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FE1 Exam Thread (Read 1st post!) NOTE: YOU MAY SWAP EXAM GRIDS

Tom Young

This is the new FE1 Exam Thread

This is a link to the old one: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055143169

This is a link to the next one: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056907164

Sorry, I'm aware we are in the throws of FE1 season, but due to a server issue, a new thread was required. Old chats and posts below - Thanks!

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Moderator: The above warnings mean it is not ok to buy, sell or swap (trade) any exam materials in this thread. Exam grids are the only exception. You may request and exchange exam grids but at no point will money be allowed to change hands for them.

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IgoPAP

fe1student2803 wrote: »

Does anyone who has a training contract lined up have any tips for applications? Finding them so daunting

I've never been rejected for at least an interview for every firm I've applied to.

My advice would be play to your strengths. If you've got impressive extra curriculars or interesting college society involvement, I'd be jumping to highlight those. Always bring it back to how those skills would help you in a legal career. Try to be a little different, you do want to make yourself stand out from the other hundreds that have applied. Remember to put down all of your experiences, including non-legal but make sure to bring it back to why those skills would help you in law.

You need the a certain level of competence too. That means very good grades (you need at least a good 2.1).

Also try not be too formal, or too informal. Too many law students think they're being impressive by fishing out a thesaurus and trying to use as many big words as they can. It comes across as obnoxious. Be polite in your language, but also speak in common-sense language.

neon123

Applying for the larger firms at the moment but does anyone have any tips for approaching smaller firms when looking for a traineeship? Is it just a matter of emailing over your CV/Cover Letter and hoping for a call back?

channing90

neon123 wrote: »

Applying for the larger firms at the moment but does anyone have any tips for approaching smaller firms when looking for a traineeship? Is it just a matter of emailing over your CV/Cover Letter and hoping for a call back?

Was wondering the same, is it worth calling in with a CV/Cover letter and asking to speak to them for a minute, looking for a job is surely essential. This is for small to medium sized firms.

Aoibhin511

channing90 wrote: »

Was wondering the same, is it worth calling in with a CV/Cover letter and asking to speak to them for a minute, looking for a job is surely essential. This is for small to medium sized firms.

Most mid-tier firms do milkrounds like the big firms, so check out their websites. Also even if looking for a job is essential there's no guarantee that the people you need to talk to aren't working from home rn

mayolaw

channing90 wrote: »

Was wondering the same, is it worth calling in with a CV/Cover letter and asking to speak to them for a minute, looking for a job is surely essential. This is for small to medium sized firms.

It's worth a go for medium sized firms. I had got internship with a medium sized firm (about 30 staff) by just sending across a CV and was offered a pre-traineeship. At the time I had no legal work experience either.

Dliodoir2021

Aoibhin511 wrote: »

Most mid-tier firms do milkrounds like the big firms, so check out their websites. Also even if looking for a job is essential there's no guarantee that the people you need to talk to aren't working from home rn

From having worked in 3 firms, any time someone called in with a CV, I’d always pass it on and one office just told me not to accept to give false hope that they didn’t have space for anyone new. The other two places just put them in a the bottom of a heap and never seemed to look at them again.

Based on that, I’d think emailing would be the way to go and setting up a really in depth LinkedIn.

I have 6 fe1s passed and haven’t sought a TC yet. Timing will work out as usual

neon123

Thanks for the above replies folks

Aoibhin511

Just got an email from my firm. They've been told LS "are currently finalising plans in relation to an online sitting and hope to be able to provide further information to candidates early next week."
"Finalising plans" sounds much more promising than "considering", but maybe I'm just reading too much into it.

dobby896

Aoibhin511 wrote: »

Just got an email from my firm. They've been told LS "are currently finalising plans in relation to an online sitting and hope to be able to provide further information to candidates early next week."
"Finalising plans" sounds much more promising than "considering", but maybe I'm just reading too much into it.

All I saw was "hope to be able to" haha

shaunadennyham

I rang the law society and had a very frustrating conversation. They said the health of students is their priority but when I said that their lack of communication and planning is affecting our mental health they said oh well that’s probably just the pandemic in general.

They said they were looking into online examinations and blamed the government for backing them into a corner. I said but surely online exams were being considered before now since the postponement and they said oh well hindsight is a great thing.

