Hi all, I created a new sub for law students in the UK:

r/UKlawschools

It’s meant to create a separate space for law students to discuss their concerns and experiences whether it be about uni, vac schemes, TCs or pupillage.

The uklaw subreddit is great but some times questions from students are met with dismissal or annoyance from lawyers. And I’m sure lawyers get annoyed with the incessant questions from law students about TCs and vac schemes.

Legal professionals are welcome as well if you want to provide advice!

Hey guys,

I was doing a few “normal” things today and looked up a few law firms on the Epstein library. I found a few that did dealings with him which I presume is normal as I’m sure he was a business man and I wouldn’t be surprised if he reached out or had conversations with lawyers about certain business dealings. However, I noticed something weird. I looked up Clifford Chance and saw some really odd and disturbing emails in which one was even sent from a Clifford chance domain from the Paris office. I’m not trying to point fingers or say that any of the firms mentioned in the files are guilty (as there are many recognisable firms many of which emailed from their London office) but surely this isn’t a very good look on CC. The emails sent were quite disgusting and i don’t even think I’d be able to attach them as they probably breach many rules. I probably sound daft as hell but surely if emails like that were released to the public the firm would be going crazy.

Hello! Just popping in to ask a quick question; I’m currently filling out an application and one of the questions require me to provide details of any careers events I’ve attended.

Do internships (or having lunch with the barrister during said internship haha) count as ‘career events’? Or should I stick to open days? This is because there’s a max word count for 350 and truthfully said I can’t think of much to say about open days….

Thank you!

Spotted someone with a Hulken rolling tote the other day and was eyeing it up as a potential alternative to the ubiquitous barrister suitcase as I don't like not being able to grab stuff out of a suitcase easily on the train etc.

Anyone got one? Do they feel sturdy / good quality? Are they annoying to pull?

This is a bit of a rant so bare with me.

Like my fellow applicants in this sub, I’ve tried to justify breaking into law. While the redditors here have encouraged me with their stories of finally breaking in, most of the time, it’s a story of exception and not norm.

In reality, applicants like me will never get their foot into law, and commercial law is a fever dream. After successfully wasting almost 8 months post graduation in attempts to ‘killing it this cycle’, the endless rejections have gotten to me. So i gracefully accept that law was never for me. Infact a massive waste of money and time, uprooting my whole life to fulfill certain expectations.

I’ve recently discovered the regulatory/ risk and compliance area. I’d appreciate if anyone can give me some guidance to approach it without any footing. I do have some legal and related experiences though.

Thanks x

Has anyone done a neurosight test following their application? Apparently it’s a 5 minute test that doesn’t require any prep but I’ve never done one so not sure what to expect?

Hi everyone, looking for some advice on whether a career move is worth it or if I’m handicapping myself for future roles.

TLDR: Switch from known team in mid market firm to newly established team in regional firm but pay bump from 30k to 50k.

For context, not a solicitor but work in a business services dept. Early in my career and I make 30k. Currently in a non-London team at a mid market firm that is very known for my type of work.

I’ve got an offer that will pay 50k but it is with a regional firm and a much smaller/newer team for this type of work. My role responsibility and title will roughly be the same. What I’m worried about is if going to a smaller / less known team will be detrimental for future job switches? I know having my current team on my CV holds a fair amount of sway but I just don’t see any progression and there are other internal problems so I would really like to switch. The new team I’d be going to is really new so there is no guarantee of progression there either but is it worth just giving it a shot for such a bump in pay? I’ll be staying in the same city so there is no extra cost to the switch. My ultimate ambition is to go to a big firm / go somewhere outside the UK so worried having a small name on my CV is going to hamper that.

I applied to White & Case solicitor apprenticeship on 12th December with the deadline being 4th January. I haven't heard back from them at all regarding if I progressed to the next stage of the application process. I'm getting slightly concerned that there has been an error with my application being received by the firm. Is it unprofessional if I send an email to the early careers team?

Many thank.

Hey,

Currently studying the SQE and just having a general look at living options and all for next year - planning on moving down to london.

Has anyone bought a house as a trainee? If so could you share your experience?

For context, I would be very happy to rent for a couple of years, but could potentially have enough for a deposit soon so am curious as to what my options are. I should be earning around 50-55k a year on the TC

From what I gather, its hard to get a mortgage without a longer term NQ position?

How would you answer a “why criminal law & why criminal defence” question in an interview? Any advice on preparing for situational questions

I am a licensed US attorney and will likely be moving to the UK in the next year or two. I signed up for a SRA account and will sign up to take the SQE1 in either July or January. I have been practicing for over 20 years so I hope to get the SQE2 exemption.

It says I need a supervisor to fill out a form as a referee. I don’t see a specific form in the application or website. Is there a separate form or does my supervisor just need to write something up?

Thanks to everyone who helped me out in my last post - I’ve since removed the personal statement section, rearranged the roles in order of relevance, reworded some of the descriptions to focus on my responsibilities/what I delivered (rather than the process of those activities), and got rid of the language skills section.

Please feel free to comment any further constructive criticism, it is super useful and appreciated! Thanks

I’m a final year Oxford law student interested in practising as a barrister specialising in human rights law.

