Securing a traineeships any better 2014?

lightspeed

Hi all, just wondering if anyone could comment on how difficult it is to secure a trainee contract to become a solicitor?

I know from what i read it is quite competitive and since the crash, it has been a whole lot more difficult. Im just wondering if there has been much improvement and if it is likely to appove in the future?

Im done a business and law degree part time last year and im starting a postgrad diploma in accounting and finance in 2 weeks time. Im planning on doing the remaining 5 professional papers.

Ive been torn between training towards to become an accountant, try secure a position within a big 4 company or train towards becoming a solicitor.

I dont feel that id like the court room setting too often but i think I would like to work within banking or commercial . I aware that either would mean a career with long working hours but im fine with that.

Im 27 and currently im working in customer services and administration and have been for about 10 years now.

From what i researched, i think I would need to do a masters in law from a decent college such as UCD or trinity. So that would be over 10K.

Then i would need intern experience in a legal office, so would probably need to quit my current job and go on the dole for 6 months just to have a chance at getting a trainee contract.

So can anybody advise or comment if my assumptions above are somewhat correct?

NoQuarter

lightspeed wrote: »

Hi all, just wondering if anyone could comment on how difficult it is to secure a trainee contract to become a solicitor?

I know from what i read it is quite competitive and since the crash, it has been a whole lot more difficult. Im just wondering if there has been much improvement and if it is likely to appove in the future?

Im done a business and law degree part time last year and im starting a postgrad diploma in accounting and finance in 2 weeks time. Im planning on doing the remaining 5 professional papers.

Ive been torn between training towards to become an accountant, try secure a position within a big 4 company or train towards becoming a solicitor.

I dont feel that id like the court room setting too often but i think I would like to work within banking or commercial . I aware that either would mean a career with long working hours but im fine with that.

Im 27 and currently im working in customer services and administration and have been for about 10 years now.

From what i researched, i think I would need to do a masters in law from a decent college such as UCD or trinity. So that would be over 10K.

Then i would need intern experience in a legal office, so would probably need to quit my current job and go on the dole for 6 months just to have a chance at getting a trainee contract.

So can anybody advise or comment if my assumptions above are somewhat correct?

I can tell you this, you definitely don't need a masters. In terms of solely using it to get you a job, waste of time. You'd be better off doing one of the law society diplomas for 2k that give some practical theory on particular areas. Have a look here: https://www.lawsociety.ie/Courses--Events/Public-Diplomas-CMS/Diplomas/

There are also other institutes running diplomas so youre not stuck to the Law Soc.

But legal experience, it's really a must. Take some time off work if possible and try get month long internships, a few of them if you can.

mandz

Hi there, you don't need a masters to become a solicitor. You only need a degree in something - not even necessarily law (I've heard of a solicitor who had a degree in agriculture!). Though, having a degree only skips you one exam, if you don't have a degree there is another exam you can sit.

Have you looked up the process? Once you pass the FE1s and secure a traineeship you're sorted. Though having some sort of legal background will help in getting a traineeship so doing some sort of law course would help, especially when you start studying for the FE1s. The lecturers on the various FE1 preparation courses are usually very helpful. Unfortunately the FE1s are the easy part.

I think the training contracts are becoming more numerous now, especially in Dublin where things have picked up. I have never seen as many traineeships advertised on the law society website as I have this year. Its still quite competitive though. The best way of getting one is through contacts. That's how I secured mine, my boss asked the person who trained her if he knew of anyone, he suggested she write to someone and next thing I got a call for an interview and now I'm heading to Blackhall next week finally after 4 years of looking.

best of luck with your decision.

lightspeed

Thanks all for the help, good to hear that there is some improvement in the market.

As i mentioned im doing a postgrad in accounting and finance and should be able to get some accounting experience and then passed the remaing 5 ACCA exams to become a qualified account. So feel i could do this within less than 2 years.

If i was a qualified accountant, would my poor leaving cert results matter?

Also, i dont think id like working within litigation so much or court room settings, at least not for family or criminal law.

How difficult is it to get into banking law? Would it be possible to get in with a big firm and just work into banking or is it more common that I would have to spend some time working in areas such as family or criminal law, probate etc.

mandz

To qualify you have to do training in a number of areas, you cannot just do your training in just banking/finance. Top firms are the hardest to get into and are the most picky. You would have to have at least 2.1 degree to even get a first round interview. I worked in one for a number of years and also went through the interview process for traineeship there.

If you have already started the accountancy route you might as well stick it out, the law route is a long and expensive one between exam prep courses, the exams themselves and then getting into Blackhall itself. PPC1 fees are €8300 and PPC2 are €4500. Depending on where you get your traineeship you may not even get paid whilst in Blackhall and also unless you're in big firms I think getting your fees paid is rare, but I'm open to correction on that.

Once you qualify I would have thought your leaving cert results shouldn't matter, my leaving wasn't the best either.