Hi, if anyone else is taking the LLB-PARALEGAL-TC route, your input and experiences would be really helpful. One thing I really want to know is whether an international student with a UK LLB would find it hard to find a job as a paralegal in the UK or is working in my home city (Dubai) while applying for TC's a better route? Thank you so much!
-
Join Premium →Get Everything You Need to Secure a Training ContractNow half the price. Join TCLA Premium for £30/month and get step-by-step application support, daily commercial awareness practice, and 700+ successful examples of past applications and interview experiences. Plus so much more.
-
Register →From AI to Energy Deals: Inside a Full-Service Law Firm with Osborne Clarke8 Dec 2025 · 6pm (UK) Zoom · Registration RequiredYou want to write a strong Osborne Clarke application — but what really makes the firm different, and how do trainees experience the work day-to-day? In this session, you’ll hear directly from current trainees and Recruitment Advisor Patrick Fermin Ryan, so you can speak with clarity and specificity in your applications and interviews.
LLB to Paralegal to TC
- Thread starter aspiringm&alawyer
- Start date
Dheepa
Legendary Member
Staff member
Future Trainee
TCLA Moderator
Premium Member
Forum Team
M&A Bootcamp
Junior Lawyer 43
- Jan 20, 2019
- 852
- 2,160
@Jessica Booker
I think that with the new two year visa coming into force for international students, it wouldn’t be any more difficult for international students as it is for anyone else (so you’d only have to be worried about the actual competitiveness of the paralegal job market)
As for which is a better route, I think that’s an entirely personal decision. If you can find a paralegal job that pays well enough to sustain you comfortably then there’s no harm in doing that. I do know many international students who have returned home, worked at firms here and still applied for TCs. So both routes are completely viable I think.
I think that with the new two year visa coming into force for international students, it wouldn’t be any more difficult for international students as it is for anyone else (so you’d only have to be worried about the actual competitiveness of the paralegal job market)
As for which is a better route, I think that’s an entirely personal decision. If you can find a paralegal job that pays well enough to sustain you comfortably then there’s no harm in doing that. I do know many international students who have returned home, worked at firms here and still applied for TCs. So both routes are completely viable I think.
