Farrah Knapp: On starting third year without a legal placement

Every week, I read messages about how tough and competitive the legal market is. So what do you do if you haven’t secured a legal placement or work experience yet?

I absolutely loved reading Farrah’s piece. In a world of “I’m thrilled to announce” LinkedIn posts, Farrah’s piece offers something different. It’s authentic, honest and inspiring. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

After a year full of applications, video interviews, and assessment centres, I still did not secure a placement.

For a very long time, I thought getting a placement was just the natural next step, the thing that would make everything else click into place and confirm I was actually on track. When it did not happen, I felt like a failure. I seriously considered spending my entire summer, and whatever was left of exam season, sending out as many applications as possible. I felt like I was always behind. But I had been applying since August 2025, and I knew that shutting myself in my room chasing one more rejection was not going to do my grades, or my sanity, any favours. I stopped applying in April 2026, just before exams, and asked myself: so, now what?

I decided to actually enjoy my summer and use it as a reset before going into my third year rather than wasting the time wondering what could have been. I began building something I could carry into third year, rather than just waiting for the next cycle to start.

Here is what that looked like, and what it means for you now that term has started:

🧭 Start by building your own picture of the market.

I began a Google Doc to research firms in depth: their practice areas, culture, recent deals, client reviews, anything that told me whether I would actually want to work there and whether I would thrive. Building this document has helped me figure out what I actually want, which will make my applications tailored, sharper, and faster.

🔍 Send the email anyway.

I also sent many speculative applications, for work experience, insight days, and internships. A handful to London firms, a handful in Kent, a handful elsewhere. Most ended in rejection, but some turned into real conversations.

Fun fact: I got my first genuine piece of legal exposure through a cold email when I was in sixth form!

My advice would be to send that email. What is the worst that could happen? I have stopped treating rejections as something that has the power to knock me down. Now I see them as practice: a chance to get better at explaining, clearly and honestly, why I actually want to join the profession.

📌 Take the “virtual” seriously.

I threw myself into virtual programmes too, which gave me a real insight into commercial law. There are a few that are still open to applications:

GROW’s Commercial Launchpad
A few (in-progress) Forage simulations
Some online programmes exploring firms like Freshfields.

I have also registered for a non-commercial law virtual internship with Olliers Solicitors (now closed for 2026 but worth keeping an eye out for) as I wanted to keep my options open. Each experience gave me a clearer glimpse into the day-to-day of a solicitor and touched upon firm culture beyond its website.

🚆 Stop, prioritise yourself.

And then I stepped away from all of it to travel for just over two weeks around Europe. Away from emails, the Google Doc, and the quiet pressure of third year that had been building since April. I spent time with family, friends, and my boyfriend, doing nothing more productive than just being present.

🍁 What this means for this term:

Turn your research into applications. If you have already started a document like mine, amazing. If not, consider spending an evening researching the firms you would want to work at, then tailor an application and make yourself stand out!
Send those speculative emails. Autumn is when insight days, open days and vacation schemes usually begin taking applications and inboxes are quietest. Go for it, you would be surprised what one email can lead to.
Register for those virtual programmes and insight days that open this term. Do something that gives you something real to talk about in interviews and makes why law? and why this area of law? much easier to answer.
But also, protect your term time. You are at university doing a hard degree and your grades matter. Do what you can for applications, then give yourself room to breathe, socialise and get your degree!

Third year is a marathon, not a sprint. If you are feeling behind, remember your life moves at your speed, not someone else’s. A slower path does not mean you are worse off or behind. A summer without a placement did not decide my third year before it started, and it does not have to decide yours either.

Thank you so much to Farrah for this piece! If you want to follow her journey, you can connect with her on LinkedIn here.