What to do after LLB Degree

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Posted Oct 17, 2007 11:34

I am a final year law student, and as I am sure many people did in the summer I applied for Training Contracts. Despite getting 4 interviews at top 20 law firms I was unable to secure a Training Contract, and noticed I was being beaten out by older, far more experienced applicants. I am confident in the fact that I will get a 1st class degree, but I am unsure what the best course of action is after my degree ends. Do I do a masters at a top 5 university? or perhaps work as a para-legal for a year? which do law firms prefer?

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Carter

26 51

Posted Oct 17, 2007 13:42

Hi!

I hope somebody could help you with your queries. Unfortunatelly, I cannot. I just wanted to ask you if it would be possible to give us more details about being beaten out by older, far more experienced applicants.

How old were them? Did all of them have a Master's? How many years of working experience?

Thanks in advance and good luck!

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dgwhincup

1 2

Posted Oct 17, 2007 14:21

Hi, well as many people probably experienced too, i had several assesment days and interviews, thus met al lot of my competitors at that stage, and befriending several of them. Once when asked my age, I responded with 20, I was called "a wee baby" :-) and found that many of those successful in Training Contracts, were a good few years older. One girl had done a masters, spent 1 year as a paralegal, 1 year tutoring at university etc, another gentleman had done a years paralegal, and a Phd, and another year of work. Perhaps there is a trend of people changing careers, or waiting before applying? I am not sure, but now that I have gone beyond the process I am looking to ways which can make me more attractive to law firms, despite my few years.

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Carter

26 51

Posted Oct 17, 2007 19:23

Thanks for your quick answer!
Good luck again!

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pkotiaho

12 24

Posted Oct 17, 2007 21:44

"What to do after LLB Degree" is an impossibly wide question without some qualifications to your question. By the sound of it, you are contemplating a career as a solicitor (in the City, perhaps?). With regards to that, from my own experience I can tell you that I know of many people who secured training contracts at the age of 20 or 21, and mostly in large city firms. (I just finished my LL.B. this summer)

At the same time, a large portion of my friends, who are interested in some specific area of the law, have continued with a Masters degree. This is what I chose to do as well. However, I'm pretty certain that not that many of us were thinking about career prospects as much as felt that in order to "get into" their area of interests, a Masters degree is required. Obviously there are exceptions to this, e.g. those who are contemplating an academic career. Others have simply followed their intuition (myself included), and have desperately hoped that it wasn't too much of a naive choice. At the same time you should think whether studies in another academic discipline would be of advantage to you, e.g. business, economics, management, politics, history, philosophy, sociology?

What I would recommend is that you go and consult someone in your faculty about your question. My own experience with the "Careers people" has been that while they have good or sufficient knowledge about graduate career prospects, they often don't appreciate the nuances of one's personal position, which is why it is probably easier to talk to a "lawyer" who has been there before.

Summa summarum, what to do after a law degree always depends on who on the "lawyer" in question is. All the best with you upcoming choices and the last months of your degree,

Paavo

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lmwoods

82 164

Posted Oct 18, 2007 11:36

I am a final year law student, and as I am sure many people did in the summer I applied for Training Contracts. Despite getting 4 interviews at top 20 law firms I was unable to secure a Training Contract, and noticed I was being beaten out by older, far more experienced applicants. I am confident in the fact that I will get a 1st class degree, but I am unsure what the best course of action is after my degree ends. Do I do a masters at a top 5 university? or perhaps work as a para-legal for a year? which do law firms prefer?

A couple of questions for you: did you apply for a summer placement for the vacation between years 2 and 3? many law firms use this as part of the recruitment process in the sense that the people who do these schemes are then known to the firm and prseumably perceived as less of a risk. Second question: did you ask for feedback from the law firms? Whilst contributors here might have bright ideas about what you might do, it would be more helpful if there was anything in particular you need to work on, or whether - at 20 - you were perceived as just too young. If you have got good academic qualifications I'm not sure being a paralegal would necessarily help you, unless you are desperate for money. Likewise, I would not embark on an LLM unless you want to do it and then, if you are looking at a City career, I suspect a more focussed programme rather than something general. If you are looking to wait a year why not think about something like VSO; more community minded than your average gap year, and might make your application more distinctive. It would certainly give you something to talk about at interviews and - in many respects - is a once in a lifetime chance. Alternatively look at some of the European institutions; they offer 'stages' - essentially work palcements. This might well be more interesting than doing advance photocopying as a paralegal and could give you soem valuable insights into the Euorpean policy processes - possibly of value to a would be employer.

<blockquote>I am a final year law student, and as I am sure many people did in the summer I applied for Training Contracts. Despite getting 4 interviews at top 20 law firms I was unable to secure a Training Contract, and noticed I was being beaten out by older, far more experienced applicants. I am confident in the fact that I will get a 1st class degree, but I am unsure what the best course of action is after my degree ends. Do I do a masters at a top 5 university? or perhaps work as a para-legal for a year? which do law firms prefer?</blockquote>

A couple of questions for you: did you apply for a summer placement for the vacation between years 2 and 3? many law firms use this as part of the recruitment process in the sense that the people who do these schemes are then known to the firm and prseumably perceived as less of a risk. Second question: did you ask for feedback from the law firms? Whilst contributors here might have bright ideas about what you might do, it would be more helpful if there was anything in particular you need to work on, or whether - at 20 - you were perceived as just too young. If you have got good academic qualifications I'm not sure being a paralegal would necessarily help you, unless you are desperate for money. Likewise, I would not embark on an LLM unless you want to do it and then, if you are looking at a City career, I suspect a more focussed programme rather than something general. If you are looking to wait a year why not think about something like VSO; more community minded than your average gap year, and might make your application more distinctive. It would certainly give you something to talk about at interviews and - in many respects - is a once in a lifetime chance. Alternatively look at some of the European institutions; they offer 'stages' - essentially work palcements. This might well be more interesting than doing advance photocopying as a paralegal and could give you soem valuable insights into the Euorpean policy processes - possibly of value to a would be employer.

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