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International secondments have been back-burnered as a result of the pandemic. Does anyone know when will international secondments resume?

Hello,

I am considering undertaking a PhD in Law and then to pursue a position as a trainee solicitor at a Magic Circle law firm.

I have seen quite a few people on LinkedIn who after doing a PhD have gone onto become trainee solicitors at Clifford Chance, Allen & Overy etc.


Does anybody know more about this? I myself thought it was odd to see.

Hey! I just wondered if anyone else had applied to the in-house Trainee Solicitor Scheme with the National Farmers' Union? Would love to discuss the painful waiting game for this with someone!

Hello,

I am 25 years old.

I graduated top of my class (LL.B.) from a low-ranking UK institution from 2016-2019

I then attended a Russell Group university for my first LL.M. and graduated with a Distinction 2019-2020.

After, mainly due to COVID-19 restrictions I decided to take a further LL.M. (Int Taxation) at another Russell Group university 2020-2021.

For 2021-2022 I will be attending the University of Cambridge for yet another LL.M. , since it has always been a dream of mine to attend Oxbridge.

My academic profile will look like this...

LL.B. , LL.M. , LL.M. (Int Tax) , LL.M. (Oxbridge).

In attending a low-ranking institution, it was incredibly difficult to find opportunities. We did not have connections to law firms, campus ambassadors etc etc.

I still managed to gain some 'less prestigious' work experience at high-street/regional law firms. Aside from this I have held a full-time job as a legal assistant and legal intern abroad for one year. I also help in managing a property portfolio covering various legal aspects.

Do you think I still have a shot at applying for magic circle vac schemes/training contracts or would you say 25 is too late?


Thank you.

Hi all, I am currently cleansing my Linkedin in preparation for connecting with people on my vacation schemes. I've completed five 'Internship Experiences' at various firms on Forage. I currently have these in the 'work experience' section on Linkedin. They did involve submitting and preparing work sample tasks, but I'm not sure if it's misleading to count them as work experience. I've also seen these put under the 'Licenses and Certifications' section on Linkedin. Which section would you recommend putting these under? Many thanks!

Hi,

I am applying for the BBC solicitor apprenticeship and am having some difficulties answering this question despite how simple it may seem;

Tell us about any skills, experience, or interests you have that make you a good fit for the BBC Legal team.

I'm struggling to find anything online about what the BBC Legal team look for or values that are important to sort of link into my skills, experiences and interests etc.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

Hi guys, just wondering if anyone has heard back from Fladgate yet?

Hi everyone! Just a general question. I am currently conducting my TC application. The deadline is end of may. They do not recruit on a rolling basis. The first part of the question is about you, achievements etc... I will now be doing a virtual vacation scheme. Would it be better to wait till I complete the vacation scheme so that I can add it to my cover letter? What should I do?

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Hi All,
I see people on this forum are very helpful in sharing their experience and providing advice. I would appreciate, if you could help me with my complicated situation. And sorry for the chaos, but I am still a bit lost and have 1000s thoughts in my head/minute.

I am >30 and have a degree in finance. I consider a career change, although given my age, I am being realistic about my (low) chances of "great" law career. I read through a lot of forums, SRA, called a few unis to get advice.

My (naive) thoughts and hopes were, that as a non-law graduate, I can only do some preparation courses for SQE and voila - I will pass it and later apply for TC. From what the uni advisors have told me, it seems only the name changes, but the overall path won't. I will still have to do GDL and either LPC or SQE. For SQE I can directly go for the exam without doing a prep course in case of a sudden enlightenment. However, they still recommend taking a course.

My current plan (and after chatting to uni advisors) is to do a part-time GDL (self-funded), try to secure TC, do LPC (if sponsored) or otherwise SQE (by self study or finding the cheapest course provider). I know that most of the law firms partner with BPP, so I am considering doing PGDL there. However, I have noticed many bad reviews about BPP and ask myself, if it is worth doing it for 11k or better to go to i.e. LMU and pay 6k instead. I thought that maybe by doing GDL at the uni that is more "recognized" by so many law firms my chances of securing TC would rise. However, I started to think, what if I will not get a TC and I would have to do (self-funded) LPC/SQE. I noticed the price for LPC is significantly higher than for GDL. Or worse - if I would fail in the course, I would hate to lose so much money..My hope would be later to find a cheap SQE course and self-study a lot. I doubt I would go for (self-funded) LPC for another 11k not having a TC. Any advice on what woud you do in my situation?

Also, have any of you made an experience of doing LPC while starting TC already? I would really prefer to avoid studying LPC part-time and starting TC later (given my age). Well again, here my only hope would be doing SQE (given some unis offer a shorter course).

Thanks!

I was contacted by a recruiter who encouraged me to send my CV for paralegal roles at City firms. I have two lingering questions:

1. I would assume it is okay, but just to check: if you have secured a Training Contract from firm A, is it okay to work as a paralegal for firm B (contractual terms permitting) during the summer? I could use the money and experience.

2. Is it pompous to put 'Future Trainee at Firm A' on your CV when applying to paralegal roles?

I was contacted by a recruiter who encouraged me to send my CV for paralegal roles at City firms. I have two lingering questions:

1. I would assume it is okay, but just to check: if you have secured a Training Contract from firm A, is it okay to work as a paralegal for firm B (contractual terms permitting) during the summer? I could use the money and experience.

2. Is it pompous to put 'Future Trainee at Firm A' on your CV when applying to paralegal roles?

Hello

I was wondering if anyone who has done the written exercise at a White & Case assessment day could share what topics have previously come up before? The only one I've heard about is the decline of the high street (I think that was around 2019). Would be useful to know what topics came up more recently in 2020/2021.

