The training contract lottery
‘How do I find a training contract?’ ‘Well, a good academic record is essential, as is attention to detail and communication skills. Show your commitment to a career in law, and that you have a life outside law. Be personable.’
I can check off all these boxes. So what now? What else must I prove before a firm will offer me a training contract?
Current economic pressures are exacerbating serious flaws in the system of allocating legal graduate jobs. Some of the lawyers I consulted tried to put me off a legal career, but I really want a training contract more than anything in the world. After saying kind things about the modest accomplishments listed in my CV, Ronnie Fox (an employment and partnership lawyer) let me down gently. ‘In 40 years of practice I have never known a time when it has been so difficult for graduates to find training contracts and for newly qualified solicitors to find permanent jobs,’ he said.
On 5 July, two days before I graduated, the Guardian warned graduates that there were 70 applicants for every job open to new graduates. My experience suggests that the odds against a recent graduate finding a job in law are more like 300-1. It is ludicrous and terribly unfair that there are no jobs for people who are genuinely driven to work hard, career-minded and ambitious. With thousands of law graduates trying to secure training contracts and fewer jobs on offer than ever before, the system of allocating training contracts urgently needs shaking up.
I graduated with a 2:1 LLB (Hons) this summer from Newcastle University. I am now 21 and have just begun the Legal Practice Course. For the past year I have been trying to find a training contract. From the age of 16 I have completed no fewer than eight legal work experience placements without earning a penny and have actually spent more than £1,000 of my own money in the hope of gaining appropriate experience to further my legal career. It is a scandal that law firms exploit students and interns by not paying them for their work.
I have cold-called firms and systematically networked my way through all my parents’ friends, friends’ parents, acquaintances and my own connections to try and find a way into a legal career. Completing application forms, sitting tests and attending interviews seems futile. I am depressed by the sheer hopelessness of the process. The numbers of applicants are going up while the number of available jobs continues to fall.
So, why do I want a training contract? First, I have taken out a loan to pay for the LPC, on top of my student loan, and want to work to be able to pay that back. Second, I want to put into practice all the skills and knowledge I have accumulated. Third, I want to put an end to all the stresses of gaining a trainee post.
If I had known what I know now when I naively applied to do law at university, would I still have read law? Absolutely not. I would have probably taken a humanities degree, not worked half as hard as I did in law and then applied to complete the Graduate Diploma in Law. Annoyingly, I have discovered that many firms seem to prefer trainees who have studied a non-law undergraduate degree.
What can be done to address this issue? Perhaps universities and pools of firms could work together to provide a guarantee of a training contract to students who achieve a 2:1 degree or above, complete a placement with a firm within their university’s pool and demonstrate their commitment and practical application. Students would strive to meet known standards with a reasonable expectation of obtaining a training contract to further a career in law.
My friends and I are sick at the prospect of another year of filling out application forms. We dread those horrid ‘I’m sorry, but the others were just so much better’ emails which cut like a knife. All we seek is an opportunity to show colleagues and clients what we can do and to qualify as solicitors.
Carly Moore-Martin is a law graduate who is currently undertaking the Legal Practice Course
Comments
Blame the Law Society and the
Blame the Law Society and the SRA. They extended poor quality post grad courses. Before 'liberalisation and the creation of a HE 'Industry' there were about 4000 places on the LSF and 4000 places in articles. Now we have the Chief Exec of the BPP 'University' saying payment for courses will be a good thing (across academic disciplines). All this will lead to is more grade inflation. Does anyone 'fail' from a private 'uni' (so to call them??).
This WILL get worse. To make it worse, no-one fails the 'professional' exams anymore.
It is NO reflection on you Carly Moore-Martin. Your predecessors have sold you a pup. Had you or any of your year passed an old style rigourous degree pre 1992, and taken LSF on the back of it, you would have had a 55% average (insome cases 35%ish), chance of passing first time so that it was survival of the fittest and those who had prior practical expereince before going on to the professional exams. Now anyone passes and I bet BPP have a near 100% pass rate because of course their students are 300% more intelligent than those taking the LSF with that pass rate of 35-50%, (not because of grade inflation)..