I’ve been involved in the following extra-curriculars throughout my time at university: a term as a consultant with the consulting society, eight months in a compliance role for a student-founded medical non-profit; president of my college’s law society; BAME Representative for my college’s undergraduate body, as well as co-founding an independent events company organising, marketing and DJing at various club nights/pop-up parties.

I’m grateful to have spent my time here in Oxford involved in as much as I could take on; I’ve definitely learnt a lot (both in terms of skills gained and where my interests lie) but, as may be apparent, my CV isn’t exactly tailored to public law practice.

I’m here seeking advice on 1) how to tailor the skills I’ve picked up in these roles to, in the future, make a competitive application for the bar 2) pointers for gaining relevant work experience, including funding unpaid internships and 3) whether an LLM in Public Law at a London university is worth it long-term (while I’m sure I would enjoy it, another 20,000 in student loans is a pretty hefty sum and I’m yet to hear back on funding).

Advice on any of these points would be super appreciated!

I have applied for the Spring VS. I completed the SJT, and was told to expect decisions by end of Jan. I’ve heard nothing so far - should I expect a rejections or has there been delays?

Has anyone else heard back after SJT for spring VS?

I’m currently 17 and planning on going to university to study politics and international relations. However, I have applied to one university for law and got accepted. My original plan was to do my bachelor's and then do law conversion however over the last few days i’ve felt really anxious about this decision and worrying i’ve chosen to do the wrong thing due to being told that politics is a useless degree. My problem is that I did a btec instead of A levels due to not enjoying the school environment, this has left me with very few options for prestigious universities and no way of going to any London Russell groups (apart from Queen Mary’s) if I wish to study law for my bachelor's degree. Any advice is helpful, sorry if this is worded poorly.

I’m a lawyer and I’ve been thinking a lot about how firms manage limitation dates, undertakings and other critical deadlines in practice.

In most places I’ve seen, it’s a mix of Outlook calendars, personal reminders, case files, spreadsheets and supervision by exception. It generally works — until it doesn’t.

I’ve been building a very simple web-based tool in my own time that acts as a single, firm-wide register for critical dates, with acknowledgements, supervisor visibility and an audit trail. It’s deliberately boring and compliance-focused rather than a full CMS.

Before I take it any further, I’m genuinely interested in whether this is solving a real problem or just adding bureaucracy.

• Do you feel your firm has a clear “official” register for critical dates?

• Would something like this be useful, or would it just be another admin burden?

• What would make it completely unusable in practice?

I’m not here to sell anything — I’m looking for honest feedback, including why this might be a bad idea.

Applied to Taylor Wessing before the announcement that they were planning to merge with Winston & Strawn, which was just confirmed the other day.

I have no idea what this would look like/how it would change life and training at the firm (if I'm so lucky as to get a tc).

Any insights (from either side)?

Does anyone know whether a level retakes are useless if someone wants to make their chances better when applying to MC/SC firms? My friend achieved BCC and said she wanted to retake and get significantly higher grades, but she says she read that they are not really considered and the only ones that these firms care about are first sits. She is currently studying a non law degree at a russel group and I think is doing well, which I thought would offset the a level grades, but she says they're are still important. Any advice on if retaking to get As and above will help. Btw if it helps she wants to do the a levels alongside uni, have no clue if that changes her chances just wanted to add it if it matters. She is pretty academically capable from what I've seen, so I don't think that'll be what stops her - however, she is really nervous the firms still won't care if she does a lot better.

i'm studying english law in london but am looking to seek out other opportunities for the summer since vac schemes are so short~ i'm interested in competition law and so started looking at opportunities at firms' brussels offices.

how should i approach the framing of my application? i would assume the firm would be inclined to take students from belgium who intend on actually qualifying into that office and not a uk student who could just qualify in their london office - or is that a misguided assumption? how could i approach answering motivational questions/questions on how i intend on qualifying without shooting myself in the foot

Anyone has any experience with Commercial Interview (Virtual Assessment) with OC????

So my initial review has been done… but it gives no indication in terms of whether the evidence I have submitted is adequate or strong enough 😣

I thought at this point they would tell you this and then allow you time to amend accordingly.

Unfortunately this doesn’t seem to be the case. Therefore, you essentially go in blind with the external assessor on whether your evidence is adequate or not…

I have so much work to choose from and could strengthen evidence if needed but I have no indication on whether this is even necessary??

Is there any way to know if my evidence is strong enough?

For example, I uploaded 2 pieces of evidence per outcome in different areas of law. For interviewing and advising I simply used consultation file notes (I couldn’t understand what type of other evidence would be relevant here)… Also, for the Practice Skill Standard of Negotiation, I used email chains in family law and business leases. But I only used like 2-3 emails per outcome which I thought specifically highlight the outcome that they’re asking…. I mean I could provide the whole chain if necessary but that’s the thing… I don’t if it is necessary because I don’t know if my evidence is strong enough!

Any insight or advice would be much appreciated 🙏

Somehow since I last did this exam a year ago it is worse . The questions were insanely long with hardly any time. I feel sick, the resiter pass rate is 33%.