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Path to becoming an English lawyer - PLZ

Hello! I'm from Scotland and clueless about the English legal system but have decided to go to an English law uni - no judgement lol. I have some questions that I'm hoping you could help me answer.

Can someone please outline what it takes to become a. An English solicitor, and b. An English barrister (with the LPC's and stuff - also is a training contract the same as a pupillage?)
Also do commercial firms have both ? Like MC?
Thanks so much !
Any help would be great !!
Original post by jessicafromUK
Hello! I'm from Scotland and clueless about the English legal system but have decided to go to an English law uni - no judgement lol. I have some questions that I'm hoping you could help me answer.

Can someone please outline what it takes to become a. An English solicitor, and b. An English barrister (with the LPC's and stuff - also is a training contract the same as a pupillage?)
Also do commercial firms have both ? Like MC?
Thanks so much !


Hey! This is going to be a long answer but it should answer your question :smile:

Okay so there are two main routes, the first is that you take a degree of your choice (literally anything) and then do the GDL conversion course, which is basically the fundamentals of a law degree crammed into one year. The other is that you take a straight law degree, but only do this if you're actually interested in law, or you'll hate your life studying something you aren't passionate about for 3 years. There are 7 core modules you must have studied to become a lawyer and they'll be some variant on this:

Constitutional/ Public Law
EU Law
Contract law
Tort Law
Criminal law
Land law
Trusts and Equity law

In a qualifying law degree those will probably all be compulsory or strongly recommended, and in the conversion that's all you will cover.

So once you've done the degree or degree/ conversion, to be a solicitor, you need to do the LPC (basically a course on the practicalities/ skills needed to be a lawyer), and complete a 2 year training contract with a law firm. These are STUPIDLY competitive but you cannot qualify without one. Firms will often pay for your LPC/ Conversion + LPC because Law recruits 2 years in advance. For solicitors, once you complete the training contract, you're a qualified lawyer.

For barristers the academic requirement is the same, degree/ degree + conversion. But instead of the LPC they do the BPTC, or bar professional training course (similar but obviously heavier focus on advocacy - solicitors and barristers have different skillsets). You then have to join an inn of court, attend a bunch of fancy dinners, and get a pupillage which on the most basic level ever, is kind of like a really upmarket apprenticeship. I never wanted to be a barrister so I'm not 100% here but I think after that you're qualified and can practice/ join chambers.

Training Contracts and Pupillage's are a similar concept but they are not the same. MC firms purely recruit solicitors, barristers belong to chambers/ the inns of court, but both are about training you to work in your own right.

Another route is ILEX, which you can google and find out more about. Kind of a back door route to becoming a solicitor, but this a road not often travelled, most people do the above.

However it is worth mentioning that the GDL/ LPC and I believe the Bar as well, will in the next few years be replaced by the SQE exams. This is kind of up in smoke at the minute and no one really knows what it'll look like but the best guess is two exams that will replace those courses in their entirety. Its expected to be phased in around 2020 I think, so my cohort is basically the last to go down the old routes I mentioned above.

For you, you will take a degree, law or non-law, sit the SQE exams, and then either get a training contract with a firm, or go to the inns of court. I am not 100% on the barrister route because it doesn't concern me, but bear in mind it is far more difficult to make it as a barrister than as a solicitor. Less spaces to go around and more risk involved because you're self employed in chambers and will rely at least partially on reputation to bring work in, which of course as a newbie- you won't have. But which profession you choose to go into really depends on you. Being a solicitor isn't easy by any means either, especially if you're trying to make it big in the city. Law is unfortunately one of the most competitive job markets out there alongside banking etc.

Hope this helps :smile: feel free to hmu if you have anymore questions!

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