I asked if they’d be open or closed book and they said they’d have to be closed book as fe1s are always closed book to preserve their integrity. I actually laughed at that stage and said well I’ve done open book exams in college and they were of no less value than a closed book.

Ultimately they said they don’t know what’s going to be decided by the education committee and when I asked if I should proceed with taking leave they said well that’s up to you. Unbelievably poor organisation over at blackhall place it would seem

Law20213

shaunadennyham wrote: »

I rang the law society and had a very frustrating conversation. They said the health of students is their priority but when I said that their lack of communication and planning is affecting our mental health they said oh well that’s probably just the pandemic in general.

They said they were looking into online examinations and blamed the government for backing them into a corner. I said but surely online exams were being considered before now since the postponement and they said oh well hindsight is a great thing.

I asked if they’d be open or closed book and they said they’d have to be closed book as fe1s are always closed book to preserve their integrity. I actually laughed at that stage and said well I’ve done open book exams in college and they were of no less value than a closed book.

Ultimately they said they don’t know what’s going to be decided by the education committee and when I asked if I should proceed with taking leave they said well that’s up to you. Unbelievably poor organisation over at blackhall place it would seem

So frustrating like a simple yes or no answer to whether exams go online from them oh and timetable would be great to organise our lives around it.....

It’s funny how they could organise 4,000 diploma courses ONLINE!!!!since the start of the pandemic.(Quoted from there newsletter)....feel like our exams are such an after thought in all of this

PS. PPC is being taught by them online with ONLINE exams for months now!

shaunadennyham

Law20213 wrote: »

So frustrating like a simple yes or no answer to whether exams go online from them oh and timetable would be great to organise our lives around it.....

It’s funny how they could organise 4,000 diploma courses ONLINE!!!!since the start of the pandemic.(Quoted from there newsletter)....feel like our exams are such an after thought in all of this

Honestly it was like talking to a brick wall. They just don’t care about us at the end of the day.

FE12020Law

shaunadennyham wrote: »

I rang the law society and had a very frustrating conversation. They said the health of students is their priority but when I said that their lack of communication and planning is affecting our mental health they said oh well that’s probably just the pandemic in general.

They said they were looking into online examinations and blamed the government for backing them into a corner. I said but surely online exams were being considered before now since the postponement and they said oh well hindsight is a great thing.

I asked if they’d be open or closed book and they said they’d have to be closed book as fe1s are always closed book to preserve their integrity. I actually laughed at that stage and said well I’ve done open book exams in college and they were of no less value than a closed book.

Ultimately they said they don’t know what’s going to be decided by the education committee and when I asked if I should proceed with taking leave they said well that’s up to you. Unbelievably poor organisation over at blackhall place it would seem

Think its time I started looking at Graduate jobs in England. Can't be dealing with this carry on much longer.

AlexTG356

shaunadennyham wrote: »

I rang the law society and had a very frustrating conversation. They said the health of students is their priority but when I said that their lack of communication and planning is affecting our mental health they said oh well that’s probably just the pandemic in general.

They said they were looking into online examinations and blamed the government for backing them into a corner. I said but surely online exams were being considered before now since the postponement and they said oh well hindsight is a great thing.

I asked if they’d be open or closed book and they said they’d have to be closed book as fe1s are always closed book to preserve their integrity. I actually laughed at that stage and said well I’ve done open book exams in college and they were of no less value than a closed book.

Ultimately they said they don’t know what’s going to be decided by the education committee and when I asked if I should proceed with taking leave they said well that’s up to you. Unbelievably poor organisation over at blackhall place it would seem

Did they give you any idea about provisional dates for these hypothetical exams?

shaunadennyham

AlexTG356 wrote: »

Did they give you any idea about provisional dates for these hypothetical exams?

No, if they had I would have shared it here. They said they’re opening to hold them as planned in November

dobby896

shaunadennyham wrote: »

No, if they had I would have shared it here. They said they’re opening to hold them as planned in November

As in during the first week or just in November generally? Sorry for the 20 questions!

shaunadennyham

dobby896 wrote: »

As in during the first week or just in November generally? Sorry for the 20 questions!

As planned ie the first two weeks in November

FE1new

shaunadennyham wrote: »

As planned ie the first two weeks in November

Ah come on so they want to hold them first and second week of November online and closed book. They never really even confirmed the dates of the exams in November they just said its the same as October and a timetable would be released. I honestly don't see how they will manage this.

ruby1998

FE1new wrote: »

Ah come on so they want to hold them first and second week of November online and closed book. They never really even confirmed the dates of the exams in November they just said its the same as October and a timetable would be released. I honestly don't see how they will manage this.

