How to migrate & qualify as a solicitor in Australia with UK Law degree? HELP!

As I understand it, your best chance is to qualify in England and Wales and then move. You are more likely to meet the work visa requirements at that point.

Sydney is a very competitive legal job market. Finding a job at entry level, let alone one that will sponsor you, will be difficult.

Posted from TSR Mobile

I thought about qualifying in England & Wales before even mitigating to Australia but my situation is that the law firms here in England won't give me a training contract due to bad grades in my first year. However, I got 1st for my second year and now i'm on my final semester.

Also I am an international student therefore that also puts me at a disadvantage. After speaking to some partners from magic circle firms who were kind enough to tell me the real truth that their recruitment team looks for students from Oxbridge or top 5 law schools even though all top law firms here portrait as if they hire from different universities, not only academic grades matters etc. All the partners advised me not to even go for paralegal role since it doesn't meet the requirement for home office to issue a work visa nor do the LPC in England because I will be wasting my money in the end. Some immigration solicitors confirmed that paralegal role doesn't meet the visa requirement for someone outside Europe like myself.

Therefore they asked me to find a way to move to Canada or Australia, most suggested to go to Australia and slowly build your way up. That is why I am here to find someone who knows about the pathway to legal profession in NSW, Australia?

find a way to move to Canada or Australia

You think that Australian firms will be any different to the UK firm regards grades and sponsoring a work permit? I highly doubt they will be much different.

I haven't had direct responsibility for recruiting for Australian firms/offices, but have worked with those that do. Their processes/attitudes are not that different to how English firms/offices work. If you think the UK work permit process is tough, then Australia and in particular Sydney will be much tougher.

The advice you have been given about the English law firms is on point in places but completely awful in others. I wouldn't personally give up on the UK route just because of the opinion of 1-2 misinformed MC partners.

Posted from TSR Mobile

hey im just wondering what you did afterwards, im a student in my 3rd year looking to move to Australia and become a solicitor there, and I do not know whether to do my LPC and Masters here first before I go ?

In short, it is a lot harder than people think. I agree with the post above you that the market is incredibly tight and particularly law is becoming a very saturated profession.

I moved there to do my Masters a year after finishing my LLB not having the intention of staying, I just wanted to study a Masters in a foreign country. I ended up loving it and started to move down the path of trying to qualify. However, you have to do a minimum of 3 Australian law subjects due to their federal system being different to England. To do this you need a student visa which only 1 or 2 universities in Australia will grant you for only studying single subjects. So problem 1, visa. These subjects are also around AUD 3000-5000 each depending on the university. And problem 2, cost.

If you have an Australian passport you do not have to worry about problem 1 or problem 2 (as much) because you are a citizen and have citizen study prices.

Then there is the problem of actually finding a law firm to take you on - none will sponsor you with a visa. Additionally many won't take you on without you having secured permanent residency (PR) which is notoriously hard to get unless you have sponsorship. So that is problem 3.

This is a very brief overview but if you have any other questions just hit me up.

I applied to NSW and VIC. The minimum requirement is 3. However, unless you have done particular modules in the UK then this is more likely to show up as 4 or 5. I had to do 5 and I know someone else who had to do 4.I'd recommend applying to QLD or VIC. Their application is cheaper (QLD is the cheapest) and can be done online. Plus once you qualify in one state you are eligible in all states for qualification.

Thank you so much for your response.

I have a UK LLB and want to apply to VIC, do you think I will have to only do roughly 3, 4 or 5 units to transfer my degree?

No worries!

I'd be surprised if you had to do more than five. Just take into consideration that the visa system here is a ***** and before you spend money and apply make sure whatever visa you'll be applying for allows you to study (that was one of the pain points for me). If you're an Aussie resident then go for it.

I thought about qualifying in England & Wales before even mitigating to Australia but my situation is that the law firms here in England won't give me a training contract due to bad grades in my first year. However, I got 1st for my second year and now i'm on my final semester.

Also I am an international student therefore that also puts me at a disadvantage. After speaking to some partners from magic circle firms who were kind enough to tell me the real truth that their recruitment team looks for students from Oxbridge or top 5 law schools even though all top law firms here portrait as if they hire from different universities, not only academic grades matters etc. All the partners advised me not to even go for paralegal role since it doesn't meet the requirement for home office to issue a work visa nor do the LPC in England because I will be wasting my money in the end. Some immigration solicitors confirmed that paralegal role doesn't meet the visa requirement for someone outside Europe like myself.

Therefore they asked me to find a way to move to Canada or Australia, most suggested to go to Australia and slowly build your way up. That is why I am here to find someone who knows about the pathway to legal profession in NSW, Australia?

Hello everyone! I am an incoming UK law graduate. From what I understand, we are require to sit for a course around six months (?) to convert the UK LLB to an equivalent Australian degree. After that, we’re also required to take PLT which is around 1 year. However, I’m wondering if a foreign law degree affects our PR credit scores? Is the legal field still as saturated? If we took an Australian law degree form top schools, ie USyd, UNSW, Monash,ANU, would that increase our chance to lay down a job in australia and increase our credit score for PR? Thank you in advance for the replies as this would be really helpful to me