GLS Training Contract/ other career options

Would love to help but unfortunately I have no experience whatsoever of the GLS.

Good luck though.

I applied to GLS, their app process is merit-based, at least in the initial stages. Go government! Putting The Equality Act where their mouth is

Less onerous app form. Some situational judgment and I think verbal reasoning tests to go through first.

Then an assessment centre. Prob an iv I don't know. They do look at your app, obvs, but as I understand, not until after the initial tests. Why don't all law firms do this?

You don't have to have AAB at A level! Possibly even possibly not a 2.1. But maybe you do. It's all quite radical

They quite often attend law fairs, talk to the trainees. They will tell you about drafting legislation and being on the inside of news stories

Good for flexible working and families

Don't forget you can also train in Local Govt and the CPS run training contracts from time to time


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Sorry I see you aren't at uni - I don't know that they have open days but why not stalk some of their trainees on Linked In? Or try and get in contact by email to ask if there is any way you can access an open day - they might be slightly more open as they are a public service essentially - Totally Different than the commercial world

Hi!

I graduated from university in 2014 with a strong 2:1 in English Literature. I completed the GDL in 2015 and am now volunteering as an Adviser at my local CAB.

I have work experience and completed a mini pupillage in Birmingham. I applied for 15 VAC schemes this year and got through to 3 ACs. I was then rejected by all of them. However, the experience has made me somewhat disillusioned with commercial law and I'm no longer sure if I want to go into that practice area anymore.

I've always been interested in the GLS and considered it in the back of my mind. I think this might be a better fit for my personality. I really enjoy my work at CAB and thought that the GLS would be similar in the type of work it does in comparison to working with businesses and corporations. I'm also drawn to the fact that it can sometimes been a combination between law and politics.

I just wanted advice as to how to approach my application? I know most people on these forums apply for commercial law firms, but has anyone ever applied to the GLS? I know what the application process is like, read through the website and True Chambers article. But I just wanted further insight into the training contract. If people have secured a TC with the GLS, what made you apply to them in the first place and how are you finding the work?

Thanks for reading!

Hey there, I was offered a Sept 2017 TC at the GLS but chose another TC that I was offered from a law firm. I also volunteered at the CAB for up to 2 years which drew me to the GLS as well! Thought I would just let you know further details of the application process if you'd like.

From what I recall, there are 4 stages to the application process:

1 - Application: Long form to fill in but nothing detailed required other than your work experience. This also includes a situational judgement test that is fairly easy due to the common sense nature of the test, e.g. multiple choice of what actions to do if you have a conflict with a colleague.

2 - Verbal Reasoning: Those who are successful by passing the situational judgement test are then given a verbal reasoning test to do. Standard type (forgot which company, could be made by the UK Gov specifically), and requires a pass.

3 - Critical Reasoning/Watson Glazer: This is a toughie, being a standard Watson Glazer BUT you have to be within the top X% of people who pass this test. I believe it was about 100-150 who get to the final stage from 3000+ applicants.

4 - Assessment Centre: This is split into two halves -
First half (1 hour) is the written assessment which is answering a number of questions based on a short fact file given to you that requires no prior legal knowledge, e.g. what are the pros and cons of doing X based on the current law (extracts given to you) and the documents provided.
Second half is the interview (1 hour) which I felt was split into 3 segments: First 15 minutes was to answer questions from the panel on your written assessment, including correcting any mistakes, adding anything on, etc. Afterwards, the questions are competency-focused and an assessment grid is strictly adhered to (this is available to you on their website). I felt that this was very much of a grilling on competency-based stuff, and was absolutely gruelling. Finally, there are a few personal questions on motivations and wider knowledge, e.g. why GLS, tell us some law issues you have been interested in, public law interests, etc. Then a chance to ask your own questions.

Following this, you will (hopefully) get 2 responses - firstly whether you have PASSED the assessment centre, but this does not guarantee that you get the TC, and secondly whether you scored high enough in those that have passed to achieve the TC. I got the email as to whether I passed the day after (I was in the last AC slot) and received a phone call for the TC offer a couple days afterwards. I believe it is 35 trainees taken on in total. You also receive a full report of your AC on your strengths and weaknesses and your marks for each section, which was extremely helpful for reflection although I did get mine a good 2 or so months after the AC.

