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Hello, has anyone heard back from Bevan Brittan about their 2022 Vacation Scheme?
(Meant to put BB in the poll title, not IM)

I'm currently gaining experience in a BD assistant role at a law firm, however it is only a temporary role and I would like to gain more industry experience- thinking of maybe going for a role at my ideal law firm's key client companies?

I've had a look at job boards for these key clients but many of them require 1-2 years experience and some even a degree requirement. I had a look at data analyst roles, assistant roles, etc.

Does anyone know any good positions fit for a LLB graduate in corporate environments? Doesn't have to be legal!

Hi everyone,

I just wondering whether someone knows what is the difference between an LLM and MA Law. I am a foreign lawyer currently interested in doing an LLM in order to practice as a solicitor in England in the near future. The University of Law offers a programme called MA Law (SQE1) which is a law conversion course and includes an SQE1 Preparation Course. However, I am not really sure what is the weight of an MA in law versus an LLM. Although my goal is to take SQE assessments, I would also like to obtain a Master's degree to enhance my academic record in case I have to return to my country someday. Furthermore, I would like to get a job as a paralegal or something similar before I become a solicitor. Therefore, I would like to know which course to choose. I have reviewed academic LLM programmes and also the LLM Law and Legal Practice: SQE 1 Preparation Course from Nottingham Trent University, so I would like to know whether I should choose one of these programmes or the MA Law (SQE1).

Thanks for your help,

Regards,

Hello, I was wondering if there is an age at which you'd say the prospects of receiving a Vacation Scheme offer starts to go down. I am going to be 25 in a month, and facing the prospect of no TC this year, I'm considering applying again for Vacation Schemes alongside TCs for next year.

A recent graduate; failed my first VS round after graduating, but I'm in good spirits because I know the things I did wrong(hopefully all of them, but more realistically some) and hope I can turn this around. I have the A*AA, 2:1 from Russell uni, and extracurriculars, and will be plunging full time to app and start preparing for the next cycle super early.

I also applied to GDL(PGDL) at ULaw starting this Sept for three main reasons. First, I can end up with a degree, unlike SQE prep courses from BARBRI etc, and can use this for paralegal roles etc in the future. Second, GDL is expensive and I am so so hurt over parting with this much money due to botched VS apps but also it wouldn't bankrupt me. It's a lot of money but I'll live. Third, I went to a lot of open days/firm events last cycle to hear that some of the firms I'm interested in still plan on putting their non-law grads through the PGDL anyhow, and I was also attracted to the idea of learning law more before test-prepping for SQE(also genuinely interested in learning and learning law both).

But in researching my options I'm torn because of the cost(I have trauma I'm working on in therapy about spending any money more than 50 quid even if I can afford it) and whether I'm making a stupid decision. Some portray ULaw, BPP, and other providers as doing PGDL as a scheme to suck money out of naive internationals(I am an international student), and I've no plans to be a barrister yet as I'm set on the commercial route.

Tl;dr
My question is, will PGDL actually be worth anything? Compared to SQE, are there solid reasons to choose PGDL?
Like everyone else I'm counting on getting a TC offer and receiving support for SQE for next yr onwards if possible, and will pay back my parents for PGDL with reasonable interest rates. I know they can afford this without going broke, I just want to know if its a waste of money.

Thanks!!

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Are there any vacation schemes still available?

I am an international student in a Senior Status program. I, unfortunately, could not finish any applications before the deadline.

And now that I am more settled in, I wonder whether I have missed my chance to participate in a vacation scheme?

Can someone offer me some advice? Thank you kindly.

Hi everyone,
I'm a GDL student at the University of Law. I started applying for vacation schemes and training while living abroad last year, got onto a vacation scheme and assessment centre then but in both failed at the interview stage.
Sending out applications again this year, managed to arrange two vacation schemes so far, one Spring and one Summer. Just did another assessment centre today and got a Watson Glaser to do this week.
Main concern is still interviews, had two firms this cycle where I've been able to get to the final interview and still haven't quite got the hang of them I think. Hoping to pick up some advice here and happy to pass on what I've found out so far.
Anyway, good to meet you all.

