8 PRACTICAL LEGAL TRAINING TIPS
WHAT OUR GRADUATES WISH THEY KNEW BEFORE STARTING PLT
Starting PLT? Take it from the people who've done it. Eight College of Law graduates share their advice for staying organised, preparing for assessments and getting the most out of PLT.
We asked our grads to share the advice they’d give someone starting Practical Legal Training today.
Their tips? Get organised early, make the most of feedback, prepare for your oral assessments as you go – and remember there’s life outside law.
With tips from Kate Andersson, Bernadette Henderson, Millie Jones, Brigid Kelly, Callum Lee, Sophie McCleary, Jaya Prasad and Shravaree Tryambake.
At a glance:
How do you make the most of Practical Legal Training? Eight College of Law graduates share their tips for staying organised, preparing for assessments and getting the most out of PLT.
- Start early: Don't let tasks pile up.
- Get organised: Schedule study time and deadlines.
- Use feedback: Learn from each task.
- Prepare for orals: Build your notes as you go.
- Connect learning to practice: Apply what you learn.
- Build connections: Get to know your peers.
- Ask for help: Reach out when you need support.
- Find balance: Make time for life outside PLT.
1. START YOUR PLT TASKS BEFORE YOU THINK YOU NEED TO
There was one piece of advice our grads came back to again and again: don’t let the work pile up.
PLT is designed to fit alongside the other things going on in your life, but a few unfinished tasks can quickly turn into a much less appealing weekend.
Kate Andersson recommends chipping away at the work every few days, while Callum Lee takes an even simpler approach: start as soon as you receive a task. Get the bones of it down, then give yourself time to come back, review it and ask for feedback.
It’s a useful habit beyond PLT, too. Starting early gives you time to think, ask questions and improve your work, all things that will come in handy when those PLT tasks become real client matters.
2. PUT PLT STUDY TIME IN YOUR CALENDAR. LITERALLY.
Your calendar isn’t just for meetings.
Sophie McCleary recommends blocking out dedicated time for PLT tasks and preparation, particularly if you’re studying while working. It makes the time visible, helps protect it from competing priorities and makes PLT harder to accidentally push to the bottom of the list.
Jaya Prasad also recommends creating a clear schedule of tasks, due dates and milestones from day one, while Millie Jones suggests diarising deadlines and allocating specific time to get the work done.
Whether you swear by a beautifully colour-coded calendar or a very unglamorous checklist, the system matters less than having one.
3. DON'T JUST READ YOUR PLT TASK FEEDBACK. USE IT.
That feedback sitting on your last task? It could make the next one easier.
Several of our grads recommend keeping the feedback you receive and using it when preparing for your oral assessments. It can show you where you’ve gone off track, what you need to revisit and where to focus your revision.
And try not to treat feedback as a verdict on your ability. Callum recommends seeing it as an opportunity to develop, asking questions and finding out what you could do differently next time.
You’re learning how to practise law. You’re not expected to know everything already.
4. PREPARE FOR YOUR PLT ORAL ASSESSMENTS AS YOU GO
The best way to prepare for PLT oral assessments is to build your notes and revision materials as you work through the course, rather than leaving your preparation until the end.
The night before an oral assessment is not the ideal time to discover just how many notes you have.
Instead, build your preparation into the work you’re already doing.
Bernadette Henderson prepared her oral assessment notes while working through the course resources, rather than leaving everything until later. Her other advice is deceptively simple: have your notes ready, but know them well enough that you’re not relying on them for every answer.
Kate Andersson has another practical tip: keep the correct answers from your multi-choice quizzes. After each quiz, add them to one document so you gradually build a revision resource covering different assessment topics. When it’s time to prepare for your oral assessments, you’ll already have a useful bank of material to go back to.
Shravaree Tryambake similarly recommends knowing the material in your Practice Papers thoroughly and creating notes as you progress through the course.
And once an oral is over? Before shutting the laptop and mentally deleting the experience, Jaya recommends spending 10 to 15 minutes thinking about what went well, how you felt and what you could improve next time.
Future you will be grateful.
5. CONNECT WHAT YOU LEARN IN PLT TO LEGAL PRACTICE
One of the biggest shifts from law school to PLT is moving from knowing the law to learning how to actually use it.
If you’re completing legal work experience alongside PLT, Sophie recommends actively connecting what you're learning in your tasks with what you're seeing at work. Sometimes that might be applying a skill directly. Other times, it might simply be recognising a document you’ve encountered during PLT and understanding where it fits in a real matter.
Those little connections matter. They’re part of the process of turning legal knowledge into practical legal skills.
6. GET TO KNOW THE PEOPLE DOING PLT WITH YOU
Your classmates aren't just the people in your workshop breakout room.
Jaya points out that many of the people completing PLT alongside you will enter the profession at roughly the same time. Building those relationships now can give you a network of people navigating the same early-career experiences as you.
And you don't have to stop there. Shravaree recommends getting involved with your local Young Lawyers Committee and meeting junior lawyers working across different practice areas. It can help you understand what different areas of law actually look like in practice – and perhaps work out where you see yourself.
Networking doesn't have to mean awkwardly working a room. Start with getting to know people.
7. ASK FOR HELP BEFORE A SMALL PLT PROBLEM BECOMES A BIG ONE
Something doesn't make sense? Ask.
You're not expected to quietly figure out every part of PLT by yourself. Bernadette recommends addressing problems early and being open with College staff and lecturers when you need support. Brigid Kelly makes a similar point: uncertainty is part of learning, and lecturers can help you understand unfamiliar material and use task feedback to improve.
The same applies when someone asks you a question you don't quite understand. During oral assessments, Bernadette recommends listening carefully and asking for clarification when you need it.
Asking a good question is a skill. PLT is a pretty good place to practise it.
8. AND PLEASE, HAVE A LIFE OUTSIDE PLT
Possibly the most important tip of the lot: you are allowed to stop thinking about law.
Kate recommends making time for friends outside the legal world. Callum blocks out time for physical activity each day. Bernadette deliberately factors downtime into her schedule so she can return to her work properly refreshed.
Whatever your version of switching off looks like, put some space between yourself and PLT occasionally.
Your tasks will still be there when you get back.
ONE LAST TIP? FIND WHAT WORKS FOR YOU.
If there’s one thing our graduates’ advice makes clear, it’s that there isn't one perfect way to do PLT.
You might be a checklist person. A calendar blocker. An obsessive note-taker. Someone who needs a morning walk before opening their laptop.
The important part is setting up habits that help you stay on top of the work, learn from the feedback you receive and ask for help when you need it.
Because PLT isn't just another course to finish. It's your chance to start practising some of the habits you'll take with you into life as a lawyer.