Thank you!

Hi!

Has anyone heard back from RPC post verbal reasoning for direct TC?

Hi all,

I get the choice of which city to do the GDL in. None of them are my uni city, and I don't have links/friends to any of them.

I get a stipend of about £12,850 from my firm to live off. Obviously for London this is no where near enough and will just about cover rent.
I won't have any other income sources unless I work.

The options are BPP Manchester, BPP Waterloo (London), or BPP Bristol.

Where would you go for?

I am worried that moving to a city for just one year might be difficult as I will spend a while making friends and settling in, by which point I will need to go anyway.

Hi! I'm currently a final year law student graduating in 2021. I have been trying to get a TC in the UK but have had no luck in the past 2 years. Due to my country not recognising the LPC but the Bar Qualification, I have opted to take the Bar Course (starting January 2022) so that if I am unable to secure a job in the UK, I can still return to my home country and practice as a lawyer. However, I am still on the hunt for a TC and will be submitting VS/TC apps during the 2021-2022 recruitment cycle. I am just a bit confused as to my eligibility for summer/winter VS and schemes in general as I won't be on holiday during the summer and I technically would have 'graduated' in the winter. Could anyone who has gone through the same process provide any advice?

Further on another note, what is the chances of looking for a paralegal role at the firm instead of a TC and making my way through that route?

Thank you so much!

Hi everyone. I must preface this by stating that I am new to this forum, so I’m not certain that this has been posted in the right place. Do let me know if so.

To give context to my situation, I’m due to start my law degree this autumn. Whilst I am of course keeping my options relatively open, I’ve found that through commercial awareness seminars, my own wider reading and personal research that I am likely to go down the commercial route (most likely as a solicitor, but again we’ll see). I am particularly interested in working at a US firm as I’ve been keeping up with a decent handful of firms’ activity and have been particularly impressed by what some of the US firms have been up to.

Of course, I’m not putting all of my eggs in one basket, and although I am sitting on an unconditional to study at Oxbridge & am doing everything I can to bolster my CV and prepare myself for my studies to get the best marks I can, I understand that a US firm training contract won’t come easy. With that out the way, if I am able to secure work at one of these firms’ London office, how likely is it that I might get to work in America one day? I am especially interested in New York’s legal market, as I not only like the idea of staying there, but also love the corporate work that occurs there. Not to mention the fact that I have heard that you don’t need to undergo a JD to practise there.

I am of conscious of the fact that this will depend heavily on the individual firm. With that in mind, I would appreciate any viewpoints on particular US firms’ attitude to this.

Thank you in advance

Hi,

Does anyone have any experience with Flex Legal? How often do you receive work opportunities? Is it competitive?

Hi guys!!! So I’m in need of some serious help. I felt like I have lost all my motivation this year after what has happened with the pandemic, constantly being rejected for paralegal roles and my mental illness.

I am currently in the process of applying for a TC because I missed vacation scheme deadlines. I was unable to do A levels at school as a very serious incident happened. Following the incident, I developed bipolar disorder and I wasn’t in a good place. I started studying music as it helped me and distracted me from the past. I studied at a high level passing with distinctions and merits with the associated boards of the Royal schools of music.

in absence of my A levels, I took an accredited foundation course to get I to university and study law. I attend the university of central Lancashire and graduated with a first.

I did a vacation scheme with an international firm, I had some paralegal experience for an In house company, I worked as a hostess at a hotel and I worked with the orchestra. I commuted to university 2 hours a day as well as work and horse riding as a I was a competitive athlete. I can also speak five languages.

In summary... will these qualifications and characteristics allow me to obtain a TC considering my mitigating circumstances or, will my application be completely disregarded? Sometimes I think that because I didn’t graduate from an Oxbridge uni, my chances are very low. I constantly worry and I’m really doing my best.

Simmons & Simmons Vacation Scheme Interview 2021

Please state the month/year you interviewed at the firm.

February 2021

Please specify what the interview was for.

Summer Vacation Scheme 2021

Please give an overview of the day with approximate timings.

11am - Introductions + instructions for inbox exercise
11:10am - Inbox exercise
12:10pm - Lunch
1:10pm - Instructions for joint case study and competency interview
1:20pm - Preparation time
2pm - Case study and competency interview
3pm - Wrap up

Please provide a summary of each assessment on the day with approximate timings.

Inbox exercise - Given 1h to:
a) rank and prioritise different emails, explaining why and what actions you would take
b) read some law and draft a letter of advice

Case study and competency interview - 40 mins to read through documents and prepare a 5 min presentation on the key issues delivered in the interview. 15 mins of questioning on the presentation then follows, and the remaining 40 mins is spent on competency questions

What is your best advice for each aspect of the assessment on the day? Please break this down for each assessment. This can include advice for preparation, as well as tips for the day.

For the inbox exercise, time management is important because it is two tasks, but attention to detail is key. Give yourself enough time to proofread your answers, even just a minute.

For the case study, make good notes and again pay attention to detail. When preparing the presentation, keep it structured and emphasise the key points. In you answer, think about the problem's wider commercial implications. A PESTLE analysis will be useful.

For the competency interview, be prepared for follow up questions. E.g. if you like Simmons & Simmons for its tech-savviness, have specific examples to hand as they may ask for them! They could ask for more details on your competency answers like how doing X made you feel or what you specifically said/did in situation Y. Have some questions to ask at the end.

Good luck!

Were you successful?

Yes