Hi to everyone I would like to make some questions:I'm taking an italian three years bachelor's of law and eventually I would like to become a sollicitor in uk,I know that it is necessary the GDL and later the LPC but do law firms pay GDL and LPC to European graduates(italian) with a training contract?In italy there aren't first class honours degree,second class honours degree,and so on;we have 110 cum laude/110,109/110,108/110 and so on;for this reason How can I convert my degree score in an English score for an application for a law firm?
Thanks a lot for the answers.

Hi Nick,

In what year of your studies are you at the moment? If you want to become a solicitor in the UK by obtaining a training contract you would have to apply 2 years in advance. So if you are currently in your second year and will graduate next year, you will need to start applying after the summer break. I would strongly recommend applying for vacation schemes with most of the major firms as they tend to recruit mostly from the vacation schemers. This is particularly the case for most of the American firms.

I have obtained a training contract with a large American firm even though I studied European law before (in the Netherlands), so I wouldn't worry about having foreign credentials. With regard to grades, the online application usually permit you to enter whatever grade you had at uni (in my case on scale fom 0-10). There are rough conversion charts online if you need to indicate whether you graduated with honours. Do you have class rankings which you could indicate?

About GDL/LPC fees, all the major firms pay the tuition fees and provide you with a maintenance grant while you are studying. However, they will not pay you retrospectively, so it might be worth obtaining a training contract before you begin the rather expensive GDL/LPC track (if you study in London the GDL fees are close to 10K at BPP and College of Law).

Best of luck with the applications! Foreign languages are always an asset!

Btw: Will you be able to sit the bar exam in Italy after your 3 year degree? If so you could save 4 years of your life by doing the qualified lawyer transfer scheme, which allows you to obtain the title of solicitor in England and Waler based on your foreign qualification.

Dear Denning thanks for the answer it's difficult to say in what year I am because here in italy Universities say that a course is three years but a lot of students study for 4 years because we have too much to study,but I can say I have only 4 exams and after these exams and the dissertation I will be graduated.In Italy it isn't absolutley possible to become a lawyer with a three years bachelor's degree,it is necessary an Italian LLM degree,two years of training and after this it is necessary to pass the Italian state exam.What do you suggest to me?I think it is a good idea to do a scheme after my degree and later eventually to search a traning contract.What do you think?I don't know if I have a class rakings.Someone says that 105 is second class honours degree,someone says that 97 is second class honours degree.