law career advice wanted please!

cornerforward13

Hi everyone, well basically I'm just out of college, I did a 3 year BCL and a 1 year LLB, and I can't decide where to go from here. I don't want to do the FE1's or King's Inn's (yet anyway) and I was just wondering if anyone else was in this situation and what they went into. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance

FreudianSlippers

I went straight from my LLB to King's Inns because I knew I wanted to practice. If I didn't, I probably would have done an LLM (at Trinity, LSE, etc.).
I guess it just depends on what you want to do... lecture or practice or just work in a legal department. Honestly, I'm not sure exactly what you can do with just an LLB - the job market is probably quite competitive and the more qualifications the better.
Bottom line is that step one is probably figure out where you want to be in 5 years (as cheesy as that sounds) and go from there - IMO you will essentially need to go from there and either do the FE1s or King's Inns or do a masters.

On a side note, take a search around the forum - this discussion has come up many many times and looking at the replies to some other the other people who are in the same and/or similar positions may help you take that first step.

Pudding11

I did a 4 year cert/diploma/degree and then an LLB. I had no interest in FE1's or anything down that route really so I now work in Compliance. Basically working in the company legal department. Definitely the right choice for me anyway but I never really had an interest in being a solicitor etc.

nuac

After 40+ years in general practice as a solicitor would advise you to think carefully before embarking on such a career.

Briefly
1. Work becoming more complicated
2. Clients expectations/demands for quicker work at lower prices.
3. Downward pressure on fees, upward pressure on overheads
4. Professional Indemnity insurance becoming more difficult
5. Regulatory and Revenue compliance requirements increasing
6. Too much time and energy on admin work, too little for purely legal work.

Instead consider the bar, in house work, or academia.

drkpower

nuac wrote: »

1. Work becoming more complicated
2. Clients expectations/demands for quicker work at lower prices.
3. Downward pressure on fees, upward pressure on overheads
4. Professional Indemnity insurance becoming more difficult
5. Regulatory and Revenue compliance requirements increasing
6. Too much time and energy on admin work, too little for purely legal work

Ah now, dont be so negative.
1. is a good thing.
2 & 3 have always been that way.
If you work in a reasonably-sized firm, you dont have to woory too much about 4,5&6.

nuac

Ok Drkpower, we have to agree to disagree. My own view is based as already said on 40+ years experience and is shared by many colleagues in all sizes of firms. Our Bar Assn have had meetings on some of these topics and one goes to the usual CPD courses.

I have never seen such pessimism about in the profession.

Further many solicitors work in smaller firms and some single practitioners thus all the admin and regulatory overhead is an increasing problem for them.

Johnny Utah

nuac wrote: »

Ok Drkpower, we have to agree to disagree. My own view is based as already said on 40+ years experience and is shared by many colleagues in all sizes of firms. Our Bar Assn have had meetings on some of these topics and one goes to the usual CPD courses.

I have never seen such pessimism about in the profession.

Further many solicitors work in smaller firms and some single practitioners this all the admin and regulatory overhead is an increasing problem for them.

Nuac,

Surely, that means that there is an increased demand for admin workers (secretaries/assistants/paralegals) in smaller practices?

The only vanancies in these roles I can find are for people with at least 3 years+ legal secretarial work, or else the FAS WPP (which I'm not eligible for). Is there any other way for a law graduate to secure legal admin work at present?

drkpower

nuac wrote: »

Ok Drkpower, we have to agree to disagree. My own view is based as already said on 40+ years experience and is shared by many colleagues in all sizes of firms. Our Bar Assn have had meetings on some of these topics and one goes to the usual CPD courses.

I have never seen such pessimism about in the profession.

Further many solicitors work in smaller firms and some single practitioners thus all the admin and regulatory overhead is an increasing problem for them.

No offence intended but i get the impression that after 4o+ years experience, your enthusiasm is not what it once was and you see the negatives where some might see the positives. The last few years have been tough, but the profession evolves and those difficulties will abate.

nuac

Drkpower

Re your post last night, I'm still in good shape physically and mentally, and still put in long hours. I do hope you are right, and that current difficulties do abate. However my pessimism isn't just mine - it is shared by many colleagues of all ages and all practice sizes.

Thus I am advising people thinking of going into our branch of the profession to think carefully.

johnfás

nuac wrote: »

Thus I am advising people thinking of going into our branch of the profession to think carefully.

However, the reality for somebody with a law degree, or a business degree, or an arts degree, at this moment in time is that unless they retrain in a completely different field, virtually all their potential career paths are in a similar situation - whether that is accountancy, management, banking or law.

maidhc

Johnny Utah wrote: »

Nuac,

Surely, that means that there is an increased demand for admin workers (secretaries/assistants/paralegals) in smaller practices?

There is no money in firms to pay for these admin staff. I don't have close to 40 years experience, but Nuac's view is the accepted reality out there and one I agree with.

Purple violet

What options are there out there for Solictors who finish their traineeship and have had enough? Would you advise people who have been offered apprenticeships in the big firms to look elsewhere?