Legal Recruitment Blog

26.10.07 Whether to give law a go with a 2.1 business degree and average A Levels I am thinking of going back to uni to do a GDL and work towards a career in law. The problem is I have pretty average A Level results, B,C,D and a 2:1 in business from an ex-poly. ( I think have always been capable, just not really motivated during A Levels.) I really want to be a lawyer but what are my chances of getting a TC? Do I have a realistic shot? Or should I spend my time and money on something else? We often get people coming to see us for careers consultations with similar situations and wanting to know definitively whether they will get a training contract. I think the first question to ask is "why do I want to be a lawyer", not whether he will get a training contract. The reason for this is because the response to the first question will usually result in the answer to the second. If there is a genuine reason for wanting to be a lawyer, backed up by sound evidence, Dan will already ...

17.10.07 Employing a solicitor in a multi-disciplinary partnership Every year since I started back in 2000, ten-percent have been approached by a range of people wanting to set up and run a solicitors firm. I have known financial advisers, claims management companies, accountants, estate agents, businessmen, all wanting a piece of the pie! I think that some of the other professions see what a solicitor does, see how much they bill and how little they seem to actually do, and see pound signs flashing before their eyes! The harsh reality is that there is so much red tape and so many issues such as indemnity insurance, that in fact it is not worth employing solicitors in house to provide a service to the general public, which of course is the point at which you need to be a solicitors firm. I have known some of the large service companies set up their own firms - we once had dealings with Capita and a law firm they had established which was directly linked to the plc. Once the new Legal S...

11.10.07 Locuming as an alternative career for solicitors Doing locum work as opposed to permanent: At some stage in a solicitors career, this conundrum will almost always arise. It usually follows the stint of a locum in a firm for a longer period of a few weeks, and someone in the firm discovering that the locum is getting paid more than one of the junior partners for doing a much lower role within the organisation. Locum work is something of a legend in law. It is said that locums can be millionaires, and that they are constantly in demand, jumping from one post to another, generating vast amounts of income on £60 per hour rate. The reality of the situation is somewhat different, although there is some truth that locum work is quite rewarding financially. Most locums I come across fall into one of the following categories: a) they want to find a permanent job, but havent been able to. b) they are professional locums, just taking assignments to book up their year as wanted. c) they h...

Lecturing and LPC students Looking back on my years as a student, I must say that I probably had the same attitude of most others, in that i always thought that my lecturers were failed solicitors and barristers, and could never understand how half of them had the cheek to think they could lecture to me about law when they had failed to cut it, and ended up lecturers. Having spent the last few years lecturing at University for a couple of days, I can safely say that this view was considerably misguided. By the end of a 3-4 hour stint, I am completely exhausted! I feel like collapsing in a heap, and actually start to feel a bit lightheaded. I know that my one off day is somewhat different to the majority of lecturer's experiences, but to be stood before a group of students talking away is something not to be taken to be easy! Some of the groups you talk to show no sign of any interest in what you have to say - most just stare blankly back, and it is very hard to tell who is interest...

09.10.07 Skills Section on a CV One thing that crops up a lot in recruitment is the use of Skills Sections on CVs. These are the bane of every recruiter's working life (whether HR people in firms/companies or recruitment agents) - even solicitors with 10 years PQE still write them down. An example would be: "good interpersonal skills, able to communicate effectively and use transferable skills in a way to benefit the firm. Punctual, generous and with a good sense of humour." I have read CV's with pages of this stuff on them, and can never understand why anyone with any common sense would not realise that there is absolutely no point including any of it on the CV. According to many students I have spoken to over the years, careers advisers at various universities and colleges have said that this is the way you do your CV, and this is the sort of thing that employers want to see. I must say that our approach (and that of other recruitment consultants I have spoken to) h...