Cannot get TC - When can I start for the Bar?

lablab

Hi all,

Right got all me FE1's and have been rejected from all firms on the planet for a TC. Warning to all you FE1ers out there - try and have some contract lined up before killing yourself for the FE1s!!!


Anyhow -My options at present are

I refuse to work for free so that rules out internships.
I refuse to reapply for firms next year as do not have the time.
Considering studying for the bar now - when is the earliest I can start?
What on earth is everyone else doing with themselves?

Tks

lab

McCrack

The more you refuse the less likely you will get ahead and that includes securing a training contract.

ResearchWill

lablab wrote: »

Hi all,

Right got all me FE1's and have been rejected from all firms on the planet for a TC. Warning to all you FE1ers out there - try and have some contract lined up before killing yourself for the FE1s!!!


Anyhow -My options at present are

I refuse to work for free so that rules out internships.
I refuse to reapply for firms next year as do not have the time.
Considering studying for the bar now - when is the earliest I can start?
What on earth is everyone else doing with themselves?

Tks

lab

The kings inns stars each year in September, not sure when entrance exams are. It's either one year full time course or two year part time followed by at least one year devilling and then another at least 4 years with a pretax income of less than 10k per year unless you are very well connected.

NoQuarter

lablab wrote: »

Hi all,

Right got all me FE1's and have been rejected from all firms on the planet for a TC. Warning to all you FE1ers out there - try and have some contract lined up before killing yourself for the FE1s!!!


Anyhow -My options at present are

I refuse to work for free so that rules out internships.
I refuse to reapply for firms next year as do not have the time.
Considering studying for the bar now - when is the earliest I can start?
What on earth is everyone else doing with themselves?

Tks

lab

Internships are only 4 weeks long sometimes and are a great way to get the foot in the door, if you want a TC and wont consider doing a few weeks internship in a firm you must be mad. But some people are mad and thats fine.

KI exams are end of August/September. KI starts the first week of October. The good thing is you will be well versed in all but the evidence exam. The downside is the exams are €600 euro, and the course is €12,560.

After KI you have to devil for at least a year, which is completely unpaid so basically there is no way in without working for free at some stage.

If you do decide to start studying for the bar, start studying early summer and you will be more than fine.

drkpower

lablab wrote: »

I refuse to work for free so that rules out internships.
I refuse to reapply for firms next year as do not have the time.
Considering studying for the bar now - when is the earliest I can start?
What on earth is everyone else doing with themselves?

This one will go far....:D

You get rejected by solicitors firms so rather than figure out what the reason might be, try and fix it & then reapply, you essentially make a career-change decision...... and into a career where you will effectively work for a free for the bast part of a few years, one of the things you will not do......

Some advice: do the complete opposite of what your current plan is.

lablab

ok ok appreciate how contradictions may appear to some on my OP but given time constraints I could not fully explain why I would not do internships........

Bar strikes me as offering at least equal if not greater opportunities than a TC as I enjoy the advocacy element of it...

also at least at the end of the free work as a Devil you are qualified whereas at the end of an unpaid internship you are guaranteed nothing.

Surely I dont need to highlight the obvious difference here? One route of free work = guaranteed bar qualification whereas the other route = no guarantee of anything at all ever. It MIGHT someday be looked favourably by somebody somewhere.....those odds surely merit any reasonably thinking man to shun the latter over the former

ResearchWill

lablab wrote: »

ok ok appreciate how contradictions may appear to some on my OP but given time constraints I could not fully explain why I would not do internships........

Bar strikes me as offering at least equal if not greater opportunities than a TC as I enjoy the advocacy element of it...

also at least at the end of the free work as a Devil you are qualified whereas at the end of an unpaid internship you are guaranteed nothing.

Surely I dont need to highlight the obvious difference here? One route of free work = guaranteed bar qualification whereas the other route = no guarantee of anything at all ever. It MIGHT someday be looked favourably by somebody somewhere.....those odds surely merit any reasonably thinking man to shun the latter over the former

You are trying to compare apples with oranges. Intership is for a very short period and gets experience. On the other hand the Bar is one year paying about 14K and then 1 year unpaid work that you usually pay library fees yourself some 5K then the next year if you are in luck about 5 to 10 K income with library fees of about 1.5K. You really need to get all the facts before deciding.

NoQuarter

ResearchWill is exactly right, you are comparing two completely different things, if you want to compare internships to anything you should compare them to following a Barrister around for a week in transition year!

