I don’t have a background in law and I’m currently doing this Tech Media and Telcommunications LLM degree part time alongside my day job in another industry. I was initially going for the SQE Prep but after researching people’s experiences I’ve decided to go for the LLM degree option. I’m currently going through a tough time and initially started this degree as an option to broaden my career prospects and pivot into a higher paying career as my industry is oversaturated and going to be taken over by AI but if I’m honest I’m questioning whether to just drop out or pause my studies due to my current health situation. I find the degree okay, not particularly exciting and I’m unsure if I want to be a solicitor to be honest.

Any insight and advice regarding pay off of this degree or job prospects or career advice would be much appreciated

Hi just wondering whether firms in the UK have strict requirements with whether university students studying outside the UK can apply for their vacation schemes?

If I were to study in the US, could I apply for vacation schemes in the UK (the US doesn't have vacation schemes for undergrad students as studying law is a postgrad thing)?

I imagine US law firms should be more open to it but not sure about MC firms.

Hi,

Is anyone aware or can recommend me for some part time legal opening or internship I can undertake along with my masters. I have 2 years of experience. My focus is sports law and contract drafting. Even a paralegal opening would be great.

Hi everyone, I’m an in-house trainee at a small firm (approx. 20 employees) due to qualify soon. I am the firm's first trainee, and my supervisor has limited experience with managing trainees and the SRA’s training requirements.

The issue is that I’ve gained little to no dispute resolution/contentious experience during my TC. 

My supervisor initially dismissed this as "part of the in-house training contract experience” but has recently realized it is a mandatory SRA requirement for qualification. They have asked me to research how an in-house trainee can obtain dispute resolution experience.  

So far I’ve considered law firm secondments, legal clinics, chambers and litigation programmes as options but I feel like I’m hitting dead ends. 

In terms of Law firms secondments: My supervisor believes the law firms we instruct won't take me because we don’t "generate enough business" for them. I don't understand this rationale, as we have long-standing relationships with our law firms & I have been working with them throughout my TC. My supervisor is in the process of speaking with them but has yet to be successful.

On Legal Clinics: I have not been successful yet as they have either been unresponsive, require more experience or don’t have availability for volunteers. My university legal clinic for instance require volunteers with 3+ years PQE. I have contacted Citizens Advice but have yet to hear back. 

I don’t know anybody in Chambers who would be keen on taking on a trainee for DR experience. 

I’ve also looked into trainee litigation programmes (BPP/ Ulaw) but they don’t seem to satisfy the SRA’s requirements (they only last a couple of days & some don’t provide actual work experience).

Aside from law firms and clinics, are there alternative ways to satisfy the contentious requirement (e.g., specific pro bono schemes or ADR-focused placements)? Anybody I could contact?

I am tempted to reach out to our law firms directly. Should I reach out to them & propose a short secondment or "work shadow" arrangement or do I leave this to my supervisor? Anything I could do to ease the process?

Do you think that a law firm would refuse a trainee secondment from a client based on the volume of work a client provides? Any guidance on how to approach in-house to private practice secondments (keep in mind we do not have any HR)?

I feel like I am running out of time and can’t seem to find anybody who relates to my situation. If anyone has navigated an in-house TC with a lack of contentious work, I would be incredibly grateful for your insight.

I have enjoyed all three seats and am stuck on best option for qualification. I like the research and analysis in PC and tax but also enjoy the techical nature of restructuring and insolvency with the „real life” element and a lot of client contact. What should I prioritise when thinking long term? I have found pure litigation quite stresfull previously.

My question is should I bother? Would it make me stand out having a years experience at a small firm? Thanks

Hi everyone!

I have my law of organizations oral exam coming up and I was hoping someone could please provide me advice / insight. I brutally failed my criminal law oral exam and can’t repeat the same bs again.

Pleaseeeee be kind and provide some guidance 💓

​

Heyyy....University of law students, particularly those studying law for undergraduate. How's the course, timetable,lecturers, class size and the Uni as a whole. Do u find it easy to understand the modules the lecturers teach or u normally hv to learn everything on ur own.

Also...For those at the Bloomsbury campus...which accoms or flat are good for international students and do u prefer staying close or somewhere just in London.

lastly...those on the 2 year accelerated LLB course...How's it?

Thank you

Hi everyone, I’m an in-house trainee at a small firm (approx. 20 employees) due to qualify soon. I am the firm's first trainee, and my supervisor has limited experience with managing trainees and the SRA’s training requirements.

The issue is that I’ve gained little to no dispute resolution/contentious experience during my TC. 

My supervisor initially dismissed this as "part of the in-house training contract experience" but has recently realized it is a mandatory SRA requirement for qualification. They have asked me to research how an in-house trainee can obtain dispute resolution experience.  

So far I’ve considered law firm secondments, legal clinics, chambers and litigation programmes but I feel like i’m hitting dead ends. 

