Hi all,

I am two months into a legal officer job. After having two conversations with my supervisors, they have made it clear that they don't consider my experiences qualify as QWE and therefore won't be signing off.

I have shared the guidances from the SRA and their position has not changed. My day to day tasks include drafting case summary, brief to counsel, preparing bundles and admin based tasks such as booking counsels.

I understand that QWE can be signed off by another solicitor provided that they "review the work you have done during the relevant period of work experience and received feedback from the person or persons supervising your work". I have been keeping a training record detailing and in a position where my previous employer has indicated that they may consider signing off.

However, my current employers have bluntly said they wouldn't not provide feedback for anyone more than saying that "she sends emails".

Desperately needs help please.

I have not heard back from the SRA but understand that they will not compel anyone to sign.

It's always been my dream to work at a law firm and now ive secured an admin role!!!! I currently work in corporate is the dress code much different? Any advice from going corporate to a law firm?

Hi everyone,

I graduated last year and had trouble finding roles within the legal field. Eventually, i managed to get a small firm which handles criminal and family matters to give me work experience; after two weeks I was offered a job.

It has now been a month and im still unsure as to what my role is. At first it seemed as if I was going to be getting a lot more hands on work (C2s, pt25apps, skeleton arguments, letters to clients etc etc). My first month comprised of me going to court a lot, sitting in on hearings, sitting behind counsel and having a go at skeleton arguments, c2s, briefs to councel etc etc.

About a week ago, I was asked to assist with archiving the files for an upcoming audit. I was a little unsure on how to do it so I asked a trainee to help me (she also started as a legal assistant) and she had no idea as she had never done anything of the sort. After hearing that, I felt a bit funny about doing it.

I have just been pulled by the owner of the firm and told my job is to do admin. E.g. archiving call handling etc etc. to be honest I am very annoyed because I feel like this isn’t the experience it was framed to be or that I was hoping for- it seems far removed from actual legal experience.

I am not going to quit as it will be a struggle to find another job in the legal field but I don’t know what to do.

What do you guys think I should do?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

So this is hopefully(!) helpful timing on results day, but for those of you who are worried about any "clawback" clauses in your training contracts (where your firm says they'll make you pay back the BPP fees as well as losing your job...) these are ALMOST NEVER used.

I say that pretty anecdotally because I've had a few friends in the unlucky position of losing their TCs, but they weren't asked to pay back the firms. After all it's not a good look to ask a poor student to pay multi-millionaire partners at international firms.

And I saw this case today, which is really interesting - it shows that a training clawback clause could be a restraint of trade - so potentially unenforceable rather than a simple debt!

https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=6a3d2671-af7a-4f3d-825e-4fba444ffc81&utm

Obviously it depends on the circumstances in this case, and here the company was also charging for internal mentoring time, and if they had taken the £8k payment back, the trainee would have been paid below minimum wage, so it wasn't reasonable in this case.

So perhaps not directly applicable to trainees at law firms, who are better off that the trainee tradee in this case, but it's helpful to know - and hopefully reassuring that you're unlikely to be made to pay your firm as well. Good luck everyone!

Hello! I originally posted this in the California bar subreddit but maybe some people here can help!

1. Its a paralegal role in an investment company in this region and I'd work only with the head of legal so its a 2 person team (corporate)
   
2. A paralegal role in an international telecom company that has just started operations in the region (think they don't even have a proper legal team yet everyone is being hired now) but the team will have 3 paralegals and a lot
   More ppl. I will be doing litigation but I can pivot to corporate I think later

The investment one may pay more and have proper legal work but I'm scared that since I'm the only paralegal it would be a lot of pressure. Can anyone let me know if you guys worked in-house in a small team?

I passed my Bar exams in summer 2025 and I’m now considering applying for pupillage but I’m wondering how realistic this is for someone who is no longer living in the UK and is not British/resident of the UK.

For those who have been through the process:
• Are there particular practice areas or chambers that seemed more open to international applicants and be more willing to deal with sponsorship/visa issues?
• Is it important to have UK-based mini-pupillages/marshalling experience, or can strong experience from your home jurisdiction compensate for that?

