Happy to try to answer....
- . Firstly I don’t live in London, I go to Liverpool uni. But i live in Manchester.
I was at Manchester University and during my LLB there had lots of interviews at London law firms. The firms recruit from all over.
- Secondly idk how I’m gonna get a interview if I don’t have any legal experience. I have a lottt of non legal work experience tho. So I feel like I don’t have anything on my cv.
Positions of responsibility at the university societies, taking part in moots, going to courts, volunteering in university law centres if there is one might help. Obviously what helps most of all is very good exam grades. Law firms often want grades in every module in every year of the degree on their application forms. Practise Watson Glaser tests which a lot of the firms have people do to see if they are good enough for assessment stage. Treat the application process as a second job whilst at university.
- Secondly, I myself was looking to go in corporate or commercial law BUT ofc criminal law is the most interning naturally.
Not sure what you mean. Vacation schemes in corporate firms will not involve criminal law. Commercial law is much more interesting than criminal.
- And lastly wdym under SQE system? You trying to say that they are getting rid of LPC?
Yes, look on the Law Society and SRA websites. If you want to be a solicitor you will not be doing the LPC as I believe your year is one of the first which MUST do the SQE exams rather than LPC - you will have no choice if being a solicitor.
- also did you do masters?
No. A masters is of no help at all to careers as a solicitor. Some people add on a small masters element to their SQE year to get a post grad student loan to cover some of the costs but that is not really a true masters in the normal sense and the loan just covers the fees not the SQE exams themselves which cost £4k. If you find a training contract that sponsors post grad the firm will pay for your SQE courses and exams but obviously those are like gold dust with intense competition for them.
- And also how do you apply in firms if I’m not in London? Like is there a special website which helps you, build cv , prepare for interviews .
Just hours and hours of research. Websites like corporatelaw academy and and lawcareers.net can be useful. It is perfectly easy to apply to firms if not in London. Basically you put in all the work whether you are in London or not. If you get through the minimum exam grade state, psych test if any and any online application /interview and are called to an assessment day in London then the firms usually pay your train fares. A lot of trainees are recruited from vacation schemes which last about a week and for which you are paid so definitely apply to a lot of those too.
- What was your method to apply to firms??
If there were an easy answer it would be a different world. I just spent the time, put in the hours, applied and applied and applied on and on and on. I had pretty good exam grades which would have helped. The way to apply is on all the big law firms' websites so just look at what it says there.
- And does your TC contract start after year 3. Like as you said you got yours during year 3.
No. You apply about 2 years ahead and before starting the 2 years TC you take the SQE1 ad 2 courses and exams and bigger firms tend to have additional parts to the course to cover their kind of work eg private acquisitions. Once you have passed SQE1 and 2 then you start your 2 years of training and being paid by the firm.
- However at that time it would be considered ad work placement right??
No, nothing to do with work placements. The law firm chooses those people they want about 2 years ahead, they pay for them to go on the SQE courses and if they pass they the start immediately after on the TC for 2 years.
Some smaller firms do things differently eg paralegal work whilst you do SQE part time and all kinds of different things.
Plenty of people even in bigger firms do not get round to applying until they graduate and might work for a year or 2 as a paralegal before or after the SQE courses.
- And after finishing year 3, they gave you the training contract to fund your LPC.
During year 3 of my degree I got the written offer of the training contract to start the September after the one year post grad course which for me was the Finals, for my lawyer children was the LPC and for you will be SQE - three different courses over the years replacing each other BUT basically the same system - finish LLB, do post grad year, pass exams then 2 years of a training contract, then qualified.