same working environment. However, problems can arise when a team is split, with some working together in the office and some working remotely. This is because the team in the office could agree something verbally which doesn’t get relayed to those working remotely, for instance. Team integration is another big concern. An office environment often leads to lots of informal interactions between team members throughout the day, for instance having a quick chat as you make a coffee or going out together to grab lunch. This strengthens team cohesion and collegiality, however for remote workers it can lead to feelings of isolation and detachment from the rest of the team, which ultimately impacts on efficiency and the quality of work being produced.So what is the solution? If it is possible, try to separate teams into those working together in-person and those working remotely. By doing so, remote workers are less likely to feel that they are missing out on the office environment because the rest of their team is also working remotely. If this distinction isn’t feasible, it is important to address the unequal footing of remote workers. Team meetings play a huge part here because they offer a platform for everyone’s thoughts and problems to be heard and considered equally. Further, regular informal catch-ups between team members and supervisors helps to make remote workers feel included and engaged with the team.<h1 style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Encourage asynchronous communication</h1>In an effective team, everyone is communicating constantly. However not all communication is equal, and it is important to understand the nuances of its different forms. Asynchronous communication means that you don’t expect a response to a message or query straight away, but instead within a reasonable timeframe. Conversely, synchronous communication means that a response is expected almost instantly, and can leave you sitting at your screen waiting for it to appear.James has found that encouraging asynchronous communication and work practices to be the best approach for workflows and enhanced productivity. This is because the stress levels and pressure felt by employees increase when they feel the need to respond instantly to every question they are sent. This can often mean they are ‘firefighting’ by responding to these messages instead of completing more productive work. Asynchronous communication removes this pressure, and means that their thought processes aren’t interrupted by every new notification. As a remote manager, encouraging this communication style is a great way to increase team productivity.<h1 style="white-space:pre-wrap;">But synchronous communication still has its place!</h1>Despite the above, synchronous communication should still be used where appropriate. An example may be daily update meetings with your team. Here, James asks team members what they did the day before, what they are planning to do that day, and what may be preventing them from completing it. This helps people to feel supported, and ensures that work-quality is high and that resources are being properly allocated. James also has 1-to-1 catch ups with his team every two weeks, where he has a wider chat about work and how they are getting on generally. This helps to set goals for each team member, and shows an investment into personal relationships which helps with team cohesion and wellbeing.<h1 style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Deconstruct large tasks</h1>James’s final tip is to break down large pieces of work into smaller tasks which can be more effectively allocated without overwhelming individuals. By doing so, tasks are also more easily reviewed by peers. This contributes to a rigorous quality-checking system, and allows for accountability to be shared between a team for a large project, instead of one person having to carry complete responsibility.<h1 style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Some FAQs about remote management</h1>How do we ensure junior people have enough supervision and are keeping their profile up?&nbsp;It can be tricky for more junior team members to work remotely. James has found the peer-review mechanism useful for collegiate work because it allows junior members to constantly learn, and also for their individual wins to be celebrated. By doing so, confidence within the team also increases, meaning junior members are more likely to reach out for help when they need it.How do you deal with huge email traffic and highlight important messages?&nbsp;We can all be captive to our emails. A simple way to manage emails is to set up labels and tags in your inbox, which help to automatically file away unimportant messages. This leaves your inbox as a ‘to-do’ list, which only contains messages which need actioning and helps avoid distractions.Further, James recommends the book Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport (2016). This book helps to break down some of concepts discussed in this post, and highlights the difficulty of returning to a task once your focus has been broken.Do any of you have examples of good practice you have adopted around supervising junior team members?<ul data-rte-list="default"><li>Open door policy: It is important to be approachable and make time for team members, particularly junior members who may have more questions compared to more established colleagues. Making the effort to reach out to your team on an individual basis also helps to create a supportive and collegiate working environment, and stops junior members from ‘suffering in silence’.</li></ul><ul data-rte-list="default"><li>Technology: Zoom, Slack, and OfficeVibe are all pieces of technology that F-LEX uses on a daily basis to stay connected and ensure that an accurate understanding of team morale is being gauged.</li></ul><ul data-rte-list="default"><li>Retrospective meetings: These are held every two months, and allow the team to break down what has gone well recently and what can be improved on going forwards.</li></ul><ul data-rte-list="default"><li>Elevensies: F-LEX has implemented ‘Elevensies’ since the start of lockdown which allows the whole company to catch up informally over a coffee at 11am every Friday. We hold this over Zoom for around 30 minutes, and each week someone sets a trivia quiz. This has been great because it means everyone gets to chat to people in different teams that we may not be working with on a daily basis! </li></ul>

5 helpful hints to ace your open days!

Principles for a successful remote paralegal placement

Check Your Distance: How to Effectively Manage Remote Teams