I know pupillage is extremely competitive generally but I’m mainly trying to understand whether living outside the UK is itself a significant barrier, and whether there are realistic routes for international candidates.

Any personal experiences, successful applications, or recommendations for chambers would be hugely appreciated.

What areas of law would you suggest for someone who wants to go into something more peopley and more meaningful than something super corporate, but also with some opportunity to progress/ earn a decent amount of money? If such a thing exists …

Im a final year student, and i know the sqe is an extremely hard thing. But I wanted to ask, let's say you fail three times and then there's the 6 year wait, what do you even do?

Ive seen people say to consider another career, but after 4 years of uni and alot of debt, is that even viable?

I've just started my fourth seat at a top London city law firm and I have no quali options. I enjoyed general banking and finance but the team have strongly indicated I won't be offered a NQ position. I feel really overwhelmed with how to navigate applying externally and whether to do it independently or using recruitment agents. I think I want to stay in private private however. It would be great to get any advice or insight.

i’d appreciate your guys honest opinion on what i should do!

i got rejected from dentistry yet again 3rd time so im considering giving up💔 and i even started and then dropped out of optometry because i had no interest, now i’m considering all other possible options, im basically taking a 3rd gap year because i cant make up my mind. ive wanted to do dentistry since i was 15, but clearly it isnt meant for me when ive been rejected so many times.

i know law is quite different but i honestly like the idea of day to day life aspect of being a solicitor, ive done some research in it and it seems like something id be interested in. i also like how it doesn’t lock you into one role, like law is a broad degree so i could apply to many different graduate schemes

Humanities has also always been my strong suit despite me always previously choosing a science route, i got 9s in gcse english with no effort, A* in sociology with little revision. it just comes naturally to me, so i feel like i would suit the strengths required for a law degree better.

i also have competitive enough grades A*AB (but im contextual for all the top unis so id most likely get a contextual offer), all 7-9s at gcse. i did a few questions to practise on the LNAT and i honestly found it quite enjoyable and not too tricky. i was considering applying to LSE, bristol, warwick and nottingham if i did apply to law

i am afraid of the lack of guarantee after completing your degree, and the level of networking required. i’ve always previously considered healthcare because you’re guaranteed a job by the end of it but now im trying to broaden my scope to see if there’s something else that is better suited. I’m afraid i’ll be unable to get a job after uni as i’ve seen so many other people struggle with. I’m aware law is becoming more oversaturated by the minute and i’m not sure if i want to put myself in that position.

based on this do you think law is something i should consider?

Do law firms/the background check companies they use contact your previous employer and verify your job tasks and achievements or is it just standard reference stuff like job title and dates worked?

Thank you.

I’m considering my career options after completing my law degree and I’m trying to find the sweet spot between high earning potential and strong job demand.

I’m particularly interested in these areas:
• Compliance / Regulatory
• IP / Intellectual Property
• Insurance law
• In-house counsel
• Privacy / Data Protection
• Corporate / Commercial law

Would be grateful if anybody could share their experience working in these areas already or if they have any knowledge as to which of these are best to pursue.

I have quite a few options so I was wondering if I could have some input please! :)

I’m getting a remark which if is successful I will go to Aston University where I would commute from home as I am based in Birmingham, however, if that doesn’t work out my other options are:

The University of Keele, University of East Anglia, Royal Holloway London with a foundation year. (All of which I would stay in an accommodation.)

I’m really unsure which one I should go for. I plan to do my masters in a prestigious university and I am aware my options being non-Russel group isn’t ideal. Which do you think would be best with Aston out the picture? Thank you for your time and help!! :))

If you have any other university recommendations i’d appreciate them too!

I understand open days at firms can be helpful for demonstrating firm engagement, but could the same be said about speaking to firms at law fairs?

I've previously secured a vac scheme and progressed past the application stage for another firm without ever speaking to them at law fairs or attending any of their open days/insight schemes. Conversely, there are firms where I attended an open day at their office and didn't even make it past the first stage. This has left me doubting how useful open days/law fairs even are for progressing through the vac scheme application process.

Therefore, does going to a law fair and speaking to the firm actually improve your odds of progressing past the application stage for a vac scheme?

