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

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Comments

  • #6302
    IgoPAP
    Closed Accounts Posts: 343 ✭✭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.


  • #6303
    neon123
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 191 ✭✭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?


  • #6304
    channing90
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 178 ✭✭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.


  • #6305
    Aoibhin511
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 208 ✭✭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


  • #6306
    mayolaw
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6 ✭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.


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  • #6307
    Dliodoir2021
    Closed Accounts Posts: 84 ✭✭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


  • #6308
    neon123
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 191 ✭✭neon123


    Thanks for the above replies folks :)


  • #6309
    Aoibhin511
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 208 ✭✭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.


  • #6310
    dobby896
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 162 ✭✭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


  • #6311
    shaunadennyham
    Closed Accounts Posts: 141 ✭✭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


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  • #6312
    Law20213
    Closed Accounts Posts: 59 ✭✭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!


  • #6313
    shaunadennyham
    Closed Accounts Posts: 141 ✭✭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.


  • #6314
    FE12020Law
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 27 ✭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.


  • #6315
    AlexTG356
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 87 ✭✭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?


  • #6316
    shaunadennyham
    Closed Accounts Posts: 141 ✭✭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


  • #6317
    dobby896
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 162 ✭✭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!


  • #6318
    shaunadennyham
    Closed Accounts Posts: 141 ✭✭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


  • #6319
    FE1new
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 214 ✭✭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.


  • #6320
    ruby1998
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 143 ✭✭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.


  • #6321
    LS3
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 79 ✭✭LS3


    ruby1998 wrote: »
    Lol I honestly don’t see how I will manage this.

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


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  • #6322
    keelfe1s
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 36 ✭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?


  • #6323
    EmmaO94
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 169 ✭✭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.


  • #6324
    Hazel774
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 125 ✭✭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


  • #6325
    DFMCD190384
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 56 ✭✭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?


  • #6326
    EmmaO94
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 169 ✭✭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!


  • #6327
    shaunadennyham
    Closed Accounts Posts: 141 ✭✭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


  • #6328
    DFMCD190384
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 56 ✭✭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.


  • #6329
    Fe1student1234
    Closed Accounts Posts: 220 ✭✭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


  • #6330
    Law20213
    Closed Accounts Posts: 59 ✭✭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


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  • #6331
    Law20213
    Closed Accounts Posts: 59 ✭✭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.


This discussion has been closed.
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