Advice please - law graduate next steps/ aspiring commercial solicitor

Hi everyone,

I am seeking some advice on what I should do next from people who have been in a similar position in the past and/or can provide some useful help. I am a aspiring commercial solicitor and I am due to graduate with a First Class degree in law (LLB) (from a non RG). I have EC's such as mooting/ mooting competitions, being involved in the law society etc. I also have 6/7 months combined work experience working as a legal assistant for a high street/regional practice and volunteering at the CAB. I achieved average A-levels of BBC (with some slight mitigating circumstances). Moving forward I have been actively applying for paralegal/legal assistant roles, however as you can imagine this has proven to be difficult without the LPC.. although I have widened my search now. I am also applying for relevant open days etc at law firms and wish to continue to do this throughout the year leading up to vac scheme/ TC applications.

Should I apply for the LPC for the sept intake, or hold out and try to gain legal employment/ work experience which will bulk up my CV further, whilst attending law firm events? I'd rather seek a sponsored TC due to the risks of embarking on the LPC and the costs involved, however if anyone can do an assessment of my chances of being successful securing a TC having self-funded the LPC, I'd be grateful. Any other advice particularly from people being in similar situations would be much appreciated also.

Reply 1

999tigger

Surprised you left it so late to apply for TC's.
I would get the TC in place first and let them pay.
Cant see any reason why you wouldnt get a decent TC, although depends partly on Uni, how you interview, perform at assessment and what experience you are able to get on your CV. You would probably do ok if you self funded, but no guarantees and also no gurantee they would pay retrospctively. Some firms do and some do not. You cna normally find that out beforehand.

Reply 2

Trinculo

Were you not supposed to be on this hype 2 years ago?

Reply 3

lawyer2bb

Original post by 999tigger

Thank you, I think I will hold off from going for the LPC until at-least next year (if needed) and look to get a funded TC instead.

Reply 4

lawyer2bb

Original post by J-SP

I'd hold out signing up to the LPC for the time being. See how the next few months go with open days/vacation scheme applications. Be pro-active at engaging with the firms that you are interested in and find out from chatting to them whether you might be the type of person they are looking to recruit.

You could always start the LPC in the early part of 2017 or wait until September of that year. Just seems a bit of a rushed decision to jump into it from what you are saying (and I never think that's a good idea).

Posted from TSR Mobile

Thanks for the great advice, I will defo hold out and in the interim continue to push for more legal work experience whilst going for the open days/vacation scheme applications.