Hi all,

I wanted to create a thread for all of us who are trying to get their foot in the door within the legal industry. There's loads of great tips elsewhere on the forum and I'll be going through it and linking it down below so that it's all in one place for us.

I'm a non-law graduate and my first cycle of applications has been disastrously unsuccessful but I'm determined to try again. I feel the one area in my applications that was really lacking was evidence of my commitment to law and that lies in my lack of experience! So, with a view to reapplying come September I want to gain exposure to legal practice as much as possible- the caveat is that even this is pretty hard with next to no experience

Hopefully with this thread we can share general tips and advice for getting that initial 'foot in the door' experience as well as ways we can leverage this in applications

Hi everyone!!

This post seeks to provide a very quick explanation of how to change your TCLA username

Whether you are having second thoughts about using your real name on the forum, or are considering joining the new Junior Lawyers' Community and do not want anyone to be able to link your posts to your old account, then you may wish to change your username. Alternatively, you may just wish to mix up your username for the sake of variety!

Changing your username can be done once per month and instructions on how to do so are as follows:

1. Hover your cursor over your username in the top right-hand corner of the screen until the drop-down menu appears as demonstrated in the screenshot below.
2. Within the drop-down menu, click on 'Account details'.
3. On the 'Account details' page, go to where it says 'Username' and click the 'Change' button, which can also be seen in the screenshot below. This will give you the option to input your new username and provide a reason for the change. Assuming your reason is valid, one of us moderators will approve your username change and you will not be able to change it again for a month. If the 'Change' option does not appear, it is probably because you have either created your account or changed your username within the last month.

I hope that all of this is useful - feel free to reach out if you have any questions!

Evening all,

Just had all my January exams back for ULaw and have failed three of my exams (legal writing- unsure by how much, wills and estates 1-mark off a pass, accounts-10 marks off). Apart from this I got firsts in all my grade weighted mocks, passed my other pass/fail exams and the real exams went fairly well, so this came as a very unpleasant surprise as I did the prep for them. I got a first last year on the GDL and got a mid 2.1 from Russell group before that so I'm taking the risk of self-funding to get through it in the hopes of getting a TC at some point at a large firm, but I'm aware most of them have a first-time pass policy on their exams. Has my failing of these exams ruined my chances of training at these places? I have read ULaws policy and as these aren't weighted exams, and therefore they won't affect my overall average. However, These exams are shown on my transcript and it would show that I resat them, I was wondering how much of an adverse effect this has on pursuing big law?

I'm assuming my best bet may be to laterally move somewhere big when I'm qualified instead but that idea doesn't sound too appealing at this moment in time. I have read stories of trainees at major firms not making the cut by one mark and losing training contracts as a result. If this is the case, should I just not bother applying for these firms in the future?

If anyone has any advice on this that would be brilliant. Furthermore, I'm doing the city electives (Banking, M and A, Equity finance) and was wondering if it may be worth me changing to do something which may suit a smaller firm and not wasting effort and money on something that will be out of my reach for some years PQE at best, not at all at worst?



As you can imagine I'm having a major panic about this as I really don't want to jeopardize my future career over three exams that are not even grade-weighted due to my own idiocy. I don't have any mitigating circumstances for this and just screwed up by focussing too much on finishing vac scheme apps before the January deadlines and not revising enough. If it is as binary as that's me written off for a while then fair enough, would be good to know so I can focus on smaller firms or qualifying via 2 years of work experience instead.

Any advice on what to do would be massively appreciated.

I am a student of Law based in India. I am on the cusp of completing my UG and on the lookout for opportunities to learn and grow.

For whatever reason, I didn’t participate in societies enough to get a position of responsibility, which i’ve heard is pretty essential to VC apps. If i work part-time during term-time would this be a sufficient substitute, or will it hurt my application?

Just to be clear, I would be getting a term-time job for the purpose of VC applications. So I’m open to better alternatives

How does schedule 13G work if the company is undertaking a open makret share purchase plan? Does the company notify the shareholder when they've breached 5%