Hi guys ,i am Delhi based corporate advocate working as legal officer and hv 2 yrs of work ex. i hv applied for LLM in Int. Commercial Laws n got offer letters from Manchester , Birmingham , Durham (waiting list).

1. My question is what should be my course of action , should i apply for certificate of eligibility n take QLTT this Nov. in London .
2. How should one prepare for this Head III exam can i get some material in delhi somehow at discounted price.

3. Is thr any alternative of QLTT .

4. I know the present market scenario overthr but i hv seen a report dated 14 May 2009 issued by the law society UK wherein thy have allowed UK firms to sponser well deserving candidates and hire overseas advocates legally. Few months back i had heard that U.K. firmsr not hiring n sponsoring overseas advocates bcs govt authorities were imposing some kind of taxes because of that ,so now after this new report/regulation from law society do you see any change .

pls comment.

thanks in advance

hi sandeep,

im an advocate from India with 2 years of work experience. in reply to your question regarding QLTT...i think it would be better if you sit for the exam in India, as you would be able to prepare better. I am taking the exam myself this month, and have prepared on my own from the study material provided by them. from what i see as of now, its not very difficult. however, until i actually take the exam i cant be 100% sure. will keep you posted later. take care

Thanks brother, yr advice is vry sensible but the thing is m going for Sep'09 intake n i still hv to apply for Certificate of Eligibility. I think its gud for us tht we hv 2 yrs work exp. with us n hopefully it would pay us to some extent.
All d Best for yr exam n pls keep posting.

I would want to deviate from this point. If you don't have a work experience in Common Law for one year then you are not eligible to gain a certificate of Eligibility from SRA.

As to your question to an alternative to QLTT. The alternative is a much better option of going for GDL (Conversion from Indian law to English Law) (1 year) + LPC (1 year)

As your correctly mention the Market in England is not looking so good for foreign lawyers. You will not entertained for a training contract with an indian LLB....And even if you have exceptional grades in your indian LLB then you will probably be in a low-line law firm in England.

Whereas if you opt for GDL then you can will be considered well above foreign lawyers because you will have now completed studied the English Law within one year.

And as it has been discussed with alot of Indian students who are already in UK after doing their LLB....they all have said that your work experience in India is very little value to those Law firms....rather they avoid such people becoz they are not trained in this kinda system and the Law firm will have to spend more time and energy re-framing you system of working

hi need to ask u a basic question...i'm a lawyer in mumbai with around 3 years of post-grad work experience in a mumbai law firm...i will be movin to uk in december as i'm gettin married to a uk citizen...am i eligible to sit for the qltt? it is my understanding that the qltt eligibility requirements refer to 2 years work experience of which 1 year experience has to be in the laws of england and wales...so wont this make me ineligible?

hi , wat i understand is u can apply for certificate of eligibility n can sit for QLTT exam also , but the thing is after clearing the exam u 'll hv to get 1 yr exp in U.K. to get registered with SRA as a solicitor.

are u sure whether this 1 year UK work experience has to be gotten after the QLTT and not before u sit for the QLTT? i think one of the QLTT eligibility requirements for a foreign lawyer is 2 years work experience out of which 1 year has to be under the laws of england and wales....correct me if i'm wrong...thanks

I think. You won't be allowed to appear for the QLTT exams. But the best person to answer is the SRA. Please email them directly and they will tell you the answer immediately within max. 48 hours. I had asked them for myself and they guided through the process of GDL+LPC...!
We can only suggest. And there is no harm in applying for the QLTT eligibility certificate. Apply...if you get it is best for you...if not then they will tell you what to do next also.

hey people...just gave the QLTT today. it was pretty simple...no problem at all! :) so for everyone who wants to give it and are worried about whether you'll pass or not...i guarantee that u will!! regarding some questions posed by people here about the certificate of eligibility, the new rules state that you need 1 year of work experience in England and Wales mandatorily. however, if you do not have this experience, you can be issued a "CONDITIONAL CERTIFICATE OF ELIGIBILITY" which allows you to sit for the QLTT exam, but requires that before u apply for enrolment to the Roll of Solicitors in UK, u complete the one year UK work experience. I can guarantee this because ive just given the exam with a conditional eligibility certificate. for any further queries get in touch with ALSR..

congrats bro, i am also applying for certificate of eligibility ths week n thinking to sit for Nov exam in London. can i hv yr books n study matirial if thy r not of yr use.

I think lot of people have been talking about the crap that take a GDL+LPC, and qualify to Uk Solicitor.

Firstly, GDL has very high fail rate. Secondly, Its a full time course. So you watse you 2 years gaining GCL + LPC , which you are not even required to do.
Simply, have a Eligibilty certificate from SRA, which is valid for 3 years. And Indian attorney will have to give two modules-
1. Professional Ethics and Accountancy for lawyers.
2. Principles of common law.
You are exempted from giving the second module if you can state that your law studies has been conduted in English . And for this you need to bring an official letter from your dean, law school, and it will be accepted by SRA.
And, people seem to be so concerned about the work-ex stuff. The work experience needs to be in three areas of law. May be varied too. You can give your QLTT before you fulfill your work -ex requirements, under the undertaking that you will complete the work-ex of 2 years, before you enroll with the law society.
So , finally you just give just one module- Professional Ethics and Accountancy for lawyers.
Secondly, Even UK students don't give an LPC, the smarter ones though, They qualify the NY Bar Exam, and give the QLTT. Then they are Uk Solicitor.
And, Instead of looking here for advice, you Should consult the SRA webpage and Contact them for further advice.They will be more than happy to guide you.

And Regarding work In UK .

There are firms who would be more than happy to recruit people from India who have a dual qualification. It depends if they have an India seat, or have arrangement with Indian firms, for work in India, as most of you guys know India doesn't allows Foreign firms to enter its market.

They have specialist schemes for foreign trained lawyers too. against the common preception that Uk firms have stopped hiring, they haven't, and yeah the numbers seems to be less.Hope this helps.

Though i am intrested in advicing my clients on Uk deals, but UK seems no better place as compared to states.

hi are u givin your qltt? when n where?

Hey guys , do you have any idea about what does contentious and non-contencious work exactly mean in the cirtificate of eligibility form and experience evidence form ?
can it be written in percentile like my work included 60% contentious work and 40% non-contentious work or do i need to elaborate them in detail.

Who can be a referee as per section 7 QLTR form. can an advocate of good standing(10 years) become referee if he has been your senior previously.

Thanks ,

sandeep

Hi! The distinction of contentious and non-contentious work is clearly given on page 6 of the QLTR Application Form (the FAQs section). Can email you the form if you want. Further I think your senior in the organisation you were working in qualifies as your referee as the form only states that a referee should be someone who holds or has held a position of responsibility or is accustomed to providing references. And since what is contentious work is very clearly stated in the form I dont think we can give this information in percentile form...But I would really appreciate if you could let me know if you've heard that we can give this in percentiles. I wish I could get to see a completely filled experience evidence form myself so I could get further clarity. Thanks.