I want to become a Solicitor. Can it happen?

Nicki

Annisele wrote: »

I'm not sure that being a solicitor has much in common with looking at weird and wonderful legal facts - a bit like being a doctor isn't really much like being House MD.

Could you ask a solicitor near you for a week's unpaid work experience/to let you job shadow them for a day/if you can take them out for coffee to find out about their job? If you find you hate it, much better to waste a week now then years of training. If you can't find anybody who'll talk to you - even for coffee - then I'd say your chances of getting a training contract later on are zero.

As a client of a solicitor would you be happy for Joe Bloggs who has bought the solicitor coffee but is otherwise unknown to him, to sit in while you discuss your legal affairs, to read your legal documents, and perhaps be privy to allegations made against you by the other partying litigation whether true or not? How would you satisfy yourself that Joe Bloggs wouldn't go down the pub and tell the world your business?

The legal exec route is slow, but possibly the best route. You can study at night to become a legal executive whilst working in a legal capacity during the day. Once you have qualified as a legal exec you can then go on to qualify as a solicitor.

You do not need a law degree to become a solicitor direct, but you do need a degree if not going via the legal exec path. If you have a non law degree, you need to do a one year legal course, followed by the LPC which is compulsory for all whether law graduates or not. You then need to get a training contract, which will be paid, for 2 years. Competition is, as others have said stiff, and you will need a very good degree from a top university to stand much chance of getting a training contract. With the greatest respect to Oldernotwiser an Open University degree will not cut it. Nor will a degree from a former poly, or anything less than a 2:1 honours degree.

Mistral001

The % law graduates who actually become qualified as lawyers is quite low and the number who actually end up practicing is actually lower still.

So get a good law degree and then once you have got that you might with a lot of hard work and studying and a lot of luck become a solicitor.

jamespir

if you put your mind to it you can be anything you want good luck

SarEl

If you have to ask then the answer is no. Any career in the law requires someone to be very driven - there is no fast or easy route and as has been mentioned, it is very competitive. People who want a career in the law do not ask whether they can do it - they are so driven by it that it consumes them and there is no question of doing anything else. Which still isn't a guarantee that they will get the career they want.

Oldernotwiser

bengal-stripe wrote: »

But does the OP have a first degree?

I assume not, which is why I posted a link to the OU so he could work towards one.;)

Oldernotwiser

Nicki wrote: »

With the greatest respect to Oldernotwiser an Open University degree will not cut it. Nor will a degree from a former poly, or anything less than a 2:1 honours degree.

Absolute rubbish!

OU degrees are well respected and the LLB is offered in conjunction with the College of Law who

" will guarantee you a place on its Legal Practice Course if you successfully complete the Academic Stage of training through the Open University/College of Law collaboration. This guarantee is for two years after you graduate. After that you can still apply to the College or any other provider but you will not be guaranteed a place."

InsideInsurance

bobajob_1966 wrote: »

A legal executive is not a solicitor!

No but from ILEX you can then go on to become a solicitor see http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/careersinlaw/becomingasolicitor/qualifying.page

To the OP - haven't personally become a solicitor but it certainly is possible even for people with poor school results.

A few more years ago than I care to mention I used to be a claims handler for a large motor insurer. If you worked in one of their technical claims areas they would fund you to do the ILEX qualification as long as you stayed for 2 years after qualifying.

After ILEX they would also fund you to do the other exams to become a solicitor if you moved into either the litigations team or the legal expenses team, again with a condition of further continuous employment.

Personally I went a different route as I am terrible at learning vast quantities of facts, names and dates that Law requires you to do but two of my colleagues did go down the route. One stopped after ILEX but still works as a legal executive but for a law firm. The other went on to become a qualified solicitor and still works for them dealing with employment law disputes. Neither of them had anything above GCSEs prior to joining the company.

shegirl

If you want me to be perfectly honest...you have to ask how to do it,you have recently considered other careers that couldn't be any further away from law if they tried and you site your interest by stating you enjoy reading 'wierd and wonderful law facts'..I would say don't bother!


However,if you should decide to go ahead anyway with probably no idea of what it entails,then the advice is above.Competition is very high and you can get a TC without having gone to a top uni,but to stand out and get yourself anywhere you need to work for it -gain experience or a job in a law firm,do voluntary work with relevant organisations,anything to get your foot in the door.

I agree with SarEl,if you want to be a lawyer you almost eat,sleep and breath law because you are so motivated and interested,never seems to die either,even when you leave for whatever reason...it's always there!You have to be very driven and you don't appear to be!

There is a book that an old lecturer recommended we all read years back,I believe it was some kind of handbook/guide for those who want to become lawyers (although I believe it swayed towards barristers more) and his words when suggesting it were very true - 'if you read the whole book and still want to be a lawyer then go for it!'. Unfortunately,I can't remember what it's called (but have it lurking somewhere!)

Nicki

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Absolute rubbish!

OU degrees are well respected and the LLB is offered in conjunction with the College of Law who

" will guarantee you a place on its Legal Practice Course if you successfully complete the Academic Stage of training through the Open University/College of Law collaboration. This guarantee is for two years after you graduate. After that you can still apply to the College or any other provider but you will not be guaranteed a place."

OK. I am speaking from the vantage point of someone who IS a qualified solicitor, and whose firm would not even have offered an interview to anyone who had an OU or degree from a not well respected university, much less a training contract. And from the vantage point of someone who received a lot of questions from parents of students who had gone to lesser universities and got such degrees, but not succeeded in securing contracts and were asking why. And this was 10 years ago when training contracts were plentiful, whereas these days even the major law firms are cancelling offers or deferring them, and there are just less places.

So, other than the blurb on the OU advertising material, what is the basis for your belief that obtaining an OU degree will enable you to qualify as a solicitor? Please note that passing the LPC is irrelevant. You cannot qualify as a solicitor without also completing a training contract, and this must be paid at a rate agreed by the Law Society, so there is no way to circumvent the economy with a poorly respected degree by offering to work for free or for a reduced rate.

I have great respect for the OU and it's degrees are fantastic for lots of professions, but I will say again that they will not open many, if any, doors for someone wanting to work as a solicitor or barrister.

SarEl

Nicki wrote: »

I have great respect for the OU and it's degrees are fantastic for lots of professions, but I will say again that they will not open many, if any, doors for someone wanting to work as a solicitor or barrister.

I do not disagree in practice, but speaking as someone who has a colleague whose first degree came from the OU (a barrister) this has much more to do with the elitist attitude of so many legal practitioners rather than anything to do with the OU. There are still far too many silver spoons in the profession(s), and that is the real problem. I am far more interested by how good someone is, not where they studied. Odd approach I know, but it perhaps comes from the fact that my spoon wasn't even silver plated.