Hi everybody

Ive been offered places to study for LLM at Nottingham, Durham and Manchester. Also I applied for UCL, KCL and LSE. I do have a Masters Degree in international law from (France) and LLB in law from another non common law country.

I would like to practice as a solicitor in the UK, so I would like have some advices about what should I do in order to practice as a solicitor and how to become a lawyer in the UK?

Ps. I live in France but I do not have the French nationality

anybody!!!!! helloooo!!!????

You need to do a 1 year GDL programme followed by a 1 year LPC (in case you want to practice as a solicitor) or a BVC (if you want to qualify as a Barrister).

Hope this helped.

Dear friend,

I have finished my LLM from the University of Leicester, UK. If you are very serious in becoming a Solicitor of England and Wales better go for the LPC or BVC course of any one of the institutes like Nottingham Law School, College of London, or OXILP, Oxford for the course LPC or BVC (Bar Vocational Course).

For any Indian Lawyer who is enrolled as Lawyer and have two years of experience as Advocate or Academic Lawyer or the job related to Legal he / she can apply for a conversion examination called Qualified Law Transfer Test (QLTT). Indian Lawyers have to write only one paper called Professional Conduct and Accounts. Since you have not done Law from Non Common Law country better apply for LPC one year instead of LLM and you can become a Solicitor of England and Wales. If you have any further clarification please contact me sathishpm@yahoo.com or satishpm@puthurinfotech.co.in

Sathish P M


Ive been offered places to study for LLM at Nottingham, Durham and Manchester. Also I applied for UCL, KCL and LSE. I do have a Masters Degree in international law from (France) and LLB in law from another non common law country.

I would like to practice as a solicitor in the UK, so I would like have some advices about what should I do in order to practice as a solicitor and how to become a lawyer in the UK?

Ps. I live in France but I do not have the French nationality

Dear friend,

I have finished my LLM from the University of Leicester, UK. If you are very serious in becoming a Solicitor of England and Wales better go for the LPC or BVC course of any one of the institutes like Nottingham Law School, College of London, or OXILP, Oxford for the course LPC or BVC (Bar Vocational Course).

For any Indian Lawyer who is enrolled as Lawyer and have two years of experience as Advocate or Academic Lawyer or the job related to Legal he / she can apply for a conversion examination called Qualified Law Transfer Test (QLTT). Indian Lawyers have to write only one paper called Professional Conduct and Accounts. I suggest you that better apply for LPC one year instead of LLM and you can become a Solicitor of England and Wales. If you have any further clarification please contact me sathishpm@yahoo.com or satishpm@puthurinfotech.co.in
Mobile : + 91-9740016100

hi satish im a final yr student of law from india can u tell me vats will b better llm or lpc.

Dear Student,

If your are looking for a legal profession as Solicitor of
England and Wales, please don't go for LLM. You must apply for the LPC (for Solicitor) or BVC (Bar Vocational Course) Bar at Law to practice in High Courts of UK. Even if you do your LLM, you are eligible for work for one year and another one year extendable Work Permit Visa. Most of the companies of Law Firms need your eligibility to work in UK atleast continuously for a period of 18 months, (Means you must have a continuous working Visa for 18 months and more) otherwise they will not offer any job to you. In England a company or firm will apply for Work Permit for you, only under rare situations, and they wanted Highly Skilled Migrant programme (HSMP) Work Permit which allow you to work, do business or practice a profession. To get HSMP it is a very tough criteria and the main criteria being your income in India for the past one year.
But if you complete LPC from any Legal Practice Institute like College of Law, London, OXILP, Oxford, Nottingham Law School etc after completing your LPC you can join as the Trainee Solicitor of any Law firm or even practive yourself as the Soclicitor. Then UK Home Office has to issue a Visa for Work to you. So LPC is all time better than LLM if you thinking of doing a legal profession in UK.

Regards,

Sathish P M B.Com, LLB, MBA, LLM (England), PGDIM, PGDMM, & DIM.
Director - HR (Manpower Solutions) & Legal,
Puthur Infotech Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore.
E-mail : sathishpm@yahoo.com
satishpm@puthurinfotech.co.in
Web Site : www.puthurinfotech.co.in
Mobile : 09740016100 (from India)

I am really surprised by the previous post!!! This information is totally wrong. If you do your LPC in England, You cannot become a soliciotr before working 2 years as a trainee in a law firm. Getting a training contract is very difficult sepcially for those who need work permit. It does not matter where you have done your LPC, it is very difficult to get a training contract, so do not believe that after finishing LPC you can have your own law firm or you can get a training contract straightly.

