LLM at Cambridge with a Training Contract

Not sure I'd characterise it as a "once in a lifetime opportunity" per se. If you could get in now, it stands to reason, provided you can evidence academic skills still in future, you could get in again.

However I'd suggest not counting your chickens before they hatch. Wait to see whether you get that training contract, and in the meantime assume you aren't going to and make arrangements under that assumption. Then if you are successful, you can make a decision. If you are offered a TC they may sponsor you for the LLM before starting perhaps; it could be something to broach with them after they make you an offer perhaps.

Thank you for this response. One of the firms I have a VS with recruit almost all of their vacation schemers onto training contract which I why I say a virtual certainty - you are right though, as even a very small chance of it falling through is still a possibility.

Firm sponsorship would be an interesting avenue. I suppose you would have to do a very good job of proving to them that an LLM would add value to the firm overall - a difficult task - especially considering they will already be paying for the LPC/SQE.

G'day - nice to finally see a thread where I have some definitive and pretty unambiguous advice to give!

(1) Do not do the LLM if you don't love law and value it for its own sake. The only course with genuine clout at top City law firms is the Ox BCL, and even then it's limited (unless you desperately want to go down the litigation solicitor-advocate route at a couple of US firms). You will not become more "hireable" because of an LLM at Cambridge and it represents a very considerable chunk of cash to burn.

(2) If you had £20k "spare" to spend on something to improve your value to firms, learn about something tech-related or area-related. Even this is a bit tenuous, but the hirers at another City firm generally don't think "wow we need more Oxbridge grads", they say "we're weak in X area, let's see if we can laterally hire some value-add". Some firms see this in "tech" and "AI" - I'm personally sceptical about this for various reasons, but it seems to be a big trend at the moment. Alternatively, if you became someone who just knew everything there was to know about e.g. Private Equity or Oil and Gas and then worked very hard at your prospective current trainee firm, that would make you a more attractive hire than an LLM.