"It is ludicrous and terribly
"It is ludicrous and terribly unfair that there are no jobs for people who are genuinely driven to work hard, career-minded and ambitious"
Unfortunately, fairness has nothing to do with it. It's supply and demand. There are, however, almost certainly jobs for such people; whether those jobs are in law is another matter.
Not surprised
This article has just demonstrated why you have not obtained a training contract....
Why, not surprising? Have I
Why, not surprising? Have I missed soemthing in her article?
"It is ludicrous and terribly
"It is ludicrous and terribly unfair that there are no jobs for people who are genuinely driven to work hard, career-minded and ambitious"
People who work hard get first class degrees. The world doesn't owe you a living.
Would you say degree grade is
Would you say degree grade is important then - or is it experience which I value more...?
Lay off
I sympathise. I really do not think it is fair to assume that this young lady is undeserving of a training contract. It sounds to me like she did everything she could and shows all the signs of dedication, hard work and hunger that would stand her in good stead as a lawyer. It is no reflection on her that the market is so tight. Oversupply is a genuine problem for graduates and she has highlighted the problem very well. I wish her, and the legion of others in her position, all the best.
Find another way
You may have completed work experience placement and have a 2:1 degree, but the difficulty is that there are not a lot of jobs around and particularly not training contracts and large numbers of people would have come out of university with a similar degree and experience.
Although it is a little late for you, after I left university with my law degree I got a secretarial job with a firm. In the four years since I left Uni I went from secretary to paralegal then undertook the LPC part time and, as I had worked and proved myself, the firm gave me a training contract. I know a lot of people on the LPC with my who took the same route. Most firms like to push staff on from within.
If you really can't secure a training contract, it may seem a waste of money (given the debt you have accrued) but you could always apply as a graduate member for ILEX and try to get a job through that way as it may appeal more to firm than having a set trainee wage and the added expense of a trainee with little practical experience.
Did the training contract.....
I completed my training contract this summer. When I was on the LPC we all focused on getting the elusive training contract and I was lucky to obtain one. However the firm that I trained with could not take me on and now I am unemployed. The bottle neck was supposed to be the training contract but I am finding it very hard to get interviews and cannot envisage getting a job. SO you can do all the legal work experience and have a good degree, it still doesn't mean you'll get a job. I have a first class degree and an MA. Law is a second career for me and I have invested large sums of money into getting qualified. The problem is that so many people are training that there are a glut of NQs and LPC graduates out there. Somebody is doing well out of training so many people but it certainly hasn't been me. I note from the individualistic and atomised thinking here that this seems fair to some people. However, I would say that there are plenty of people in the job who aren't nearly as qualified as some of the young people I have met and they managed to be trained and employed. I accept I took a risk, but I do wish someone had told me how much of a risk I was taking, I would not have followed this route had I realised it.
good luck - the odds aren't as bad as you think
Your feeling might be that the odds of finding a job in law are 300-1. However there are still 5000 odd places per year. There aren't 1.5 million people going for jobs in the field (for real 300-1 positions try journalism).
Each year roughly half of LPC graduates get a training contract, and some come through later after a few years paralegaling, etc. Although if you can get a job paralegalling before the LPC, do, as then you'll still have a chance to apply through the traditional entry schemes and potentially get a contribution to your fees.
Good luck
ok, i recognise that being a
ok, i recognise that being a lawyer is a good job. it is respected, well paid, intellectually stretching, ad nauseum.
BUT, its not that well paid for the hours poeple work. chances of partnership are infinitesimally small. its only intellectually stretching if you are turned on by writing the small print. you dont actually do 'business' you get instructed to administer the deals of those who do. And everyone i know who is a lawyer hates their job, hates the hours, hates the partners they are forced to work for, feel generally unappreciated, blah blah blah.
If i'm wrong on any of the above then i apologise. but based on this i simply do not understand why people are so desperate to become lawyers. is it the media? is it because it sounds cool? is it tha LALaw/Ally McBeal effect?
