Am I too old to become a solicitor?please advise

While your 2.2 may (I say MAY) be an issue in certain places, your age will not count against you. In fact, you can quite easily turn it into a positive by showing that you are more rounded and experienced than younger candidates. Bring the experience you already have to bear on the core skill requirements

but what about my 65% in my masters degree, i did a masters mainly to improve my overall academic image.

it is like you are all telling me its over?! there must be something I can do. any suggestions? what about ILEX?

Your not too old.

All is not loss if you can find fee earning employment.

Your masters means nothing realistically unfortunately, in the firms that want academics they only look at the undergrad and in the firms which are not bothered about grades (ie a few high st places where you would have been working/clerking anyway) they dont care about grades period!

So with a 2.2 , realistically any TC will probably have to come through contacts ie where you currently work - is this feasable?


If you still want to be a solicitor after qualifying as an exec you can do the LPC and become a solicitor. Note the LPC must be done after your an ilex so you need to take the desicion over whether its worth taking the risk to do the lpc before that without a tc hoping for one - i would say no.

Hello,

I graduated in 2008 with a 2.2 in law due to extreme extenuating circumstances (I have academic proof letter for that), I then did a masters in medical law, hoping this would make it easier for me to do personal injury in the future. I was very unaware of what the right steps into law were at that time and due to personal difficulties and homelessness I completely gave up on my career dreams and time moved on until now, where I m back on my feet and looking for a way to get back on track. I am however really disheartened as I have been applying for paralegal jobs on websites and have only had 4 interviews in 2 years.

Do you think I am too old to find something now? I am almost 26 years old, and currently working as a legal assistant (do you think this counts as legal experience?)

What do you think are my options now?

I saw this fast track ILEX package which looks appealing but then I have been thinking about an LPC which of course is too expensive and there are no guarantees.

I am really frustrated and I would really appreciate any encouraging but also honest advice.

Thank you all

.

This guy knows his stuff, so hopefuly he can help you out

I work in a property management as a legal assistant. I dont think they would appreciate me asking for contacts as they want me to stay there. However I have written a list of all firms they work with in order to contact them. Do you think my experience as a legal assistant will make me look more appealing to employers? the way I see it, is that I tried to find a basic role related to law, instead of volunteering so that I would a) prove my determination to enter the legal prof. and b) gain some valuable experience that others gain through volunteering.

thank you for your help so far

As Clip shows you're not too old.

I would say a good tactic should be to try and really work on those firms which will want medical law knowledge, then your masters isn't something they vaguely register whilst still comparing you to others based on your undergrad scores but something that 'adds value'.

Firms to try if I were you:

Bevan Brittan (http://www.bevanbrittan.com/careers/trainees/Pages/trainee-recruitment.aspx) as they will ignore a 2:2 in the event of 3 years 'relevant, commercial experience' which your current work could fulfil. Also, they do a lot of work for the NHS (including NHSLA) so your masters will count for more here.

Irwin Mitchell ( http://traineerecruitment.irwinmitchell.com/Pages/default.aspx ), they're less fussed about academics it seems judging by Chambers Student 'how to get into' web extras bit and do a lot of PI, clinical negligence etc. work where your masters will again carry more value than at a normal commercial firm. They also offer ILEX judging by this article: http://l2b.thelawyer.com/pinsents-joins-growing-trend-with-launch-of-apprenticeship-scheme/1009572.article

Two firms with a big focus on health are Capsticks ( http://www.capsticks.com/graduate-recruitment.php ) and Hempsons ( http://www.hempsons.co.uk/join-us/training-contracts/ ) and again would value your masters far more than other firms. Though here a significant proportion of people applying will have something to do with medical law or medicine beyond an LLB.

Also, Weightmans (http://www.weightmans.com/working_for_us/current_vacancies.aspx ) , judging by people on Roll on Friday who did their vac scheme, are a firm with NHS and NHSLA work who recruit a lot of their trainees from within their paralegals, so if you could land a paralegal role there you could set yourself up for a TC.

Also, any other firm on the NHSLA or with a substantial number of NHS contracts (DACBeachcroft if they ever open trainee recruitment again) would be able to use you more than most I guess.

Hope this helps and if you and your superior healthcare qualification could hold off from all these firms I'm applying to until next year that'd be great

Edit: Just seen you have academic proof of extenuating circumstances so surely they should treat you as equivalent to someone with a 2:1 or at least look into your other academic history a lot more? Maybe email or ring the HR grad bod (they won't mind, it is their job) explaining your personal circumstances before you're going to submit your app and ask if there is a way you can submit whilst circumventing any automatic filters they put in place, frankly if they say no to this it's their loss.

Also, firms don't necessarily see Lancaster as the sort of uni that takes someone with all A*s at A level (or equivalent I guess, given you're international and A*s didn't exist at the time for British students) and, though they probably shouldn't, may ask why with your grades you went there rather than Oxbridge, LSE, Durham etc. in case it was down to a lack of ambition. Sure you've got a decent response to this though.

Indeed I was not very confident when I applied for different universities in the UK and I was guided by my tutor who insisted that attending an easier university would give me the opportunity to get better marks. However, costs of better universities were also an issue. Yes, in my AS levels or whatever they are called, I achieved a distinction which was A at that time. Will definitely look into these firms, and follow your advice.


Thank you very much on your quick reply and positive comments.

thank you for your replies so far. i have never applied at a firm before and i must say i am worried that both my grammar and actual content wont be of the required standard. is there a way i could add you in my contacts fb,msn, email? this doesnt mean i will bombard you with questions really, mainly because you are in the same field

thanks again

Sure your content will be fine, grammar and stuff just ask any reasonably literate English person to check it, sure your mates will be happy to.

Just PM me on here if you like, though I don't know how much more use to you I can be as I am at the same stage as you. If you still have contacts with your tutors from your masters they could probably help and should know a few medical lawyers given the nature of their job.