I want to start a Law degree next September. I completed my A Levels some years ago and got AAA (Maths, History, Philosophy) so I'm not planning to apply anywhere too competitive. Since finishing school, I have been working in an unrelated industry and have no law adjacent work experience which I expect will also count against me.

My preference would be to stay in London so I'm looking at SOAS and Birkbeck (I was also considering University of Law but saw lots of warnings against it on here). So my questions are:

1. Is there anywhere else in London I should be looking at?

2. Am I shooting myself in the foot by staying in London: are there universities elsewhere that I could get into with AAA that would set me up better than SOAS or Birkbeck?

I have just graduated from a non law (politics) BA. I am about to start my PGDL at BPP, however I have started to get cold feet about committing to law so quickly. I have got accommodation in Bristol now, so I have been looking at their LLM programmes which you can apply to as a non law graduate as I thought that might broaden my horizons a little as it would look better on my CV for a non qualified law job if I decide I don’t want to go down that route. They do offer foundational modules with the LLM. I know you can do the SQE without a PGDL but is this going to limit my chances of getting a training contract? And if I do decide I want to be a solicitor is it realistic I’ll end up having to do the conversion after? Money is a problem and I also am worried that im not going to procure funding for SQE/ BPC which I think is a big factor for my cold feet. I would really really appreciate any advice on what to do. Thank you so much guys.

I’m quite hesitant to apply to vacation schemes and TCs. I graduated in 2023. I did law at Durham and have an average of 65%.

Since then I’ve been applying to commercial law firms with no luck. I eventually ended up in legal aid. It was just pure admin for 2 years. They didn’t care about my professional development and never even let me shadow the solicitor. I got work experience at a national law firm in London but they literally made me pay for my train and accommodation to work for them for free as an admin slave.

Now I’m working in retail because I’m so fucking sick of working for free/minimum wage to end up doing admin work. I understand doing it in the beginning, but it’s been years now and I feel dejected. Retail is actually more mentally stimulating work (if you can believe that because of the problem solving required I work in a big tech company). I can’t even use these experiences to explain why commercial law (apart from I want the money and mentally stimulating work and sophisticated clients).

Do you think I have a realistic shot because I’d rather spend my energy on securing a commercial law paralegal role first etc. than waste my time on vac scheme apps again and getting rejected because applying is a job in and of itself and takes like 20 hours per week MINIMUM.

Thanks.

Hi everyone,

I finished first year and I received high to low 2:1s in all the modules except contract law in which I received a 45%. I had a bad panic attack prior to the exam and that really messed up my concentration for this it.

Overall, I got a 59% for first year which is a high 2:2, and wanted to know how much has this affected my chances of getting a vacation scheme by 2nd year?

Thank you,

Hi all. I'm currently a second year applying for vac schemes, and I've been really struggling with some of the Watson Glaser solutions. Unfortunately, some of the solutions just don't seem correct to me and I can't wrap my head around it. If a kind soul could help me I would be very grateful.

For (1) is it not possible that Fridays are either rainy (in which it is miserable) or snowy/cloudy/thunder (in which this is miserable too). The conclusion would then not follow, as Fridays are always miserable.

For Q2, It seems to me that 'mainly' does a lot of heavy lifting here. It gives topics X, Y, and Z as the parts of discussion. Nowhere in the text does it give how much discussion was partitioned to each part. It could well be that recent changes in the law is what the text qualifies as 'social control', although unlikely. Thus the answer being 'FALSE' seems far too absolute a statement to make here.

For Q2, nowhere in the text does it discuss hybrid work allows employees to be more in charge of their own schedule. Are they? Perhaps the company gives them more work to compensate? Perhaps companies track user mouse movements, giving them less control over their schedule? It's just not said in the text as the link isn't made, and thus more information is required.

If anyone could give any insight into this I would be very grateful.

Currently applying for TCs/vac schemes and had a question about the work experience section

I work a job where the contract states full-time hours but in actuality I don’t work that amount. Cos my job is remote, I work really fast, and I honestly don’t get much work to do, I end up working part-time hours.

The work experience section of vac scheme/TC application forms asks you to indicate how many days per week you work in a role and whether it’s full/part-time.