Work for Tesco
Tesco Law, that is. Soon every Tom, Dick and Harry will be able to practice law in some capacity, once ABSs kick in. Just hold on a year and you can work next to the deli counter in Tesco providing over the counter tax advice.
selfish &*^S's
carly
Ignore the comments from the arrogant selfish types saying you must not be good enough. There are always a few in every profession (and a rather higher concentration in ours!) of people who think being mean is the same as being effective.
It's been a problem for years but is much much worse now.
I graduated in 1993 with a decent LLB and then went straight into dead end jobs in the last recession which I i worked in for 4 years and finally gambled and paid for myself to do the LPC in 97/98. I could not get a training contract but was lucky enough to get a job as an "unqalified" fee-earner and then a few years later a training contract from a firm i was working in. I've been qualified for quite a few years now.
I sweated blood for years and years to get into the profession. but let me tell you a secret
IT ISNT WORTH THE HASSLE
you're obviously bright and motivated and could probably do anything - I would recommend hte ILEX route = they have a fast track for LPC graduates you may not need to do any more exams.
failing that - let go of the illusion of a well paid career in law. apart from the big City firms the rewards just arent there. especially for the conditions and lack of benefits.
i've worked in factories and i've worked in the law - the main difference - in factories they pay overtime.
best wishes
The idea of jumping straight
The idea of jumping straight into a training contract does surprise me but is symptomatic of a generation with unrealistic expectations that are currently graduating from the various law schools around the UK. The market is extremely competitive and having a law degree is no guarantee of anything.
The plain fact of the matter is that you will have to do some work in the trenches to make youself standout, even more true in this current climate. Outdoor clerk, paralegal with any and all legal firms whatever size or reputation irrespective of work area you think you may wish to practice. Bulk up the CV with legal experience be it paid or unpaid and it can facilitate you getting your foot in the door.
I went from the LPC to clerking criminal defence, immigration, family (all with different firms) over a three year period then managed to secure a TC at a high street firm. I am now at a Legal 500 firm with national coverage.
If you're dedicated enough you can overcome but you can't expect it to be handed to you on a plate!
Think outside the square
I do feel for you in that I found it very difficult finding a graduate job as well. I would urge you to think outside the square in finding alternative routes. Also, make no mistake of how much competition there is out there - I don't think you fully appreciate this.
If you satisfy all the basic requirements, it only means you have a chance of getting a TC, along with the 50000 others. However, I don't think people understand what it takes to "stand out". To give you an example, I personally know one trainee who has climbed Mount Everest; another one n got an Olympic bronze medal for swimming; and a friend of mine started with a music degree, he was basically a semi-pro who practised piano 6-8 hours a day but still didn't "make it" (if you think getting a TC is hard, imagine trying to win an international piano competition), and then did the LPC and got a TC. Can you honestly tell me you have anything comparable? If not, I don't think you will "stand out".
What that means is you just have to be more conventional and still maximise your chances. I've been working for a while now, and vaccies don't do anything. Nobody takes vaccies seriously because they're only around for a short time and you don't have time to test out how good they are nor to teach them. In fact, one ex-boss of mine told me to make up fake work for a vaccie just to keep them occupied! Therefore, I personally don't value people with vaccie placements on their CVs at all. Why are students these days so hung up about doing vaccie jobs? It is much more valuable to have REAL work experience in your CV. How about volunteering at a legal centre? How about working as a bank teller? How about volunteering yourself to work part time for a barrister? If you can show that you have done something for more than just a few weeks, then that will really count. Put it another way, when you go to an interview and they ask you annoying HR questions like "tell me a time when you've had to solve a problem at work", or "tell me a time when you demonstrated leadership skills", how much can you draw from a 2 week placement to answer these questions? You really need a lot more than that! Even working at a clothes shop like Esprit or department store would be better as you do encounter people and solve problems day to day.
And if it is too hard getting a TC right now, how about alternative paths. Ever thought of working in the HMRC or FSA a bit? Immigration service? Admin job at any court? It's always the hardest getting the first job. Once you get a first job you can move around. Nearly none of the partners I know started working in exactly the area they specialise in now. Eg, no old securitisation partner started off doing securitisation because there was no securitisation 30 years ago! So don't get too caught up about applying for nothing but a TC.
