Crowdfunding for LPC fees?

Firemunchkin

I'm a thirty-something legal assistant. I've been undertaking a law degree in my spare time for the last few years. This year coming is my last year. I've been working full time throughout so that I can pay for the degree which has cost me in excess of £12k. I know, I'm lucky that I started the degree before annual fees went up to £9k!!

The next stage in a legal career is to take and pass the Legal Practice Course. I can do this either full time (nine months) or part-time (two years). Given that I will have spent five years of working full time and studying part-time to get the degree, I honestly cannot do another two years of it. I'm exhausted. I want to be able to do the LPC full time so that I can focus on it properly and not put my husband through the mill for a further two years. It also is delaying us having children until I get a training contract so the quicker I get the LPC done, the better.

Trouble is it's extremely expensive. Around £15k this year and that's going to go up each year. I just don't have access to that kind of money.

I could apply for training contracts with the bigger corporate firms, where they pay for the LPC for you, but that will involve working 20 hours a day 7 days a week and competing against 23 year olds for newly qualified places. It also means a corporate client-base. I want to work for the little guy, the small businesses, the individuals. But that means going for the smaller firms - but they don't have the finances to pay for your LPC for you. So, I'm stuck with trying to find the £15k I need to pay for the fees.

I am obviously going to save up what I can but it's an impossible task alone - so I was thinking about doing crowdfunding. The way I see it, I only need 15,000 people to give £1 and I'm there.

I want to know your thoughts on this - both opinion and advice. This is a great forum so is my first port of call for this!

Thanks,

:rotfl:

lika_86

Firemunchkin wrote: »

I'm a thirty-something legal assistant. I've been undertaking a law degree in my spare time for the last few years. This year coming is my last year. I've been working full time throughout so that I can pay for the degree which has cost me in excess of £12k. I know, I'm lucky that I started the degree before annual fees went up to £9k!!

The next stage in a legal career is to take and pass the Legal Practice Course. I can do this either full time (nine months) or part-time (two years). Given that I will have spent five years of working full time and studying part-time to get the degree, I honestly cannot do another two years of it. I'm exhausted. I want to be able to do the LPC full time so that I can focus on it properly and not put my husband through the mill for a further two years. It also is delaying us having children until I get a training contract so the quicker I get the LPC done, the better.

The LPC is very different to a degree. It's very manageable part-time (I speak from experience).

When are you delaying children until? You get a training contract offer? You start your training contract? You finish your training contract? There won't be a good time to have children and embark on a new career. Personally, if I were you I wouldn't wait for something that you don't have a definite timescale for, especially as you're in your thirties. Most firms recruit two years in advance and so even if you got offered a training contract next year you wouldn't start until 2017 and wouldn't qualify until 2019.

Firemunchkin wrote: »

Trouble is it's extremely expensive. Around £15k this year and that's going to go up each year. I just don't have access to that kind of money.

Are you based in London? The only LPC programmes that cost that much that I can see are those at the London BPP and CoL sites. Others are less.

Firemunchkin wrote: »

I could apply for training contracts with the bigger corporate firms, where they pay for the LPC for you, but that will involve working 20 hours a day 7 days a week and competing against 23 year olds for newly qualified places. It also means a corporate client-base. I want to work for the little guy, the small businesses, the individuals. But that means going for the smaller firms - but they don't have the finances to pay for your LPC for you. So, I'm stuck with trying to find the £15k I need to pay for the fees.

The big corporate firms are competitive, especially as most firms have reduced their trainee intakes and so unless someone has a truly stellar CV and real motivation to do it, I wouldn't advise anyone to focus on those firms (although I should say that the hours aren't necessarily as bad as you might think).

It's only really the high street firms that won't pay for LPC fees, most smaller and regional firms which do a mixture of corporate and private client work (which sounds more like what you want to do, rather than the conveyancing/family work that tends to dominate high street firms) will pay for LPC fees and a lot will provide a maintenance grant. Have you looked into the sort of firms that interest you and what their policies are in terms of graduate recruitment.

Have you made any applications yet? What about your current firm? Any chance of a training contract there?

