Most people apply the adage ‘you’re never to old to start’ to learning the piano or some other skilled hobby. A plucky, if somewhat older, Yorkshireman has taken this to a new lengths by beginning a legal career at an age when most people would be starting to look forward to endless days of [golfing, cruise holidays [preferred retirement activity ]].

Steve Willey aged 56 from Skipton has secured a training contract with west Yorkshire firm Last Cawthra Feather and will not qualify until he is 58 years old. His previous jobs have included employment in a bank, working for his bank’s trade union, working at the Citizens Advice Bureau and also representing various organisations in employment tribunals. Willey worked at the firm as a paralegal and having completed the LPC he was offered a training contract.

Willey said: “I know that I’ve been lucky to gain a training contract at my age and my firm have really gone out on a limb for me. But I know that I have a great deal to give the firm in return.”

So if you don’t have a previous career in a bank, trade union etc and several decades of life experience, what is the best route to getting that training contract? Well becoming a paralegal first is still pretty popular and will probably give you a good shot at getting selected at most firms, assuming you get on with your colleagues of course. However, if you are thinking of the ’straightforward’ graduate route into a commercial firm here are a few tips…

1. A vacation scheme doubles your chances of being taken on as a trainee. You obviously need to make a good impression and avoid common pitfalls such as poor timekeeping.

2. Take time to prepare your application forms and don’t rush them – it is better to apply to some carefully selected firms for which you have actually done some research than go for the shotgun approach.

3. Avoid elaborating too much. If you have travelled alone to Timbuktu then they will infer that you are probably fairly self-reliant and independent so you don’t need to spell it out for them. Let the facts speak for themselves.

4. Commercial awareness – probably one of the most tedious phrases known law students/potential trainees. Basically keep up to date with what’s going on in the world of business. You might not find the pink pages scintillating unless you already have a bulging equity portfolio but at least have an idea about some of the business the particular firm you are applying to has been involved in.

5. Dress sensibly – apply common sense.

6. Do not read from a mentally prepared script as it will become obvious to any recruiter and you will find that probing questions knock you off balance.

7. Have some questions prepared to ask at the end of your interview. It shows that you are interested. If you have done some modest research as in point 2 you will probably find it easy to think of some intelligent questions that you would begenuinely interested in having an answer to. N.B. Make sure you don’t ask something that is blatantly on the opening page of their website or in the recruitment brochure!

8. Don’t fake it i.e. be yourself.

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