Hope this helps.
Carly, take note of those who
Carly, take note of those who say that being a solicitor really isn't worth it.
You are obviously bright and know how to market yourself. Go and get some business and then sell it to the fools who are solicitors!
Public Schooling
You can add "having attended a public or top private school' to the list of criteria in your first paragraph.
The Truth
Carly I wish you luck - ignore the negative comments.
The problem is not a shortage of training contracts but a profession overloaded with unqualified fee earners/paralegals/secretaries who provide legal advice from law firms. These individuals should be supervised but in the majority of cases they are not. They are known as "probate managers/conveyancing managers/litigation managers etc caseworkers - the list is endless. I understand that there are approximately 250,000 people employed in this capacity in England and Wales. It is little wonder that you are unable to secure a training contract. The Law Society and SRA should intervene to prevent this but they choose to turn a blind eye.
Apart from the above, the Law Society seem more interested in campaigning for Legal Executives who have their own regulatory body. At the end of the day, ILEX is the easy route, I have seen past exam papers. Requirements - four GCSE's grades A-C. How many Legal Executives are working in this Country? How many secretaries with poor exam passes are studying for ILEX exams? How many will pass?
It appears that this profession rewards the wrong people. You deserve a Training Contract - don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
I have no doubt that the Goverment implemented changes because they became aware that a number of law firms were employing unqualified fee earners. The offenders now complain that unqualified individuals will be able to provide legal services. Why? Unqualified fee earners have been providing legal advice via law firms for years.
An MP recently informed me that she/he worked as an unqualified fee earner for thirty years.
Training contracts have not disappeared - common sense has!
The structure of the
The structure of the profession was always flawed.
The firm would be owned by solicitors, who because of their status, (bestowed by the qualification) were able to get work referred from the other professional classes in their area.
The work was carried out, in the main, by unqualified but experienced (or supervised) clerks. What little "law" was needed was done by the solicitor.
This structure changed when the profession was opened up: those who would have been clerks now also became solicitors,. This was considerably more just, but led to a massive over-supply of solicitors. The actual practise of law had not changed, because much of it is still just administrative, with small need for actual legal knowledge.
Firms realise that much work does not need a qualified person to handle it, and therefore don,t need a large number of solictors (with their expected high salaries).
The government has also realised that most "law" is not "skilled" and hence the rise of "Tesco law".
Of course, what will be lost is the professional ethos; however that has gone from society generally, (e.g. MPs, Bamk managers who are in reality salesmen, police who think they are masters not the servant of the public etc.). The making of a much profit as possible is the "target".
Those who will win are those who recognise reality and act accordingly.
Response from a fellow student
Whilst you manage to point out a number of the anxieties and concerns that students like myself currently feel/or felt, you have completely the wrong attitude.
You decided to pursue a career in law. It was your responsibility to research the profession. The recruitment cycle. Your chances. The huge odds and the huge hurdles stacked against you. The fact that you decided to push on and self- fund the LPC despite this, means you only have yourself to blame for worsening your situation. After all, you are only 21, presumaly having just finished university, you could have taken a year out? Gained some further work experience? Saved up the money for the LPC? This is what I did. I deferred the LPC and fortunately secured a TC during my year out.
You also should understand that this is a market. Law firms want the best candidates. Inevitably there will not be enough training contracts for the number of people that wish to pursue a career in the law. Thus, law firms can be as choosy as they like.
Nobody owes you anything. You do not deserve a work placement just because you passed a few exams at university. Your attitude is disgusting and naieve.
A word of advice. Stop blaming the system because you have (so far) been unsuccessful and focus more on setting yourself apart from the competition.
"Would I still have read law?"
"If I had known what I know now when I naively applied to do law at university, would I still have read law? Absolutely not. I would have probably taken a humanities degree, not worked half as hard as I did in law and then applied to complete the Graduate Diploma in Law. "
What makes you think a non-law degree (plus GDL) is easier than an LLB? Automatically assuming that you have worked harder than other people and are therefore more deserving of a training contract is probably not helping. I agree it's a tough market and it's a shame that university applicants are fed this business about law being a straightforward career path. Unfortunately if there aren't enough jobs to go around, it's that much tougher to get the positions that are out there.
