Hi! I’ve just completed my second year studying History at Cambridge, predicted a 2.1, and I’m wanting to go into law. I don’t have any legal work experience but I am doing a couple of virtual internships this summer for experience. I don’t want to go straight into a GDL after university, mainly because I want to travel, volunteer a bit, get a bit of more law experience and earn some money to fund my GDL. I was wondering whether doing a gap before my GDL would be looked down upon by the top law firms? I’ve been told it’s looked upon as a waste of year, and that I’ll be at a disadvantage seeing as I’ll be 2 years older than people I’ll be applying against (a year for the conversion and then the gap year). A law conversation is expensive, and I do want a year to be absolutely sure this is the route I want to go down before committing to the process.
For context, I’m not wanting to apply for magic circle firms, but possibly silver circle. Also, I was planning to apply for vacation schemes during my gap year.