Lol I honestly don’t see how I will manage this.

LS3

ruby1998 wrote: »

Lol I honestly don’t see how I will manage this.

If they do this im going to request a refund...

keelfe1s

So sick of this bullsh#t now.

Anyone know what’s the crack with the LPC in England? Has anyone gone down that route?

EmmaO94

keelfe1s wrote: »

So sick of this bullsh#t now.

Anyone know what’s the crack with the LPC in England? Has anyone gone down that route?

I studied my undergrad in England but came back to Ireland afterwards (now perhaps regretting that!!) so have a lot of uni friends that did the LPC. It's basically idiot-proof: one year long and really just more of a formality. Kind of kicking myself that I didn't stick around and do it over there.

Edit: if you secure a training contract there with a larger/magic circle firm, you can do a fast-track LPC (6 months I think) so even easier!! And all sponsored by your firm & they give you maintenance too.

Hazel774

They're having a laugh on this fixation on the 'integrity of the exam'. We're in a global pandemic, changing the way the exam is run does not impact on the 'integrity of the exam'. What about the thousands of students who graduated from college this year. Their final year exams were all changed, for the extremely obvious reason of adapting with the times, most of these exams were done as take home exams where students were given a week or two to complete the paper and email it in, or were done through open book online exams. Does this make their degree worth any less? No.

And those students actually get a qualification from their exams, many of them being qualified to now go out into client facing jobs on the basis on their degree alone. It's just so frustrating that we don't get any qualification from these exams other than we're allowed to go on and train further in the legal profession, so I genuinely can't understand this resistance to changing the exam for us for one sitting. The LS seriously need to reevaluate their priorities

DFMCD190384

EmmaO94 wrote: »

I studied my undergrad in England but came back to Ireland afterwards (now perhaps regretting that!!) so have a lot of uni friends that did the LPC. It's basically idiot-proof: one year long and really just more of a formality. Kind of kicking myself that I didn't stick around and do it over there.

Edit: if you secure a training contract there with a larger/magic circle firm, you can do a fast-track LPC (6 months I think) so even easier!! And all sponsored by your firm & they give you maintenance too.

Sorry, if you do the LPC course in England, can you practice in Ireland without having to actually complete the FE1s?

EmmaO94

DFMCD190384 wrote: »

Sorry, if you do the LPC course in England, can you practice in Ireland without having to actually complete the FE1s?

Well you'd have to fully qualify (inc TC) over there I think, but then you're free to practice in Ireland, ya just need a Certificate of Admission and to pay the LawSoc 300euro!

shaunadennyham

DFMCD190384 wrote: »

Sorry, if you do the LPC course in England, can you practice in Ireland without having to actually complete the FE1s?

You can’t do the LPC and then use that to bypass the fe1s to go to blackhall if that’s what you’re asking

DFMCD190384

shaunadennyham wrote: »

You can’t do the LPC and then use that to bypass the fe1s to go to blackhall if that’s what you’re asking

No I didn't think so. I was just wondering about this LPC as I hadn't heard about it before.

Fe1student1234

For England you have to have down a qualifying law degree containing certain subjects (info is on the SRA website) I think the only qualifying law degrees are from UCD and Trinity

If you don’t have a qualifying law degree then you have to do the GDL before moving on to thee LPC and training in England

If you have a qualifying law degree you go straight to the LPC

Law20213

DFMCD190384 wrote: »

No I didn't think so. I was just wondering about this LPC as I hadn't heard about it before.

You actually can believe it or not........I looked into it few years back And I know of person who has done it......if you don’t get an English firm to pay for your LPC it will cost you £17,300 it keeps going up in price.....I just couldn’t afford it...then the society in dub has to decide whether you have to sit from what I recall 1 or no fe1’s...I can’t remember exactly was it company or constitutional law you may have to sit they decide on the individuals case

Law20213

Fe1student1234 wrote: »

For England you have to have down a qualifying law degree containing certain subjects (info is on the SRA website) I think the only qualifying law degrees are from UCD and Trinity

If you don’t have a qualifying law degree then you have to do the GDL before moving on to thee LPC and training in England

If you have a qualifying law degree you go straight to the LPC

They recognise most Irish university degrees.