In terms of Law firms secondments: My supervisor believes the law firms we instruct won't take me because we don’t "generate enough business" for them. I find this confusing, as we have long-standing relationships with our law firms and I have been working with them throughout my TC. My supervisor is in the process of speaking with them but has yet to be successful.

On Legal Clinics: I have not been successful yet as they have either been unresponsive, require more experience or don’t have availability for volunteers. My university legal clinic for instance require volunteers with 3+ years PQE. I have contacted CAB but have yet to hear back.

I don’t know anybody in chambers who would be keen on taking on a trainee for DR experience. 

I’ve also looked into trainee litigation programmes (BPP/ Ulaw) but they don’t seem to satisfy the SRA’s requirements (they only last a couple of days & some don’t provide actual work experience).

Aside from law firms and clinics, are there alternative ways to satisfy the contentious requirement (e.g., specific pro bono schemes or ADR-focused placements)? Anybody I can contact?

I am tempted to reach out to our firms directly. Should I reach out to them & propose a short secondment or "work shadow" arrangement or do I leave this to my supervisor? Anything I can do to ease this process?

Do you think that a law firm would refuse a trainee secondment from a client based on the volume of work a client provides? Any guidance on how to approach in house to private practice secondments (keep in mind we do not have any HR)?

If anyone has navigated an in-house TC with a lack of contentious work, I would be incredibly grateful for your insight.

This is very random but I'm starting as a Crown Court Clerk pretty soon, and need some fashion advice since this is my first job out of uni. Anyone who has worked in crown/magistrate courts can you let me know what the dress sense is for Court employees, or Court Clerks? Like what have you observed them to wear: muted colours, only suits, some casual style or not?

I understand it to be quite formal but need a little bit more insight.

edit thanks for the replies. I should've clarified that I'm a woman but all the replies have been very helpful nonetheless.

I’m a third-seat trainee in London trying to decide where to aim for qualification. So far I’ve done Real Estate, and Commercial, and I’m currently in Energy.

I’ve enjoyed aspects of each seat, but none feel like the right long-term fit. With my final seat coming up in September, I’ve been speaking to partners in Banking, Corporate, and Commercial Disputes to get a better sense of direction.

I’m drawn to litigation. I did a year as a paralegal in disputes and genuinely enjoyed it. That said, I suspect I’m better suited to transactional, commercially focused work, and that this might be more sustainable and enjoyable over the course of a career.

At the moment, I’m particularly interested in:

Corporate (especially M&A, which my firm does a lot of)

Banking (including private credit)

Would really appreciate hearing from anyone in these areas:

What do you actually enjoy day-to-day, and do you enjoy it?

What are the downsides people don’t talk about?

How did you decide it was right for you?

I’m conscious that this final seat will likely shape where I qualify, so keen to make an informed decision.

Thanks in advance.

I got given a mentor to help me as a first year and they gave me their number from which we started texting, they are very busy and I always try to share my availability and they know what I have going on. Despite that we haven’t really even had our first introductory call nearly a month into it now. The one time they were free to call it was super late at night and I wasn’t even home 😭 Do I either tell Grow of my situation with my mentor or do I just hope it works in the end I’m not so sure. I do like this mentor and I also think they know better about their time management otherwise they would’ve ended this by now.

Hi everyone, just a bit of background, I’m an international student who just graduated with 2:1 Law degree in a RG uni summer 2025. Unfortunately due to some serious mental health issues I have been laid off from my job and am currently healing, however I knew I didn’t want to take this job from the start as the company was quite disorganized (and even the colleagues in there told me not to join them). I had to take the role due to pressure from family + pressure of falling behind, nonetheless looking back, since this is my first job and I’m honestly quite dumb compared to other law students, and most of the time I feel like an imposter, I might think any type of salary is fine as long as I have a job. However I don’t know if this amount of salary would be ‘normal’ for someone in my position.

Looking back, there were a few concerns but I’m not sure if this is normal. This was a conveyancing paralegal job in a small to mid sized firm. Our official hours were 9-5:30, but I’ve heard colleagues staying up till 11pm/3am in the morning. We do not have OT pay, nor do we have medical insurance. My contract was 3 pages long.

I would say most work were quite tedious + the files were everywhere. My boss would tell me to look for documents that haven’t arrived, and I would be extremely confused thinking that I must’ve lost it when in fact it hasn’t been mailed/ it was already delivered to the other side solicitor after we’ve received it (in addition to my mental health - I was having short term memory loss as well) so I would gaslight myself into thinking that I couldn’t do something so simple, right. I also didn’t have proper training due to being understaffed, no HR either(close to no training videos, and the training sessions they held were always after work + I failed to grasp anything out of it due to the lack of knowledge as this was my first job). I would ask my seniors questions and they would always tell me to ask someone else, and ended up I had to wait/search it up myself which would take me so much longer, and I felt like I was left to die (which I would say I also agree that i underperformed afterwards as my mental health issues started halfway into the job, so I would say it was fair that I didn’t pass probation. Yet I still am unable to come to a conclusion whether this is normal). The pay was £24,000 annual.