Firemunchkin wrote: »

I am obviously going to save up what I can but it's an impossible task alone - so I was thinking about doing crowdfunding. The way I see it, I only need 15,000 people to give £1 and I'm there.

I want to know your thoughts on this - both opinion and advice. This is a great forum so is my first port of call for this!

Thanks,

:rotfl:

It's a nice idea and the potato salad crowdfunder demonstrated that it's possible but that was a funny idea that went viral (I really can't see the same happening in your situation) you'd have to convince 15,000 people to register for a crowd funding site and give £1 or more for something they have no connection with and which ultimately means little if you don't get a training contract (I don't mean to be negative but there are loads of people who do the LPC and then don't secure a training contract).

You can try but if it was me I'd focus my efforts elsewhere.

Masomnia

Career development loans are an option. University of Law also has an arrangement with Metrobank to provide loans that you don't have to pay back until six months after you finish.

Good luck with whatever you decide!

agrinnall

Alternatively get a scruffy dog on a piece of string and beg on the streets, I can't see any difference to what you're proposing.

Firemunchkin

agrinnall wrote: »

Alternatively get a scruffy dog on a piece of string and beg on the streets, I can't see any difference to what you're proposing.

LOL - I am begging, pretty much!! Thanks, it's helpful to have your view.

Firemunchkin

Masomnia wrote: »

Career development loans are an option. University of Law also has an arrangement with Metrobank to provide loans that you don't have to pay back until six months after you finish.

I didn't know about the Metrobank arrangement you've mentioned so will explore/research that - thank you so much.

I had looked previously at career development loans but the difficulty is that you have to pay it back whilst you're studying - which for the amount I need to borrow would be extremely difficult if I'm doing the LPC full time. If I were doing it part-time then it would be fine (ish).

Firemunchkin

lika_86 wrote: »

The LPC is very different to a degree. It's very manageable part-time (I speak from experience).

You're right - it is manageable. I know several people doing it, and who have done it, who say the same. But the problem for me is I really can't face another two years of part-time study. I'm exhausted as it is.

Firemunchkin

lika_86 wrote: »

When are you delaying children until? You get a training contract offer? You start your training contract? You finish your training contract? There won't be a good time to have children and embark on a new career. Personally, if I were you I wouldn't wait for something that you don't have a definite timescale for, especially as you're in your thirties. Most firms recruit two years in advance and so even if you got offered a training contract next year you wouldn't start until 2017 and wouldn't qualify until 2019.

To be honest everything feels very up in the air at the moment. I have ideas in my head about waiting until I've qualified before having kids, but I know that's not realistic. In an ideal world I'd be ten years younger and have more time on my hands! I'm worried mainly about the financial impact of kids on my ability to take on the LPC and the salary drop of a training contract. I'm also worried that firms will be less interested in having a trainee with children. I guess in my mind I'd like to wait until I've qualified but - like I said - I know that's not realistic.

Firemunchkin

lika_86 wrote: »

What about your current firm? Any chance of a training contract there?

Not a chance. They barely recognise the fact the work I do is 90% casework without supervision anyway. Getting anyone here to open their eyes and see I have bags of potential beyond my crappy job title would be like getting blood out of a stone. I'm not sure this is the area of law I want to practice in any event.

hawk30

Have you considered qualifying as a chartered legal executive rather than a solicitor? Chartered legal executives are lawyers who specialise in a particular area of law and can become partners in law firms, judges, etc. As you have a law degree you can do the graduate fast-track diploma (2 practice units and client care), which costs approximately £2,500. You can either do this at college or by distance learning. See http://www.cilex.org.uk/careers/careers_home/employers/training_options/cilex_lawyer_qualifications/graduate_fast-track_diploma.aspx and http://www.cilex.org.uk/study/lawyer_qualifications/graduate_fast-track_diploma.aspx

You also need qualifying employment and if you have been doing fee earning work it's possible you already have part of it. See http://www.cilex.org.uk/membership/qualifying_employment.aspx

Finally, if you really want to become a solicitor, if you do the LPC after becoming a Chartered Legal Executive (having completed both the academic requirements and qualifying employment), you may be exempt from doing a training contract.