granddaughter wants to be a solicitor

Person_one

Nicki wrote: »

She will need a good degree from a top university either in law or a rigorous academic subject (ie not media studies or something ridiculous )

Whenever I see a thread about education I have a little bet with myself about how long it will take for the first dig at Media Studies to appear.

You've beaten the average!

LunaLady

vax2002 wrote: »

Is she a good liar ?

Very droll!

poet123

Person_one wrote: »

Whenever I see a thread about education I have a little bet with myself about how long it will take for the first dig at Media Studies to appear.

You've beaten the average!

Perhaps that is because in the scheme of things, and in the opinion of those who know, it is not a particularly useful degree when applying for jobs.

Person_one

poet123 wrote: »

Perhaps that is because in the scheme of things, and in the opinion of those who know, it is not a particularly useful degree when applying for jobs.

The same can be said for lots of degree subjects, but its always media studies that people decide to be snobby about. We all consume a heck of a lot of media, we're doing it now!

lostinrates

melancholly wrote: »

It's tricky. I'd usually advise to do a different degree to keep options open, but the drop in people being paid for the conversion course changes that a lot. Give it a few years and it may all change....

Either way, the reality of any career is usually a lot more boring than tv shows about it would suggest. Work experience might be a good way to check that. Probably worth saying that I did work experience with a solicitor at 16 and decided it wasn't for me. A very useful week for me, even if I think my parents are probably still a bit disappointed!

And some firms, namely the high paying US firms are said to prefer tose who have read law, plus has other advantages for those wanting to go into international practise, eg, ability to sit NY bar.

LunaLady

Its mainly the media that is to blame for being snobby about media studies. However its true that MS A-levels are not taking seriously by many of the top Universities and in fact some RG institutions fail to even recognise it.

Svenena

Prospects.ac.uk has detailed information about graduate jobs, which she might find useful: http://www.prospects.ac.uk/solicitor_job_description.htm Lots of other jobs on there too.

melancholly

lostinrates wrote: »

And some firms, namely the high paying US firms are said to prefer tose who have read law, plus has other advantages for those wanting to go into international practise, eg, ability to sit NY bar.

Interesting - I was always told that PPE, SPS, philosophy or english were preferred! At least by the city firms in London.

lostinrates

melancholly wrote: »

Interesting - I was always told that PPE, SPS, philosophy or english were preferred! At least by the city firms in London.

I think that was traditionally so, but the magic cirle firms are no longer the bifgest paying in the corporate sphere. Us and international firms do consider grads who read subjects other than law ( my dh did not read law and had a different career first, usually anothe no no) but they are said to prefer it. Also, to sit ny bar the study perios during TC is not considerd full time study, so fails they period of time required, which i think is three years full time, to sit the exams. I know the law society arekeen to challenge this, feeling TC more than compensates, but atm its how it is, i believe.

notisis

And bear in mind it is really tough getting a training contract right now and probably for the next 5 years or possibly longer. There are more law graduates chasing a contract than places and many with 2:1 degrees. At the moment we have (in my firm) 5 law graduates chasing a training contract who are content to simply do secretarial/administrative roles in the hope of getting a contract.

At a wedding last week one of the guests got her job because she had a good Oxford degree plus a Masters before applying for the conversion and on that got an offer from a London firm. But she she is working regularly from 8 am to 4 am (it's a global law firm) in acquisitions and mergers. It is not easy. Don't want to put anyone off but really do the homework first and work experience in various types of firm; local high street plus a bigger regional and a city firm if possible to give a good feel. The money is in corporate/commercial work if that's a motivator or the high net worth business in private work.

An excellent alternative is the CiLEX route but again getting a job even as a junior member of staff is real tough in this climate because so many firms have laid staff off over the years and they are not really recruiting. Speculative applications are always worth a go though - being in the right place at the right time as they say.

After all that - yes the job can be very rewarding mentally and emotionally.