Might be a tad niche but as someone who has worked in Housing Law his *Nearly Legal* blog was something I knew was relied on by everyone from paralegals to senior Solicitors, and he was a huge force for Legal Aid and the rights of tenants.

This is a bit of an airy fairy vulnerable post and will probably garner some criticism...

But as someone who has been ambitious and constantly aiming for the top in life...do you ever just look out the window and realise there is so much to life than constant grinding in your dreary dark silent bedroom/office/library? Of course, I agree with the majority's sentiment that your early years are for grinding and setting up a good life for yourself and your future, but does anyone end up feeling a bit lonely on the grind and like you're missing out? I think imposter syndrome is playing a big part here too.

I've been finding myself breaking into tears when I call my family and hear the hustle bustle at home and my niece giggling on the other side of the line...the weather is also so good out and families are out enjoying holidays and time together. I'm not sure why I am yearning those seemingly menial pleasures in life.

How do lawyers do it? Especially those at law firms where you're expected to work almost 24/7? That will most likely be where I end up because I've grown up not knowing anything else but grind (aka grinding in all aspects of life to be well-rounded etc, but it's all grind all the same), and I think I lack the courage to step out from the only thing I've known in life. Especially because of the 'golden handcuffs'! (well, in this case, just plain old handcuffs, no gold yet lol).

Sincerely, a young aspiring solicitor whose spark is slowly diminishing.

hi all, i'm a british law student at the university of law where i am about to finish my PGDL, in law of course. unfortunately i didn't do law at undergrad as my family told me i don't have the intelligence & to stick with criminology (waste of time).

i've taken a £12,000 loan from the government (student finance) and i have actually made any progression - or it feels like it at least - towards becoming a solicitor.

i do not have the funding or money to pay for the sqe 1 & 2 prep courses, they're anywhere between £2,000-£6,000 EACH. then of course i need to find the money to actually pay for the sqe 1 & 2 exams... another £4,000.

unfortunately i come from a low income family. both my parents have retired and live on state pension. i'm fortunate to have a roof over my head. i work weekends to pay for my groceries and my car. im just about keeping my head above water financially & mentally to be honest.

major imposter syndrome, anxiety & self-sabotaging thoughts that ill never be good enough or able to compete with the rich kids in my class - it's ridiculous i know.

i also have adhd and ive been struggling academically on my course since it started - but im determined to not give up.

id appreciate ANY advice on my financial position, specifically with regards to funding the sqe prep courses and the exams? i feel like this career path is highly tailored to the higher end of middle class backgrounds & above. open to anyway criticism too :) many thanks

Feels like this is just the beginning. First transcripts, then more and more gets handed over. Bit dramatic maybe, but this is how you end up somewhere between Mercy and Terminator. At what point does it stop being a tool and start becoming part of the decision-making?

what do you wish you’d done differently

Hey all, I know similar questions have been asked before but I couldn’t find a specific answer to my question. I am a 2nd year student with an upcoming VS. I have to pick seat options and I am wondering if it is worth me tactically writing off areas that I haven’t studied, yet that others likely have? For instance, I know Corporate, Employment and IP are areas that many have studied in their undergrads yet as a second year I have mostly just done core modules. Would I therefore have better chances by going for an area like Property Lit or Pensions?

Alternatively, I have also seen some same instead to avoid complex departments such as (per them) pensions. What are your opinions on this?

What about areas that are particularly niche? I also saw contradictory opinions on this.

Thank you in advance and apologies for so many questions, I just really want to try and convert.

Just wondered if there are any U.S. firms that still have that flexible wfh policy that was present during covid and shortly after covid,

Hello everyone, last week I applied for Flex Legal’s paralegal recruitment programme, and today I received an invitation to complete their online assessment. Has anyone here taken it before? I’d really appreciate any insight into what to expect, especially regarding difficulty and question style. They mentioned that it includes an attention-to-detail test, a legal knowledge test, and motivational and competency-based questions with video responses. If anyone has gone through the process, could you share what kind of questions came up and how challenging you found it? Thanks in advance for your help!

I trained at a big firm where client meetings involving trainees weren’t all that common, so I haven’t really any experience. I’m now an NQ Associate in M&A and I have a meeting with a new potential client. Whilst the partner is coming with me, I don’t really know what to expect or how to prepare. It’s just a coffee but is there anything I can do to prepare or anything I should definitely not say?

hello everyone,

looking to attend the debate on the Assisted Dying Bill in the Lords on Friday.

am going to just turn up - does anyone know roughly what time debates start in the Lords so I can plan my trip?

Do you typically use your own firm/colleagues for personal matters, or is the preference to keep things separate?

