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Hi, I am about to embark on the fast track LPC. This finishes in February/March and I don't start my tc until August. So I have around 6 months off to fill.

I need to work to get money. Ideally I would work for maybe 4-5 months. Are there paralegal roles that are available for this length of time? Does anyone know how much (roughly) these jobs pay. This is so I can try and plan a vague budget

Hi everyone!

When applying for training contracts, I found myself overwhelmed with a lot of information and have tried to put everything in one place. I used Notion to organise my research and my prep for all the different stages. I know that it differs from firm to firm, but I hope this template is useful!


Research tab - I have prefilled this section with a bunch of questions which you can try to answer when doing research about your target firm, it allowed me to have a good overview of the firm's business, culture and I also kept track of any news which came out from the time I start the application process up until the interview. This is relevant to your written application and any AC/interview. The rest of the tabs are more relevant when your application has progressed to the next stage.

Group assessment - I have not used this tab extensively, but you can use it to record any tips and tricks you find useful. You can also easily replace the title by another if it is relevant to your application (eg video interview).

Commercial question - I prepared a lot for this question, I tried to have a full detailed overview of what each strong department of my target firm was doing, as well as looking into any clients and deals the firm acted on. I also researched all the services the firm offered to clients in these departments so I could really understand what clients were after.

Interview prep - This is arguably one of the most important prep you can do and really involves knowing yourself and your own strengths. I spent a lot of time thinking about the traits which my firm looks after in its trainees and have tried to find at least one example showing that strength. It was then about training myself to phrase my example to answer the question that is asked at the actual interview. Just to give an idea, I did at least 30 min of mock interview each day leading up to my AC to know I could answer the questions on my feet and in a natural way. I used the STAR method and that worked really well for me!

Questions to ask - It is always good to prepare questions for your interviewers that show you have done your research and know what you are talking about. You can start by stating a fact you have researched about the firm before asking a follow-up question for example.

Grammar is often talked about to write well, so I thought I would post a good reminder of some grammar things that I found useful! Grammar might come as second-nature to you but it's always good to go back and look for any mistakes


Problems usually occur when there are words separating the subject and the
verb, usually (but not always!) a prepositional phrase.
Example: Winners of the state contest (go or goes?) to the national finals.

Take out the prepositional phrase of the state contest, and the answer is easy:
Winners go to the national finals.

Your red-flag word is "of," which signals the beginning of a prepositional phrase.
Some of the most common prepositions that begin prepositional phrases are: to, of, about, at, before, after, by, behind, during, for, from, in, over, under, with.

Other examples:
One of the problems (is or are?) broken equipment.
One of the problems is broken equipment.

Other words that can get in the way of easily matching the verb to the subject are: including, together with, along with, accompanied by, in addition to, except and as well as.
These are also discounted in subject-verb agreement.

For example:
The moon, as well as Venus, (is or are?) visible in the night sky.
The moon, as well as Venus, is visible in the night sky.

The rule is when the group acts as one unit, use a singular verb. When the members of the group act individually, use a plural verb.

Example:
The senior class nervously awaits final exams. (senior class acting as a unit)
The senior class were fitted for their graduation robes today. (senior class acting as individuals)
The couple in blue is engaged. (Couple is a single unit.)
The couple say their vows tomorrow. (Separate actions for each person in the couple.)

Common indefinite pronouns
Always use plural verbs:

• both
• many

Always use singular verb:

• another
• anybody
• anyone
• anything
• each
• either
• every
• everybody
• everyone
• everything
• neither
• nobody
• no one
• nothing
• one
• somebody
• someone
• something

Singular or plural depending on context:

• all
• any
• more
• most
• none
• some

Some words look as though they are singular when they are in fact plural, especially words ending in -a (eg. criteria, bacteria, and phenomena, etc.)
The singular forms for these are criterion, bacterium, and phenomenon.

Use plural verbs:
The bacteria multiply rapidly (not multiplies)
These are important criteria (not This is an important criteria).

In Latin, data and media are plural nouns. Although in spoken words, it is common to make them into singular nouns, in formal writing, they should be plural nouns with a plural verb.

Dangling Participles
A participial phrase that comes at the beginning of the sentence is always followed by a comma and modifies the subject of the sentence.
Example: Removing his coat, Jack rushed to the river.

Participial phrases sometimes appear to modify a word that they cannot logically modify.
The word it should modify does not appear in the sentence, thus causing what is known as a dangling participle.

A dangling participle is one that the speaker really intends to describe something other than the grammatical subject of the sentence.