One key thing to note is that you will have the choice of 3 departments - GLD, BIS and NCA. There are limited vacancies specifically for BIS and NCA, but your choices are important as it will be those who are in charge of the relevant departments that will be choosing who to offer TCs to.

Hope that's been helpful, and if you have any questions on the application process let me know!

Thank you so much for your reply! It really helped. I was wondering, though, did you prepare for the WG test beforehand? I prefer VR tests and I'm weak when it comes to the WG...

But again, thank you again for your insightful post!

SJTs are usually designed so that each answer has a negative, neutral and positive score. If there are four potential answers then there could be 2 neutral or 2 negative answers.

The best way to approach it is to eliminate the worst response as that will have the negative score. Neutral responses are not so bad if you choose them, but the negative scores will negate any positive scoring answers you do get right.

Having designed SJTs it isn't as simple as always going for the answer that either suggests you ask for help or that you do things by yourself. Each test could easily have both those answers in different questions.

Look carefully at the language used in the example and think what would be the most realistic response, not the "best" if that makes sense.


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What an excellent insightful post! All this and drafting the actual law too


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Hey there, I was offered a Sept 2017 TC at the GLS but chose another TC that I was offered from a law firm. I also volunteered at the CAB for up to 2 years which drew me to the GLS as well! Thought I would just let you know further details of the application process if you'd like.

From what I recall, there are 4 stages to the application process:

1 - Application: Long form to fill in but nothing detailed required other than your work experience. This also includes a situational judgement test that is fairly easy due to the common sense nature of the test, e.g. multiple choice of what actions to do if you have a conflict with a colleague.

2 - Verbal Reasoning: Those who are successful by passing the situational judgement test are then given a verbal reasoning test to do. Standard type (forgot which company, could be made by the UK Gov specifically), and requires a pass.

3 - Critical Reasoning/Watson Glazer: This is a toughie, being a standard Watson Glazer BUT you have to be within the top X% of people who pass this test. I believe it was about 100-150 who get to the final stage from 3000+ applicants.

4 - Assessment Centre: This is split into two halves -
First half (1 hour) is the written assessment which is answering a number of questions based on a short fact file given to you that requires no prior legal knowledge, e.g. what are the pros and cons of doing X based on the current law (extracts given to you) and the documents provided.
Second half is the interview (1 hour) which I felt was split into 3 segments: First 15 minutes was to answer questions from the panel on your written assessment, including correcting any mistakes, adding anything on, etc. Afterwards, the questions are competency-focused and an assessment grid is strictly adhered to (this is available to you on their website). I felt that this was very much of a grilling on competency-based stuff, and was absolutely gruelling. Finally, there are a few personal questions on motivations and wider knowledge, e.g. why GLS, tell us some law issues you have been interested in, public law interests, etc. Then a chance to ask your own questions.

Following this, you will (hopefully) get 2 responses - firstly whether you have PASSED the assessment centre, but this does not guarantee that you get the TC, and secondly whether you scored high enough in those that have passed to achieve the TC. I got the email as to whether I passed the day after (I was in the last AC slot) and received a phone call for the TC offer a couple days afterwards. I believe it is 35 trainees taken on in total. You also receive a full report of your AC on your strengths and weaknesses and your marks for each section, which was extremely helpful for reflection although I did get mine a good 2 or so months after the AC.

One key thing to note is that you will have the choice of 3 departments - GLD, BIS and NCA. There are limited vacancies specifically for BIS and NCA, but your choices are important as it will be those who are in charge of the relevant departments that will be choosing who to offer TCs to.

Hope that's been helpful, and if you have any questions on the application process let me know!

Great post - thanks. So did you hear that you had a TC two days after the assessments finished - ie the day after they told you you'd passed?

Don't remember the exact dates, but it was definitely before September 1st - I'd say I got the phone call around 27th August and the official documents came through September onwards.