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College of Law?

In summer 2007 I will be graduating from UUJ in Northern Ireland hopefully with a 2:1 qualifying law degree. Currently in Northern Ireland there is only one Law Institute and with 800 applicants and 80 odd spaces decided upon an entrance examination I don't see how I could get in.

I'm told that with my degree I have a guaranteed place in a college of law in England but how do these work, when do you apply, etc etc. I have so many questions but have fund the material online to be very confusing. I'd be pleased if someone could give me some basic info.

I hope to be a solicitor so is it an LPC I need?

Reply 1

chalks

Am a touch surprised that you've left it this late to be looking into things like the LPC!

Where do you want to work when you qualify? It seems to me that the route to qualify as a solicitor in NI is a little different to in England/Wales: http://www.ukcle.ac.uk/directory/nireland/index.html

Reply 2

David Healy is God

I have no preference as to where I work once I qualify. I also remember reading that once I've done 3 years in England it is possible to return to NI and be able to practice?

I have left it late admittedly, I always just assumed I'd sit the entrance examination for the Institute in Belfast and be one of the chosen few but I've realised this is not likely and do not want to be left out in the cold for a year.

Reply 3

chalks

Well, if you're looking to work in England then you should really have been doing vacation schemes this summer (if I'm right in thinking you're about to go into your final year?). Also, this is the time to be firing off your applications for training contracts (English equivalent of apprenticeships) - in fact, you may be a little late to be doing that now.

I think you need to decide where you want to practice before you decide where you want to study! What sort of law do you want to do? Big City, high street? Corporate? Family?

Reply 4

David Healy is God

So to begin the LPC you must have a training contract running alongside it?

You are correct in thinking I'm going into my final years and as usual I have made a horlicks of everything. Disorganised is not the word.

Basically I've left it far too late to even begin to think about applying to England? It's this entrance examination for the NI Institute or nothing then. :frown:

Reply 5

chalks

You're getting yourself confused.

I'd don't know the NI apprenticeship procedue - you'll have to find out about that yourself. The NI law soc page is prob a good starting point.

In England & Wales the procedure is:

- complete degree
- if you've done a non-law subject, attend law school for one year and undertake the Common Professional Exam/Graduate Diploma in Law ("CPE/GDL")
- attend law school for one year to undertake the Legal Practice Course ("LPC")
- spend two years doing a training contract with a law firm

You don't need a training contract tee'd up to do the LPC, although if you already have one lined up your employer may pay your fees. So, there's nothing to stop you applying for an LPC course (which you'll have to pay for) and apply for training contracts while you're there.