My objective is to practice as solicitor in the UK or in France, otherwise working in the legal department of big multinational companies. As I mentioned I have a masters degree in international law from France, even though that I do agree with Sathish P M, I think in my case that I should go for LLM before applying for the LPC, and thats for many reasons (such as enhance my English skills, my knowledge in British and commercial laws, specially that I come from non common law country).

Concerning training contract, I would like to know if it is really very difficult to obtain such a contract ;( I will be national of an EU country within the next tow years).

Dear Ibrid
It is difficult to get a training contract. But it does not mean that you cannot get it. you should start applying from now ,and they give you a place in 2010. About LLM, I strongly advise you not to do it before doing your LPC, LLM is not a routin path to become a lawyer in England, I have done my LLM in this country and trust me you would not improve your English skills. and you don't gain enough knowledge about commercial law.. LLM is for people who want an academic profession. Do not make my mistake. I am remorseful now that I haven't done my LPC. This is because of the fact that GDL and LPC make you much more ready for professional field than LLM does.after doing your LPC , you will be able to decide whether to do your LLM or not.
Good Luck
Farzaneh

Hi

Would you say that taking the QLTT and qualifying as a Solicitor of England and Wales for a lawyer from India would be a better option than doing the LPC?

I already have 10 years work experience.

Cheers

Yes, Absolutely. But you should know that the law has changed and now you should work with an English lawyer to be registered as a soliciotr so bear in mind that you should first find the so called training contract for one year, but don't waste your time and money by doing LPC .

Hi Farzaneh

Thanks for the info but I didn't know the law has changed and the SRA didn't mention anything about working with a UK Solicitor when they replied to my queries about the QLTT. Maybe it's changed in the last 2 days. lol. I'll check it out.

I'm trying for a qualified lawyer position but it's very tough. I've got 10 years work ex in India, so a training contract sounds a little redundant for me at this stage. lol.

Hey,
It is not like a TC but they say you should work with an English solicitor. I haven't seen it on theor website but the indian friends who are studying to take the exam in BPP, told me that. Research a little bit more may be the law hasn't changed yet but it will soon. who knows.

Thanks. I'll find out from the SRA.

I am really surprised by the previous post!!! This information is totally wrong. If you do your LPC in England, You cannot become a soliciotr before working 2 years as a trainee in a law firm. Getting a training contract is very difficult sepcially for those who need work permit. It does not matter where you have done your LPC, it is very difficult to get a training contract, so do not believe that after finishing LPC you can have your own law firm or you can get a training contract straightly.

Dear Ms. Farzana,

You need not be surprised. Before you comment please go through the question and then answer. I have never told in my reply that people can become Solicitor by passing LPC. The question was whether it is better to do LLM or LPC and I have answered that it is better to LPC to become a Solicitor rather than doing LLM. Am I correct ? Now regarding the second part of my reply I have told that once you do the LPC you can do training and can become Trainee Solcitor in any firm. Present Law in UK says that for any student after 2006 batch from India or any country can get two years Work Permit and so now a days Solcitor Firms are offering Trainee Solcitorship to the candidates who do LPC. I never mean that it is very easy to get Trainee Solcitor job. If I suggest something like that how you can infer that a student from India cannot get Trainee Solcitorship. It may be true in your case. There are several students from premier institutions in India like NLSIU and NALSAR offered Trainee Soclitorship along with scholarship for LPC by many law firms.

I suggest you that before you make any negative comment please understand what others wanted to say and be patient, which should be a good quality for a lawyer.

Regards,

Sathish

Hi

Would you say that taking the QLTT and qualifying as a Solicitor of England and Wales for a lawyer from India would be a better option than doing the LPC?

I already have 10 years work experience.

Cheers

Now there are few College which offers LPC and LLM together. Check out This http://www.city.ac.uk/law/vocational/lpc_llm.html

Hi

Would you say that taking the QLTT and qualifying as a Solicitor of England and Wales for a lawyer from India would be a better option than doing the LPC?

I already have 10 years work experience.

Cheers