Don't agree with this
I don't agree with this article. It's not that hard to get a TC, it took me two years, but after two years of working incredibly hard at getting one, I finally had offers flying at me. Because I developed to the point where I was attractive to all the law firms I applied too.
Sorry to be blunt, but a 2:1 from Newcastle means it might take longer than it does for others. I think to get a TC fairly easily (eg in less than two years of trying) you either need a first from a red brick in a relevant subject (History, law, English etc), or a 2:1 from Oxbridge. If you don't have that, it may take 3-4 years unless your exceptional.
And the proposed suggestion about law firms and Universities making agreements is insane.
The Training Contract Lottery
"The problem is not a shortage of training contracts but a profession overloaded with unqualified fee earners/paralegals/secretaries who provide legal advice from law firms. These individuals should be supervised but in the majority of cases they are not...The Law Society seem more interested in campaigning for Legal Executives who have their own regulatory body....I have no doubt that the Goverment implemented changes because they became aware that a number of law firms were employing unqualified fee earners. The offenders now complain that unqualified individuals will be able to provide legal services. Why? Unqualified fee earners have been providing legal advice via law firms for years.
An MP recently informed me that she/he worked as an unqualified fee earner for thirty years.
Training contracts have not disappeared - common sense has!..."
I agree wih this. The Law Society, The SRA (and Bar Council) have always been the enemy to the 'profession'.
I think we need Tesco 1 doing Conveyancing. Tesco 2 doing Probate, Tesco 3 doing P.I. Tesco 4 doing Criminal Legal Aid and Family Law (really Poor Law, subsidised by the state).
The rest of us can then go home.
Oh and by the way, anyone who thinks practising Commercial Law in a City Practice is the answer is probably unaware that working in one is like working in a gilded cage - they will probably be the first to fold (with outside control of the profession) as well. Has anyone waved a Commercial Litigation case (read ticket) out on the street? Just amusing to watch how many wannabe Commercial lawyers come out of the woodwork for it...
Mind you, these new education
Mind you, these new education 'reforms' proposed by the Blue Liberals might just do the trick Carly.
Expect a decimation (in the literally Roman sense) of University (hey man uneeeeeeee!) arts courses.
Training Contract Fiasco
I can empathise with Carly. Over ten years ago, I graduated with a 2:1 in law from Newcastle and struggled to find a job, in part due to the economic conditions.
I too felt the GDL route would have been easier and became frustrated by feedback that was full of pleasantries but didn't give me pragmatic advice about how to secure a training contract in testing times.
In the end, post LPC I took a paralegal job for an absurdly low salary. It was tough making ends meet but this chance gave me genuine experience of working in a law firm. I was selected for a training contract with that firm and then moved on to a large well known international law firm.
I don't think there is a right way to fulfil your promise. I didn't follow the normal approach bur I got to the same point eventually. What I did learn at the international firm is that the training contract is not the destination. I applied so much energy to try and get onto what I considered the right route. It wasn't and after a couple of years I left to find a better work-life balance. I briefly joined a well known regional firm which was a nightmare (poor firm including a bully of an associate who the firm reluctantly suspended after she was caught lying) before going in-house. I love the role and I know it's making me a better lawyer.
All the best with your endeavours Carly; I'm sure you'll make it.
Dear Carly, First thing
Dear Carly,
First thing first, stop moaning. You are 21, with an LLB. To be a lawyer and to stand out in an extremely competitive market you need to be exceptional, have a bit of life experience and be mature. Your article doesn't demonstrate those qualities but that is because you feel hard done by.
The market is changing and if you were wise you would try to anticipate what you need to show firms in order to gain a TC. An article this week in a rival publication highlighted that City firms are tightening their already formidable recruitment processes. A post-graduate degree, if not yet the norm, is becoming more and more common. Make yourself stand out academically.
