- Sep 7, 2024
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Hi @1stCycleApplicant
Congrats on your offer! In terms of your first question, you could in theory delay the SQE and keep applying elsewhere, especially if you haven’t signed a formal contract or received funding. Most firms don’t bind you until the point at which you accept financial sponsorship, but it’s always worth checking what exactly you’ve agreed to, especially if you've already signed a training contract offer letter off the back of the vac scheme. If no money has changed hands, you likely won't be bound to the firm.
As for the UCL Corporate Law LLM, I wouldn’t say it’s pointless, but it’s also not necessarily going to improve your odds. Having supervised and worked with UCL LLM students during my time working in the faculty, I can say that there were many LLM students who struggled to turn this into an advantage in their application process (even when they did particularly well on their respective courses). If you do the degree, do it because you’re genuinely interested in the material. It might help to some extent, but if the rest of your application isn’t compelling enough to the firms you're applying to, then a master’s degree won’t change that.
I think you'd be better off focusing on how you present your current profile. You’ve already done a vac scheme and secured a TC, which is the kind of experience that could make you attractive to other firms, depending on how you discuss these experiences. I'd recommend spending time getting work experience, sharpening your writing skills, build up your commercial awareness, and understand how to communicate with more clarity in interviews. These will put you in a stronger position come your second application cycle.