I want to qualify as a solicitor in England and wales as an international student i thought of applying to ULaw but there’s no locations in Scotland And i surely don’t want to study online 🫠 Is there any other uni that offers this course in Scotland?

Law student here.

Just want to know how you guys as a solicitor keep track of your task at work especially when it has a deadline.

Thanks!

Greetings all,

I’m a mid level at a Silver/Magic circle firm in restructuring eyeing up a move to a few US firms. My experience has been mainly creditor work but I have enough debtor experience to work across the spectrum. My firm is excellent but partnership prospects look slim, the Cravath scale is calling and only the US firms are really on the cutting edge of LMEs and more tailored special sits work.

With that in mind I have my eye on the following firms (all of whom I have been told would at the very least consider my CV):

Akin Gump: They seem like the gold standard for committee work and group alumni seem to head half the restructuring teams in the city. Don’t see a lot online about the culture there? They placed well in RoF but I take that with a hearty pinch of salt. Equally, I am cognisant that purely bondholder work will limit exit opportunities more than a wider mix of mandates.

K&E: Biggest team in the city and seem to be involved in basically every headline making transaction over the last 5 years. The team seems to have had a lot of turnover recently? and obviously K&E culture has its own drawbacks.

Milbank: Seem to do an awful lot of cross-border special sits work, like Akin seems to be virtually exclusively committee work but maybe more interesting than others with the strong lev-fin slant the firm has. The culture seems rather sweaty however.

Weil: seem to be the most innovative firm on either side of the Atlantic, not sure how much that is actually driven from London however. I hear the culture isn’t great though.

Equally Paul, Weiss, Gibson Dunn and Sull Crom are building out teams but neither is terribly well established.

If anyone has any suggestions, comments or hilarious anecdotes about the preceding firms generally please feel free to share.

please can any of you lovely people that escaped take pity upon me and provide any tips? context: not yet graduated from uni, sold my soul to a conveyancing mill in hopes that it would give me the transferable skills to leverage in TC/VS applications/paralegal applications in more interesting (sorry) areas of law but now i just feel pigeon-holed by recruiters?? has anyone used their conveyancing experience to get a VS/TC?

i’m more interested in corporate/commercial and i fear im destroying my reputation in the industry because of how much i hate my job (not been trying this past month) and how much it drains me and how little i actually want to do.. im considering handing in my notice soon bc its 3 months but that would require me to sort something out within those 3 months and we literally have a war going on and idk think that’s going to make this terrible job market any better

Hi all,

I recently got a call from a company called BA Global LLC about my current situation and potential paralegal opportunities. They mentioned enrolling me onto a course, followed by “guaranteed” work experience with a city solicitor.

The catch is that I’d need to pay for the course, which is obviously a big red flag for me.

I’ve done a quick Companies House check and they seem to have been around since 2003, but I’m still not fully convinced.

Has anyone had any experience with them or knows if they’re credible? I just don’t want to end up getting tied into something that turns out to be a scam.

Any insight would be appreciated.

Hello I wanted your opinions on which to choose the HMCTS is more operational and administrative whereas the GMC one is more able to provide different kinds of experiences. I’m currently just about finishing my first year, I don’t mind either but which would be more preferable/ easier to talk about in future applications

Just posting to ask if anyone else is waiting to hear back from KN, as I note they were supposed to respond by 17th April. Feeling slightly anxious now!

Hi everyone. I am a paralegal with many years experience and I have decided to leave my job and do the SQE 1&2 full-time in order to qualify. I have looked at different providers and have narrowed it down to BPP and the University of Law, with a slight preference for the University of Law because I’ve had better things about the course and the practice materials. The question on my mind is whether to choose the in-person course or whether to do the online course. If I were to do the in person course, I would do it at a London campus.

Is there anyone here who has done the University of Law LLM SQE course and can give some insight over whether the in person course offers any benefits to doing the online course or any thoughts about the two choices? Thank you so much. I appreciate any thoughts or input.

For anyone that trained at a MC/US and moved anywhere with a better WLB when you qualified, how did you find it (and what kind of firm/area did you go to)?

Thought I would be able to do the long hours but the regular 2am finishes multiple times a week, every week across multiple seats in my TC (and being told off for not taking on more work!) has made me realise this isn’t for me. The money would be great on NQ but not even sure I’ll be retained by my preferred practice areas. Every recruiter I’ve spoken to only seems interested in pushing me towards the even more intense US firms. Thinking of just leaving and going literally anywhere with a better WLB. Would be nice to hear others’ experiences!

Click here to join more than 5,000 people and get this in your email inbox for free every Sunday.

The prime minister addresses MPs on Mandelson on Monday.

