University Ruined My Life!

alyth

Unfortunately in this world vaporate, you will be working until you are 70 before you even get a sniff of a pension, so I would just go for it, I'll finish my studies when I am 45, I'll still have 25 years of working to build up a pension, albeit it I am financially secure and don't have to work ever again!

Aside from that, I would be very proud of what you have achieved at aged 23 - as I say I worked for very prominent media law firms in London for many years until returning to Scotland, where law is just dying on its feet up here - too many small practitioners battling for too much non-existent business. Don't fret too much about having a mortgage, getting into the right law firm, you did what was right for you at the time - you dind't make any mistakes, you followed your instincts, you've done well and you should be happy with what you've achieved!

vaporate

im saving up now, might sound crazy at 23, for the future really. I dread the day i get any pension, i know it will be very little. hence saving what I can now.

alyth

vaporate you are 23, you have over 40 years of working before you can even think of retirement, enjoy your youth whilst you can - yes I do appreciate that you have to put money aside for your future, but given the current situation on any money you have invested, returns are so low, of course they will bounce back, at the moment I would enjoy being young and just go out there and enjoy it!

vaporate

Thanks

jago25_98

Thank you for the warning.

This is a very common thing. It is not unique to law, it seems the same right across the board in all industries.

If I knew how to definitely get a job that pays over £30k with training I might well do it.

However, I've seen even graduates of a highly specialised oil industry training program that costs £10k for one month of training not get a single job.

I hope someone here can give me some examples of training where it's a safe bet and an economical one?

marywooyeah

Hi there I qualified ILEX Level 3 in June and am about to start a 3 year LLB at Nottingham Trent University.
I started the level 3 as an evening course at college when I was 20 so I could continue to work full time at my dead end job in a shop and study as I did not have enough UCAS points to go to uni. I found out that I was pregnant, carried on the course and gave birth 18 days before my exams, passed one with 2 marks off a distinction. went back for the second year when my son was 3 months old, "qualified" now with 5 passes and 2 distinctions.
I started applying for legal jobs and got nowhere. Every job was asking for at least 2 years experience and I have 5 years retail. Originally I was hoping to get a job and have an employer finance my LLB or go and do Level 6.
No luck getting a job so I decided to apply to trent and was accepted on the basis that I had ILEX.
In my experience ILEX is looked down upon as the back door way to become a solicitor, also if you do not already work in a legal environment the qualifying period is 5 years, then you may have to pay to do your own LPC if the firm will not sponsor you.
I am 22 now, and will be 25 when I finish my LLB, and tbh am worried about my earning ability after finishing, what if I still can't get a job then?
I really hope this LLB is not a waste of time

lostinrates

I do know there is a solicitor who qualified ILEX who is a regular MSEer, and she's helpful clear and knowlegable. I'll PM her the link to here, because I think she's have a more postive opinion and some eperience of working as a solicitor having done ILEX

lostinrates

Further to this thread I thought the story linked below from RoF might be of interest (or dread:() to those planning to start a career in law, although BVC is the headline more is discussed in the short text.

http://www.rollonfriday.com/ThisWeek/News/tabid/58/Id/282/fromTab/36/Default.aspx

In fact a couple of this weeks RoF stories realte to employment, deferred TCs etc.

whathavewedone

Hi there. I became a solicitor via the ILEX route. Financially it was great as apart from the first year I was sponsored by the 3 firms that I worked for over the 11 years that it took me to become a lawyer this way while working full time.

Unless you are already working in a legal environment and think there is a good chance that once you are Part I qualified (I think that is called something different now - level 2 perhaps) you will be promoted to a fee earning role ILEX is not going to be a good route. You can't become a Fellow (ie a fully qualified legal exec) until you have had 5 full years fee earning experience even if you have passed all your exams. Assuming you've qualified as a fellow and have the required 5 years under your belt you can then do the rest of your qualifying exams and then you can apply to the LPC.

You can't get on the LPC via this route unless you are fellow, so again, if you haven't had the experience you will be blocked from progressing further at this point even if you have passed every single exam that you would need to pass to get on to the LPC.

I found doing the LPC part time while working full time very hard indeed. The rest of it was not so bad as I was given study leave and would just hole myself away studying 16 hours a day to get the grades I needed. With the LPC the exams themselves are not that difficult but the homework is relentless and working a full week followed by a full weekend followed by a weekend off spent studying is not much fun.

However, it's great to start off without being in debt and it did feel like a bigger achievement than if I had done it the traditional way. Also you get exempted from a training contract if you have 5 or more years of experience which realistically you would have to.

If I'm honest, I'd rather have done it the traditional way because although I would have had debt I'd also have been earning good money far earlier.

It's swings and roundabouts really...

Don't know if this has been of any help!