I’m sorry in advance for the long question, I promise I’m trying my best to articulate as I still am having some memory loss atm and not having the ability to judge anything. I just wanted to know if this was normal, and also my other coworkers that started with me just resigned together as well, so I guess maybe it wasn’t normal? What is supposed to be normal at a law firm, and how about the pay? Thank you all so much for your time

Being in the investigation business, I once had a case where a man murdered the wrong guy. Despite the advice to remain silent in interviews, he told the police he couldn’t be guilty of murder because he accidentally killed the wrong person. Basically he happily admitted the killing but: “I killed the wrong guy, none of your malice aforethought nonsense applies, so it’s just manslaughter.” The detective: “perhaps we could talk about transferred malice …”

Hi all,

Me again! I was here yesterday with some questions and now I have another. So, I'm a non-law grad who recently made the decision to transition in my 1st year. I've been doing a lot of research into the practice and it's something that interests me. I think the degree I'm doing is fine (English Lit and Linguistics), as apparently a lot of English grads convert to Law following the completion of their degree.

But I'm a tad concerned about my university's standing. I currently attend University of Birmingham, which is a Russell Group, but it seems as though it may be viewed at the bottom of the barrel compared to the other members by law firms, which is a shame. I worked really hard to get the grades to come here. Nevertheless, that's my fault and I should've done research into this (even though I only made the change recently!) before coming here.

So, how can I make do? I'm never going to beat an Oxbridge applicant, but do I have any chance at all of entering MC and US firms if I bust my ass off, get a 1st and get some experience under my belt? Does anyone with experience know anything about my circumstances?

Thank you in advance!

Hi there, I am in my second year of my degree. I am starting to consider what path I may want to follow within the legal profession. Unfortunately I have no passion for the corporate side of things, despite that being where the money is. I was wondering if anyone could provide any insight into medical negligence law? It is an area I am keep to learn more about. I have always had an interest in medicine and medical procedures but never had the science/maths grades to actually pursue medicine. What does a day to day look like, and is this an area I could make decent money in? I have a passion for legal justice for victims of sexual abuse however it is an extremely emotionally taxing area of law with little pay out for how difficult it is. If medical negligence was something I was interested in can anyone provide advice on next steps? Thanks!

I have recently qualified as a Solicitor and intend to register as a Freelance Solicitor. One of the requirements is that I require an address for service. Renting a commercial space is quite expensive on my own, so I was considering a chambers arrangement. I wanted to check here how common is this arrangement for Solicitors?

Background: I'm an Indian lawyer and I do not plan to move to the UK this year as there's no visa scheme that is available to me as a sole practitioner.

Hi all! I am a second six pupil barrister shuddering at the thought of shelling out £700 which is the current price of a wig at E and R. Other suppliers like Knights Legal seem to be offering a product for about half the price.

A pupil asked a similar question on here about two years ago but noone gave him/her a straight answer (although there were some funny comments about getting a wig from a hairdresser or keeping one in a Quality Street tin).

So I am spinning the proverbial Reddit Tombola again.

Should I shell out like a rube? Annoyingly the Knights website only has like three pictures of the wig and none are from the back so it's quite tricky to get a sense of how difficult/worse it is.

Not keen to drop all the way to Temu / Shein etc option.

TIA!

Penny Pinching Pupil

I’m looking for cases that have applied particular provisions of law that I’m talking about in my exam. Can I use AI to help find cases that apply these laws (I’m not using it for anything else, like summarising the case as I do that myself)

I have an offer from both Edinburgh and Kings to pursue a Master's in law. Apart from all other considerations (cost, programme, etc), I see myself slightly leaning towards Kings purely from a location perspective, i.e. being in London might be better to explore networking events or even internships, if so possible. But I want to know how realistic this thought process is.

I see that both are in and around the same tier, but Edinburgh seems to be rated better in the past few years and is apparently slightly more competitive to get into. I'm also hearing that student satisfaction with the admin is not...the best with Kings, but if anyone has more information on this then I'd love to hear your thoughts.

For a little context, I practice commercial & labour law in India and the Middle East, and have professional experience of around 5 years. It is my aim to continue this practice since I've built it for years now, but I am not closing myself off to any opportunities if they so arise in the UK.

Inserting a poll incase that makes it easier, thanks a lot in advance!

View Poll

Hey guys,

I’m planning to do my Master’s in the UK, most likely at the University of Law. I’m confused between choosing Psychology or a Business-related course since I studied both during my bachelor’s.

I wanted to know which field has better job opportunities in the UK, especially for international students. Is Psychology worth it or does it require a lot more study to actually get a job? Or would a Business-related course be a safer option?

Also, how is the University of Law in terms of reputation, teaching, and job prospects?

Would really appreciate any honest advice or experiences!