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International Edition

The paralegal path - why law grads without a TC should try a paralegal role

For law graduates who haven't secured a training contract, a position as a paralegal may be equally as challenging and more readily available, reports Dominic Carman
6 minute read

International Edition

Pupillage advice, part two: do your homework, know your weaknesses and cheque you're spelling

Having had some initial feedback from my original post, I've been given some further pointers worth repeating here. Current Awareness - run by the librarians of Inner Temple, this is a very good roundup of links to relevant legal news. You don't have to read every link posted, but it's useful to keep abreast of what's going on. Definitely count this as one of the blogs worth reading. Pupillage Blog - I don't read it, but apparently other people like and recommend it...
6 minute read

International Edition

Does school mean smart? – the profession should decide which side of the fence it sits on with social mobility

Having irritated a fair chunk of my senior contact-base by recently saying City law firms don't much care about diversity and social mobility, I wasn't planning to return so quickly to the subject, but this dog just won't stop barking. Only this week deputy prime minister Nick Clegg announced the Government's strategy on social mobility, which made much of a campaign to make work experience placements transparent (I won't call them internships - that's a nonsense dreamed up to make a questionable practice sound respectable).
5 minute read

International Edition

TCs on offer fall by 16% in 2010-11 but profession keeps growing

Fears of an oversupply of aspiring lawyers have been reinforced by new research showing a 16% fall in the number of available training contracts last year, despite the profession as a whole continuing to expand. The latest annual statistical report from the Law Society shows that the number of registered training contracts offered in the 12-month period ending 31 July 2010 was 4,874, a decrease of 16.1% on the previous year's figure of 5,809. The level of training contracts has now fallen 23% from a 2007-08 peak of 6,303.
4 minute read

International Edition

Career Clinic: Disillusioned by transactional law - has my training been wasted?

"I am an 18-month qualified lawyer working in the regional office of a national firm. I am working in a niche area in which I have no particular interest and feel as if I am not suited to the lifestyle of a transactional lawyer (long hours at the beck and call of clients/partners). I do however enjoy the nitty-gritty aspects of delving into the law and also have interests outside of work, including politics. Am I better off looking for non-legal roles, and if so, which would suit the training I have invested so much into?"
1 minute read

International Edition

Pupillage advice: read the blogs, don't make excuses - and pimp everything

Pupillage Portal has just opened and hundreds of aspirant barristers will be applying for pupillage all across the country. Many will be disappointed and will receive correspondence containing the (in)famous line "the standard was exceptionally high". The standard has been "exceptionally high" for many years now though, which makes you wonder when it's going to stop being the exception.
9 minute read

International Edition

Leading City firms review student support ahead of tuition fee hikes

Seven of the UK's 20 largest law firms by revenue are planning to review the financial assistance they offer to future trainees in the wake of planned hikes in university tuition fees. Clifford Chance, Linklaters, Herbert Smith, Hogan Lovells, Eversheds, Addleshaw Goddard and Bird & Bird are all set to review the financial support packages they offer law students over the coming months.
2 minute read

International Edition

Training and education

Shazia Aslam describes her experience on the SRA's work-based learning pilot; Mark Broadhead explains his company's involvement in BPP's Access to Practice Scheme and Liora Lazarus outlines the advantages of LNAT
1 minute read

International Edition

Learn-as-you-go - a law firm trainee on the SRA's work-based learning pilot

The final six months of qualifying as a solicitor on the new work-based learning experiment by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) was one of the most challenging aspects of my legal education. It marked the last stage of a two-year period of externally assessed study and work and was a pivotal moment in my career. I was among 40 individuals who agreed to take part in an experiment by the SRA to improve the vocational training stage of solicitor's qualification. Over two years, I amassed a portfolio of work to demonstrate work-based learning that covered a total of 32 topic areas, from professional ethics to time and file management.
6 minute read

International Edition

Cultivating counsel - the new mentoring scheme offering valuable experience for would-be lawyers

It is unsurprising at a time when most organisations are tightening their belts that many law firms and in-house legal teams are taking a close look at their training commitments and conducting a cost-benefit analysis to decide whether such initiatives are sustainable. According to Legal Week research in October last year, the overall availability of training contracts in the market has shrunk by 11% over the last three years, with the top 30 firms receiving an average of 35 applications for every place. At Co-operative Financial Services (CFS), our cautious approach during the downturn has enabled us to continue focusing on important strategic social and community goals, including our legal team's support for would-be lawyers, particularly at a time when they most need it. We continue to commit to initiatives including BPP Law School's Access to Practice Scheme (APS) and offer two training contracts every two years, most recently in September 2010.
5 minute read

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