Postgrad Law Conversion

BigBouncyBall

Hi, Kinda money saving i guess...

I'm really looking at doing a Postgrad Law course (doing maths at the moment - totally the wrong course for me but i'll get through last year) could anyone give me any advice for the cheapest/best way to do this? I've heard the college of law is OK - but not great - and i have their prospectus. They have fees of about £9000 a year (over two years) which is about what I expected. Anyone have any experience of this sort of thing? Can I get funding from law firms or things?

Any help appreciated

BBB

Voyager2002

This question brings me back to my own past -- I did a Maths degree and seriously considered the Law conversion course. No, I never heard of anyone being funded for it -- maybe the commercial firms in the City could help, but there are plenty of Law graduates eager to work for them, so you would have to be truly exceptional to stand much chance there. Otherwise, remember that the College of Law has campuses in several different places, and living costs will vary. Or look at some of the other universities that offer this course: they may not be as good, but you only need to pass, and the costs are likely to be much lower.

Trying_really_hard

Some of the big law firms will sponsor you through your law conversion course and your LPC. You need to be looking at the firms training contracts pages to tell you whether they will. There should be a Law Recruitment Fair coming up (its that time of year) at your uni or one close to you which will give you lots of details.

I am assuming that you are going down the Solicitor route here of course. If not, then a Graduate Loan can be used to cover fees, etc.

Hope that helps a bit.

As above poster said, yes, there are lots of law graduates for firm positions (I'm one of them), but many firms like to take graduates from other disciplines for other backgrounds. It is competitive, but its possible.

Princess_Cinderella_2

i had a friend who did a law conversion course and by staying at the same uni as where he did the undergraduate degree he got the course cheaper by about half and then was able to apply for university funding and got through the course that way. hope that helps and good luck

melancholly

just put 'sponsor law conversion' into google and this was the top hit:
http://www.bris.ac.uk/cas/careersin/lawcourses.htm

i know quite a few people who went into big city law firms and had their conversion courses sponsored - not sure how often this happens outside of london, but it isn't uncommon.

DrFluffy

One of my neighbours did the law conversion, and was sponsored to do so by the firm who are now her employers...

voguemonkey

I can help here. I did a law degree and the Legal Practice Course at the College of Law in York and was sponsored for the latter by my current employer. My sister has done the law conversion course (the GDL) and LPC (also at York) and funded it herself with a loan from Natwest. Natwest offer special fixed rate loans for fees and living costs for College of Law Students, but you can do the two years at lots of places whose fees may vary.

Your uni careers advisors can help you learn more about the process of applying. If you want to be a commercial solicitor you need to be getting yourself to law fairs and finding out about the firms now as they recruit two years in advance and applications for vacation placements (which help enormously in finally getting a training contract) will be due in early next year. Competition is fierce so get as much help, information and advice as possible before you make any applications.

If the commercial route isn't for you you'll find that high street firms recruit as and when they need you and the careers service at the College of Law is very good.

Feel free to PM me if you'd like any more info. Otherwise these websites are an excellent source of information. Be warned though, the forumites on the first site can be a bit vicious!

https://www.rollonfriday.com
http://www.chambersandpartners.com/chambersstudent/