DANGLING: "Riding along on my bicycle, a dog knocked me over." (A dog was riding?)
In this sentence it appears that the participle riding must relate to dog, so we end up with a dog that has first stolen a bicycle and then ridden it carelessly! The speaker really means riding to relate to me.
CORRECTED: "A dog knocked me over as I rode my bicycle."

Modifying the wrong subject or actor is a common mistake. Check your sentences to be sure you're not "dangling"!

Passive voice is more appropriate in certain instances, especially in business communications. We use passive voice to purposefully leave out the actor or subject of the sentence in an effort to sound more diplomatic.
For example, if you are communicating bad news or negative feedback, use of passive voice can take the sting out of the message.

Example:
Active: You are past due on your registration payment.
Passive: Your registration payment is past due.
The passive example is less confrontational. It takes the actor out of the sentence so that the message does not appear to blame someone.

Use passive voice:

• When you don't know the actor (eg. The door was left unlocked.)
• When the actor is unimportant to the point you're making (eg. The office will be open on Monday.)
• When the emphasis is clearly not on the actor but on the acted upon (eg. What happened to the employee who took that money from Petty Cash? The employee was fired.)

Hope this was useful! Maybe we could make this thread a grammar tip one?

I saw a post about this elsewhere on the forum and I was wondering what the true differences between large and small trainee intakes are? I will be training at a firm with a fairly large intake but this never came up in interviews and I didn’t think much about it so I’m interested to hear everyone’s thoughts on what the differences are!

I see that lots of firms have started raising their maintenance grants for the LPC to around £12,500. My firm pays a fair bit less than that. I don't know how I am going to afford to live in London off what they provide. How do I ask for more money?

Is it possible to request to have my direct training contract applications expedited given that I have been offered a training contract from one of the firms and would like to weigh my options? If so, what would be the best way to go about this?

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Hi everyone,

I've invited to Clyde & Co's assessment centre at the end of June and I would be grateful if any of you could share any tips/advice on how best to prepare for it. I am still not sure what the format of the AC will be, but am keen to start preparing for it as soon as possible.

Feel free to share anything that might be useful.
Thanks,
Mohammad

Hey everyone,

I sat an exam yesterday and it went terribly. I completely ran out of time and therefore left about three aspects (out of six) of the exam quite underdeveloped. In particular, I know that I missed at least one key point.

I was wondering if anyone who has done the PGDL at BPP knows whether I am able to pass the exam? Will they fail me automatically because I didn't get through all of the questions? The stuff that I did write down was up to a decent standard (I think anyway lol).

If anyone has any experience with this area I'd really appreciate your thoughts

From: An anxious law student

Hey everyone!

Firstly, I wanted to express how grateful I am to the TCLA community as I found the forum incredibly helpful in this application cycle and was fortunate to secure VS for this summer! I really hope I will be able to convert it as this might be my last year of applications before I have to leave the UK :’)

On that note, I am trying to structure my preparation as best as I can and while I found quite a few helpful bits of advice on this forum, I was not sure about the following:

Besides reading the news and the firm’s insights, what balance would you recommend between the revision of GDL/LLB modules and the development of commercial acumen (such as through TCLA’s courses)?

I am leaning towards non-contentious practice areas and from what I heard, what we learn at law school is mostly relevant in contentious practice areas while transactional seats assume more of ‘on-the-spot’ learning of new and very specific legal concepts - so would you recommend prioritising commercial awareness?
And if not, what legal concepts/modules would you suggest revising first?

I am a final year law student in Pakistan, doing my LL.B(Hons) with cgpa 3.42. After completion in june 2022, I am shifting in Uk to join my wife over there. So, I want to continue my law career there as a barrister. So far I have came to know that I need a GDL course to qualify for BVC/BPTC. I have made my mind to study PGDL from Uni of Law.
The problem is that it will cost a lot and how it can be managed while living in city like London.
I heard and read in many articles that living and studying in London is very expensive. Normally local students get loans to fund their studies which is not an option for me as I am not citizen yet.
Do any uni provide any scholarships for pgdl?

Is it manageable for a GDL student to fund his GDL and living costs in London by a part time job while studying?
or
Should I postpone my plans regarding GDL until I would have enough savings for GDL?

And Someone told me that your wife can apply for loans for your studies, it is true?
Kindly reply?

Hi all,

I was wondering how did everyone find the PDGL and if it was a lot more stressful than completing your undergraduate degree?

Thanks!

Has anyone else's shoosmiths application status updated since VI? mine is now saying reviewed?

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