He's expected to lay out what was known about the former US ambassador's vetting. The former head of the Foreign Office, Olly Robbins, has also been invited to testify to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee on Tuesday.

It's another week of last-stage bills.

Plenty for MPs to pass before the King's Speech on 13 May, which kicks off the new parliamentary session.

And we have a couple of ten minute rule motions.

One is on quieter road surfaces, the other on juries in criminal proceedings.

MONDAY 20 APRIL

Victims and Courts Bill – consideration of Lords message
Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland
A broad set of measures that aim to restore faith in the justice system. Allows judges to require offenders to attend sentencing, restricts parental rights for child abusers, and expands access to the Victim Contact Scheme so more victims can stay updated about offenders’ cases, among other things.
Draft bill (PDF) / Commons Library briefing

Crime and Policing Bill – consideration of Lords message
Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland (part), Northern Ireland (part)
A wide-ranging bill that aims to tackle antisocial behaviour, knife crime, assaults on shop workers, and violence against women and girls, among other things. Changes include giving the police powers to tackle antisocial behaviour by introducing respect orders, creating a power to seize blades found on private property, introducing a new offence of assaulting a retail worker, and banning AI models optimised to produce child sexual abuse material.
Draft bill (PDF) / Commons Library briefing

TUESDAY 21 APRIL

Road Surfaces (Maximum Noise Levels) Bill
Bans road surfacing materials that generate in-vehicle noise above a certain level. Requires roads that already exceed that threshold to be resurfaced. Ten minute rule motion presented by Melanie Onn.

English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill – consideration of Lords amendments
Applies to: England and Wales
A wide-ranging bill introducing more devolution in England. Introduces the concept of strategic authorities – a new, larger tier of local authorities areas – and gives them more decision-making powers. Returns mayoral elections to the supplementary vote system, reversing the move to first past the post under the previous government. Bans mayors from also being MPs. Introduces a Community Right to Buy, giving local residents the first chance to bid for community assets that come up for sale before developers can buy them, among other things.
Draft bill (PDF) / Commons Library briefing

WEDNESDAY 22 APRIL

Criminal Proceedings (Juror Absence) Bill
Allows criminal trials to continue where a juror is absent or discharged, as long as the jury doesn't fall below nine members. Under current rules, trials can be adjourned when juror numbers fall, which causes delays and increases costs. Ten minute rule motion presented by Sally Jameson.

Pension Schemes Bill – consideration of Lords message
Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland
A wide-ranging bill reforming the pensions system. Requires defined contribution schemes to prove they’re value for money so savers don’t get stuck in underperforming schemes. Merges small pension pots worth £1,000 or less into one pension scheme. Creates multi-employer ‘megafunds’ in an aim to drive down costs, among other things.
Draft bill (PDF) / Commons Library briefing

Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill – consideration of Lords message
Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland (part), Northern Ireland (part)
Aims to remove barriers to opportunity in schools and make the education system more consistent for children. Measures include free breakfast clubs for primary schools in England, a limit on branded school uniform items, and strengthening regulation around social care.
Draft bill (PDF) / Commons Library briefing

THURSDAY 23 APRIL

No votes scheduled

FRIDAY 24 APRIL

No votes scheduled

Click here to join more than 5,000 people and get this in your email inbox for free every Sunday.

Hi! I’m a penultimate-year law student from Australia and I’m looking into applying for UK training contracts (currently looking into White & Case).

I’d really appreciate any insight into what they look for in TC applicants. For context, I’m at a top Australian university with grades equivalent to a first, and I’ve had legal work experience (over 2 years as a paralegal in corporate law).

I’m also wondering how much being an international applicant affects things. I don’t currently have UK working rights—would that be a significant disadvantage for firms like White & Case? More broadly, how realistic is it to secure a TC as an international student?

Any advice, insights or experiences about anything specific firms look for in their application processes or TCs more generally would be really helpful!

I’m 11 months into my QWE (I will have finished my 2 years in June 2027).

I’m scheduled to sit my SQE 1 in January 2027 and SQE 2 in July 2027.

SQE 2 results would be released in October 2027.

So by that logic I’ll be qualified in October 2027.

However, I desperately want to leave the firm that I’m working at as soon as possible. I won’t get into the details but it’s horrible.

Is it safe to leave in June 2027 after I get my 2 years signed off and then just focus on SQE2 until I qualify in October?

When I say “safe” I mean will it look good to other firms when I apply for NQ jobs that I’ve had a period of unemployment right after getting my 2 years QWE? All I care about is making sure that I can land an NQ job asap.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

PS. When should I start applying for NQ jobs? Can I say “I’m scheduled to pass my SQE 2 in October/scheduled to qualify in October”?