If you want to compare devilling to something then compare it to your training contract. You get paid for one but not the other! And at the end of both you are qualified.

whydoibother?

drkpower wrote: »

This one will go far....:D

You get rejected by solicitors firms so rather than figure out what the reason might be, try and fix it & then reapply, you essentially make a career-change decision...... and into a career where you will effectively work for a free for the bast part of a few years, one of the things you will not do......

Some advice: do the complete opposite of what your current plan is.

I agree the plan to be a barrister as an alternative when not able to find a training contract is not a good one. However, I also think that though perseverance is an important quality in life, knowing when to cut your losses and move on is equally so. I wouldn't dismiss the possibility of a career-change in a different direction being a better move than continuing to apply for training contracts.

ResearchWill

I knew a guy who was looking for a training contract for over a year, was out one night on the piss meet up with a few solicitors got into a session with them one of them very drunk said start in my place on monday, there started an TC and that same guy qualified a few monts ago so it shows you never know where the TC will come from.

whydoibother?

ResearchWill wrote: »

I knew a guy who was looking for a training contract for over a year, was out one night on the piss meet up with a few solicitors got into a session with them one of them very drunk said start in my place on monday, there started an TC and that same guy qualified a few monts ago so it shows you never know where the TC will come from.

True, and good luck to him, but quirky situations like that won't happen for the majority. You have to have a look at your realistic probability of finding a training contract, albeit that you could always experience some sort of unusual good fortune. Some people have been searching for years.

Amazotheamazing

ResearchWill wrote: »

I knew a guy who was looking for a training contract for over a year, was out one night on the piss meet up with a few solicitors got into a session with them one of them very drunk said start in my place on monday, there started an TC and that same guy qualified a few monts ago so it shows you never know where the TC will come from.

While that's great news for you friend, it also highlights the sheer arbitrariness(sp?) of the current process. There's dozens of ways you could get a training contract (contacts, applications, internships, luck etc) but it's an uncertain system.

lablab

yeah I will second that - if securing a TC is likely (or not ) to be as random as the encounter you mentioned above then I am outta here!!

As a mature student training to be a barrister I just think that my age and previous non law qualification might count as something useful and not merely a disadvantage which seems to the case with solicitors firms!!

It really is a case of cutting my losses and leaving the solicitors profession to those who clearly have an edge on me...im not conceding defeat here but merely regrouping to try and fight on ground that suits me a little better than my competitors

BTW
I Must really try to get a grip on costs though...is there anyone there who is a barrister that would be happy to talk me thru costs??

Pls PM me if so

tks for good advice guys

johnnyskeleton

lablab wrote: »

yeah I will second that - if securing a TC is likely (or not ) to be as random as the encounter you mentioned above then I am outta here!!

As a mature student training to be a barrister I just think that my age and previous non law qualification might count as something useful and not merely a disadvantage which seems to the case with solicitors firms!!

It really is a case of cutting my losses and leaving the solicitors profession to those who clearly have an edge on me...im not conceding defeat here but merely regrouping to try and fight on ground that suits me a little better than my competitors

BTW
I Must really try to get a grip on costs though...is there anyone there who is a barrister that would be happy to talk me thru costs??

Pls PM me if so

tks for good advice guys

ResearchWill has already given you that info. While he might have been a bit too definitive about not earning more than 10k in your first 4 years he is probably giving you a good indication of the scenario and you should heed his words.

There is a sticky with links to all these "should I be a solicior/barrister" threads where you will get all the views you need. You should take an evening and go through it.

colonel1

drkpower wrote: »

This one will go far....:D

You get rejected by solicitors firms so rather than figure out what the reason might be, try and fix it & then reapply, you essentially make a career-change decision...... and into a career where you will effectively work for a free for the bast part of a few years, one of the things you will not do......

Some advice: do the complete opposite of what your current plan is.

In fairness to the OP, perhaps he/she isn't in a position to work gratis for significant periods of time as he/she mightn't have any savings etc. or he/she could be like me, unable to get significant periods off work, due to staff shortages etc.

johnnyskeleton

colonel1 wrote: »

In fairness to the OP, perhaps he/she isn't in a position to work gratis for significant periods of time as he/she mightn't have any savings etc. or he/she could be like me, unable to get significant periods off work, due to staff shortages etc.

If that is so, explain to me why they have no problem doing the bar?

colonel1

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

colonel1 wrote: »

In fairness to the OP, perhaps he/she isn't in a position to work gratis for significant periods of time as he/she mightn't have any savings etc. or he/she could be like me, unable to get significant periods off work, due to staff shortages etc.

If that is so, explain to me why they have no problem doing the bar?

Ahem...I clearly didn't think that post through when I wrote it!