Hi,

I wish to be a solicitor in legal aid, focusing on human rights and civil liberties. There is a shortage of training contracts and above that, cuts have been made to legal aid by the UK government.

Do you think it is worth while doing the LLM and finding some work experience instead of jumping in the ocean of fierce competition for LPC + training contracts?

I would love to have your opinions.....

Kind Regards.

I will strongly advise you to go for the LPC first and think of the LLM after that. The reason being that you will have the chance to top-up your LPC and get your professional LLM. Besides, this will save you cost and time.

It will also advise you to think about the New York Bar if you have a Qualifying Law Degree. Good luck!

You should be aware that once you have completed the LPC, you have only a limited number of years to find a training contract before your LPC "expires".

Some very good points.

I wonder how long it will take to search for a training contract in this climate?
How many years until the LPC expires? 5 years?

I know there are training contracts, but it seems the competition is too fierce to put my foot down in as I am a fresh graduate from law school.

I think the best thing to do is an LLM in Human Rights. Consider the LPC in a few years when the climate looks a bit more healthy. Organisations and NGO's always search for law graduates to fulfil research posts.

I know of too many LPC graduates without training contracts, it seems to dawn on me that I may be in the same position in 9 months time if I were to take the LPC route.

With an LLM, you should be able to get a position as research assistant with the Law Commission or at a university.or NGO to build on your CV before you do the LPC. For paralegal positions I think they generally require the LPC.

This could very well vary between disciplines, but in commercial law I have noticed that the law firms seem to prefer to pick their candidates _before_ they undertake the LPC. It seems to be fairly rare that people who have done the LPC off their own bat are picked up at a later stage. Other contributors may know what happens outside commercial law?

I am not sure what the expiry date is, something like five or seven years. The Solicitors Regulation Authority or the Law Society must have the information. By the way it is possible that the same applies to your LLB - ie that it goes stale after a while. Look it up so that you are well informed, in the current economic climate it's worth factoring into your plans.