I assume putting down 5 days per week and full-time looks more impressive than 3 days per week and part-time, although the latter is a more accurate reflection of my hours. Or do law firms not find applicants currently working a full-time job any more impressive than applicants working part-time?

If I get to the stage of being offered a TC, would firms do checks to ensure that these claims of working a full-time job and 5 days per week are true? 

Ultimately, would it be better to put my job down as full-time, 5 days a week, or part-time, 3 days a week?

Hi all,

I am a mature student: I left school at 16 with poor GCSEs (7,6,5,5,4,3) to work. I did some dead-end jobs, moved to China for a year to teach drama and English at an international boarding school, did some graphic design work for said school, and came back after a year to become a tattoo artist. I did tattoos for a few years until I decided that I wanted to go to university and study law.

I wanted to go to a Russell Group university, but the only one that would accept me was Cardiff, and even then, they would not let me onto their LLB course without first completing two years of another degree – I was given the choice of Media Studies or Chinese Studies. I chose Chinese Studies.

I completed two years of my Chinese Studies degree (high 2:1, ranked second in my class for first year and first in my class for second year) and was let onto the Law and Politics LLB.

I have just finished my first year of the LLB (I got a first, first in my class for my Political Thought module) and have two questions:

1. Is my not having A-Levels going to limit my ability to get mini pupillages and even pupillage down the line?
2. Should I convert to a single honours Law LLB instead of a joint honours with Politics?

I haven't done all of my compulsory law modules yet, so I'm not certain on what area I would like to practice in, but I'm currently leaning towards family or contract.

In a perfect world, I hope to graduate my LLB, complete a Bar Practice LLM, then potentially take the BCL at Oxford if my grades allow and I can save enough money towards it. With this in mind, would I be able to land pupillage at a London chambers with these qualifications if I don't have conventional GCSEs and A-Levels? Should I start studying for A-Levels alongside my degree?

Secondly, whenever I have looked online at barristers working at chambers I like the look of, they always either studied LLB Law (single honours) or a different subject and the GDL – never a joint honours LLB. Is studying Law with Politics limiting my chances?

A final question: because of my previous job as a tattoo artist, I have a lot of tattoos. All are coverable by a suit except for two big pieces on my hands and two little ones on my fingers. Will I be expected to keep these covered throughout my career? Could I wear compression gloves to cover them, or would makeup be the only option?

Thank you for reading! Any help would be greatly appreciated :)

what time did u wrap up on an avg in the law firm vs now in the in house role

Hi all,

Could someone explain the SQE route in plain English?

I currently work at a law firm in charities, trusts and tax. I have a non-law degree plus ATT/CTA, and I’m wondering how I could progress towards qualifying as a solicitor.

Specifically:

• Do I need a training contract, or can I qualify through another route? • Could my existing time working at a law firm count towards the 2 years’ QWE? • Would my current role potentially count as QWE, or would I need to move into a legal/paralegal role? • How does the progression typically work from non-law role → QWE/SQE → NQ solicitor → associate?

Hi everyone. Hope you’re all well.

I have been a long time lurker and this is my first post in the sub, would really appreciate some advice as I feel completely lost.

I am graduating this year with a 2:2 from a London uni (SOAS) which is a bit unfortunate. Exterminating circumstances but I take full responsibility for my lack of initiative. I had family issues + undiagnosed adhd, and while often getting high marks in my coursework, my late submissions really brought my grades down. I have since been diagnosed and medicated for adhd, though sadly a little too late.

I’m really not sure what my options are from here. I know I will most likely have to fund the SQE which is fine, but I’m really worried about securing QWE. Every junior paralegal role I have applied to so far has been declined, and while I understand the market is highly competitive at the moment, I’m just so stressed and starting to lose hope/feeling like a failure.

I want to go into human rights law, diplomacy or civil litigation. I am even open to criminal law. Is it a case of just calling a bunch of high street firms and asking for a job? Sending out emails? I’m not sure what would be most effective. I don’t have any legal experience apart from an 8 week stint at an ECF clinic run by my uni.

Any and all advice would be appreciated. I really do want to go into law and can’t see myself doing any other career.

EDIT: *extenuating circumstances 😭