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Will pursuing this disadvantage me for securing a TC?

I'm starting my law degree at UCL next year (hopefully) and would like to work at a SC or MC firm. However, I would like to pursue my sport professionally alongside my studies and likely a while after them, if things don't turn out great and I decide to apply to law firms, would this affect how firms view my application and if so to what degree? For example, lets say I'm 27 but am essentially a fresh grad. Would really appreciate opinions on this :smile:

Reply 1

sublime-baths

Not necessarily. Law firms (particularly the larger ones like SC/MC) like to recruit a wide variety of people. There’s career changers, fresh grads, and all other kinds of people that obtain TCs at the firms.

It all depends on how you spin it. If you want to pursue sports make sure you can apply your experiences (come the interview) to law. Any experience is good experience - you just need to know how to convey those experiences.

In short, I don’t think you’ll be disadvantaged but you will have to explain and convince the interviewers that your motivations are clear. They’ll likely want to know for instance what motivated the sudden change from sports to law.

A word of advice though: I’d be hesitant to consider ‘law’ as a backup plan. It requires a LOT of effort and work to break into the field (particularly in the more competitive firms). Just be sure you think through whether commercial law is right for you in the first place.

Reply 2

Gmaster1980

A friend of mine has a person in his MC firm's cohort who was a former professional rugby player. If anything, it helped make them stand out among all the other applicants. As the other commenter said though, you need to clearly explain motivations and still write good apps and have good grades!!