Dear Friend,

Definitely yes. Since you have ten years experience in India and now the QLTT exam centre is available in India for the lawyers in India please write this. You can practice as the Solicitor of England and Wales and the Law Society of UK give registration for the practice. You have to write only one paper Professional Conduct and Accounts. I advice you to get enrolled for a course for preparing this examination, because it is not that easy for you.
Regards.

Sathish

Hi, I am in my final year LLB in Mumbai, India and planning to LLM from UK directly after my studies get over. Can anyone tell me that is it possible for me to get a job after LLM and then appear for QLTT to become a solicitor after 2 years experience in UK.

Somebody told me that you need to work for 2 years in your own country to qualify for appearing for QLTT.

By looking at the posts here, I understand that it is viable to do LPC and get a training contract which is also not easy. Rather I would work for 2 years, get eligible for QLTT then do LLM and appear for QLTT and work.

Can anyone suggest the ideal route to become a solicitor in UK for an international fresher lawyer straight out of Law School?

Thanks for your suggestions Satish.

Pratish apply for a training contract and work 2 years with a UK law firm if you can get the training contract. But a better way would be to postpone your LLM and work 2 years in India and then take the QLTT before doing your LLM. Chances of getting a job will improve if you're already qualified as a Solicitor of England and Wales before you go for the LLM.

Hope that helps. You can also write to the SRA and ask them directly. They are quite helpful.

Cheers
Prash

Prashant,

My main query is that if I need to work in India only to qualify for QLTT or if I manage to get a job in UK then that work ex will also qualify me for QLTT.

My main to reason to LLM directly after my LLB is that I want to finish of my studies and then just concentrate on work. and one more thing is that I didnt get a quality LLB education in my college.

Dear Pratish,

QLTT is the process for the Common Law Country lawyers and not for those practice in UK because you cannot practice as a lawyer in England without doing LPC or BVC. So if you wanted to practice as a lawyer in England, please practice for two years or work in a company as Legal Officer or work as Academic Lawyer then apply for the QLTT from India. Other wise the route is GDL then LPC or BVC from UK and then try for training contract etc. This is a very difficult process believe me. I did LLM from England but I have got a job not because of this but my experience in England. I suggest you the QLTT route or better join for LPC than LLM.
Regards,
Sathish

Hi Pratish

You can check out these links below:

http://www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/qltt.page

http://www.sra.org.uk/documents/solicitors/qltt/qltt-experience.pdf

http://www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/qltt/transfer-regulations.page

http://www.sra.org.uk/documents/solicitors/qltt/qltt-regulations.pdf

These should give you the required information. See Clause 11 of the QLTT Regulations carefully.

My own view is that you need 2 years work experience in both contentious and non contentious work within the past 5 years. Whether you acquire that in India itself or outside India probably does not matter and will possibly qualify you to take the QLTT but that decision is taken by the SRA. Write to them directly at info.services@sra.org.uk and ask them before taking a decision.

If you gain your experience in India then all you need to do is clear the Professional Conduct and Accounts paper and send them a certificate from your law school stating that you studied in English in order to get an exemption from the
Principles of Common Law paper of the QLTT. This is of course assuming that the SRA grants you the Certificate of Eligibility to appear for the QLTT.

Let me once again reiterate that it is not easy to get a job in UK, so don't bank on it. I've done extensive research on this in the past 2 months and have received answers from a number of law firms and recruitment consultants in UK. 100% of the answers were negative about getting a job after the LLM.

Your reason for doing the LLM is logical but you may want to consider that doing the LLM after some amount of work experience might be a good idea as you can then decide exactly which areas of law you want to specialize in for the LLM. Working for a little while before doing the LLM may help you identify the practice areas which you really enjoy.

Hope this helps you.

Let me know if you need any other info.

Cheers
Prashant

Satish

Saw your post after I had submitted mine. Maybe you're the right person to advise Pratish. :)

Dear Prashanth,

QLTT is the provision outiside the UK countries only. Once you have the eligibility to work in UK in the legal field then QLTT is not applicable. But if you want to do the Solicitorship either you have to take LPC route or QLTT by practicing in India. I have LLM Degree from UK but I cannot practice unless I do LPC or apply through QLTT. One of my batch mate is now doing LPC in UK after doing LLM. If you wanted to get a job in UK it is not easy and you have to try after taking HSMP Work permit.

Regards,

Sathish

Thank you Prashant and Satish for your help.

Prashant I have already visited the SRA website quite a few time and I have also gone through the the regulations.

I totally agree with what you are saying. I am interested in IP Law and International Commercial Arbitration. But I am still in the middle of deciding which to go for. I was thinking of taking up commercial law with IP Modules and International Commercial Arbitration.

As you are saying it is really tough to get a job in UK after completing LLM even if you become a solicitor by clearing QLTT then it would be the same thing even if I go without any experience to UK. See my motive for doing LLM from UK is to get quality education in law which I didn't get in Mumbai.

If I have to come back after LLM no matter I have experience or not it would be the same situation for me. What I was thinking that after completing LLM if I could stay there and work for some time to recover my costs that I have incurred then it is beneficial. But here it doesn't matter if I go this year or after 2 years. I don't know how the situation would be after 2-3 years of the UK job market but it won't get any better for International Students as they will still prefer Britishers and Europeans. One case you mentioned that your friend got a job after working hard for a year, even though if I got after some years of experience I won't be ready to hang around for so long or for that sake most of the people.

Prashant I know you taking a huge amount of loan and goin for LLM. But for me it is different as my father is a practicing advocate in Bombay High Court and I will have to join his practice some years down the line.

Hi Pratish

You're welcome to my help. Ask anytime.

Your post makes sense to me. Considering what you've written, you have actually got nothing to lose if you go this year or after 2 years. Considering you come from a lawyer background and will join your father some years down the line, I'd suggest you go this year itself for the LLM.

The quality of education will definitely be different from what you acquired in Mumbai.

2 years down the line, it all depends on how well the UK market is doing and how well the Indian market is doing. Only time will tell.

I don't think I'll hang around for a year or two either to get a job in UK. I'm not that desperate to work in the UK and after the LLM with 10 years work ex, I'll be able to easily get a job in India itself at a reasonably decent salary. Plus if I have to start paying off my loan, then I can't afford to wait a year for sure.

Yeah sadly I have to go on a large loan and I'm still wondering whether it's worth it or not. Tough decision. :)

Anyway let me know what you finally decide and all the best.

Cheers
Prash