Hello! I am a Cardiff Uni alumnus from India, looking to steer my career path toward law to exploit the myriad of sectors and lead with business/legal consulting, and I am overwhelmed by all the different qualifications out there. I am expecting to attain some clarity, so bear with me if it seems a tad basic.

I have a Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering and also a Masters in Business Management, and I have what is equivalent to a solid to high 2:1. I am aware that I have to complete a qualifying law course to progress with an LPC to practice in the UK, but I am just wondering what would be better in the long run and the prospects accordingly? I have looked at the following programs:

The LLM at Cardiff Uni/ KCL
The MA Law at Uni of Bristol
The Grad Entry LLB at Leeds, Birmingham, QMUL
The Accelerated LLB/ Senior Status LLB at Uni of Edinburgh.

I am confused because they all seem to lead in the same direction, but if it didn't matter which way you went about it, these differences wouldn't exist. It seems like an LLM is the way to go considering the academic progression, but I am just wondering if I can hurt my career prospects by doing one or the other?

Also, I understand that there are vocational training periods after the academic portion of your legal training is over, and I am just wondering how easy is it to get sponsorship for your LPC or the qualification for becoming a barrister or solicitor?

Also, just to be clear, the process in my case is: 1st degree--->Masters---->Qualifying law degree----> solicitor or barrister training?

Appreciate your help, cheers!

Hi, 

I think you would have to do an accelerated LLB course as I think only LLBs "count" as qualifying law degrees (note, however, that Scottish degrees do not qualify as law degrees in England and you would still have to do the GDL/SQE1 if you wanted to work in England. I think only Aberdeen uni offers dual qualifying degrees). That said, I think there should also be more accelerated LLB courses (I think Oxford had one when I was there, but I never met anyone actually doing that course). Note also that you do not really need to do a law degree, you can simply do the GDL/SQE 1 and this will be enough.

Regarding LPC sponsorship, you would need to secure employment with a law firm/chambers and then they would pay for your degree. In fact, and I think this would be the best course of action for you, start applying to law firms now and, once you secure a training contact, the firm will sponsor both the LPC and your law qualifying degree (which will likely be the GDL/SQE1 which you can do after having graduated in ANY discipline).

[Edited by miki3999 on Aug 31, 2022]

Miki is mistaken on the details: there are some LLMs which are QLDs, like Birkbeck: https://www.bbk.ac.uk/study/2022/postgraduate/programmes/TMLLAWIP_C/0/qualifying-law-degree-llm 

However, in terms of strategy Miki's response is correct. The only LLMs to consider are that conversion degrees with the status of QLD, GDL or, if you have one of those already, an LPC.