Make yourself stand out professionally. Don't do all the same work experience as your peers. Volunteer for an MP, an NGO, do a stage in Europe, go and do some death row advocacy if you can afford to support yourself. Show commercial awareness and self-sufficiency.
No one owes you a job. It's a free market, even in law! There is no automatic right to any job. I invested 50 times what you have in my legal education. I've done the things or similar that I have advised you to do. I got a training contract where there were almost 2000 applicants to 2/3 places. I was one of the lucky ones. But that is because my attitude was, what do I have to do to show them I am the right person for the job, not, what do they have to do to come and find me.
If you change your attitude, you just might find that you get what you"really want".
Keeping on at it
I agree with Carly to a large extent. I graduated this year with a 2:1 from a redbrick university without a training contract. I made applications all through my final year of uni. I had paid up for the LPC by the time I got an offer of a TC.
It does pay off to keep going at the applications and I agree that for every good candidate for a TC on the LPC there are probably 5 who have no hope of securing anything. You've got to have faith in yourself though and if you believe you're going to get something then why not just go for it. Why put your life on hold for a year?!
I didn't want to take a gap year. I can't afford to do unpaid work experience in a law firm and paid work in a law firm as an undergraduate is few and far between (probably as rare as a training contract offer). I got a loan out to fund my LPC the terms of which meant that it made more economical sense to complete my LPC without firm sponsorship than to take a gap year.
The training contract lottery
The amount of time the anonymous writers who leave abusive messages astounds me; they clearly have nothing to do on their saturday nights.
The article serves its purpose and highlights the problem of thousands of students who leave University and are unable to find jobs.
I completely understand, before I secured my TC, I completed umpteen amounts of work experience, placements and shadowings of solicitors, it all seemed to be in vain. However, persevere like I did, keep applying, you will succeed.
I commend you for your criticisms of the market, ignore the negative comments from people hiding behind their computer screen! I wish you luck in your legal career, it is clear from your article that you will flourish in Law.
It is not your fault
It is not your fault that you cannot find a training contract but you must accept there is very little future in the law as a solicitor. Massive over supply drives down salaries and very few firms offer pensions. None offer overtime payments. A lot of solicitor employers are either bungling incompetents or sadistic megalomaniacs. Legal Aid is dying and volume profitable work is about to be taken over by the Co-op and such like organisations. City employees face outsourcing. There will be a few niches left and you may find one but don’t be surprised if you do not.
If I were you I would think about your favourite area of law and go into a large private non-legal firm which works in that sector and which would value the knowledge you have already acquired.
As for those who criticise you on this blog, just remember that these people were from the first generation where you did not need money or connections to be a solicitor. Instead of extending the egalitarian experiment, they have pulled up the ladder behind them. They have left the governance of the profession to an elected bunch of people whose greatest achievement was to hand over all their legislative power to an appointed quango, the SRA and who ultimately failed to avoid the then government destroying the profession, as we know it, by use of the Legal Services Act. Whatever your alleged lack of achievement you will never be able to trawl the depths of this generation of solicitors. A generation who have managed to destroy a noble profession by their ignorance and stupidity.
Training contracts aren't
Training contracts aren't "allocated" - firms want to hire employees who will work hard and fit in at their firm, who will bring something to the firm. So you need to know yourself well enough to know where you might fit in and what you can contribute. Once I realised this (after a season of unsuccessfully shooting off applications left, right & centre) and applied to 5 firms in a particular niche, I was offered 4 training contracts.
But the author and lots & lots of others are being sold a bum deal by the CoL, BPP and their likes. For some LPC students the tuition fees will be a good investment, but for many it will be a terrible waste of time and money, leading either to no TC at all or a TC at a firm they really didn't want to be at, with no chance of paying off the loans taken out to fund the course. Well done Kaplan for introducing entrance exams!
LISTEN TO ME
You don't look so glum.
In your picture, I mean. You look really jolly and pleased.
You should have done a glumface. Perhaps looking at a certificate, as though it was a waste of paper and you had wasted your time and now your life is all awful and everything and this and that.