Advice needed. Low A *****s. General Idiotness.

[james_s]

Hello everyone,

Apologies for hijacking the thread but I am in need of some advice for my sister, who is studying for a career in Law, and came across this forum.

Basically, she has just done her GDL and is about to start her LPC but we are not sure about what her chances of getting a TC would be, as we want a realistic view before spending ?10k on her studying for the LPC.

The thing is, her A *****s were poor (DEE) which included Law at A *****. She went on to do a combined honours in Law and achieved a 2:2. Her Law modules were decent but the other subject's were not that great. On the GDL, she has come out with a Pass and has struggled to understand why this is when on her degree she performed well in some of the same modules.

She also does work at CAB but has tried to find some work experience in a legal practice but has received rejections. What I want to know is, realistically is it worthwhile her doing the LPC now and then going on to try and secure a TC? I keep asking her whether any other field would interest her but she is adamant that Law is the field for her. She definately wants to work at a high street practice as opposed to a commercial based one, and I was wondering what everyones views on her chances at one of these may be? She has applied for some training contracts, even though some were at larger firms, but received rejections/no responses.

I appreciate your help on this and apologies for the long post

James

[legal*bee]

This really is a difficult one to answer as there is no sure right answer to what law firms want and I really dont want to sound pessimistic. However being honest I think her poor A ***** grades and 2.2 are going to prove big stumbling blocks. She also only has CAB experience, which everyone has.

That's not to say she has not chance. Heck Sir Paul Macartney's Barrister got a 3rd from Exeter and look where she's at now.

It's all well about being adament that Law is the field for her but she really has to show great work experience to try and detract from her academic record.

Personally short of a miracle I think she stands little chance unless she knows someone that knows someone that could help her.

I would be interested in knowing what happens so do keep us posted.

[james_s]

Thanks for your reply legal*bee. I

appreciate your honest opinion on the subject. It definately looks as if Law is her preferred option as I tried to persuade her into other areas but she just couldn't see herself going into them. She has a wealth of other work experience, which I guess is good to have anyway, but none of it is legal which she is desparately trying to secure.

I was thinking whether it would be a good idea for her to defer her LPC for a year and try and get some work within a law firm doing anything to get a feel of whether she would actually want to do this work for the rest of her life. However, we are not sure whether she has enough to go by to even get something like this, so it's a bit of a catch 22.

Funnily enough, my uncle is a stipendary judge (having worked as a lawyer previously for many years) and has on a few occaisons mentioned the fact that he would try and help in order to further her chances but due to some reasons, it is not our first option and we would rather try ourselves first

[legal*bee]

Ok let me get this straight you have a uncle who is a stipendary judge and your not willing to seek his help when your sister is really in need of dire help?

Heres my honest answer..regardless of personal reasons for not wanting to seek his help you could do with his help. You really are cutting of your nose to spite your face.

Yes you could keep trying and have all the odds of working against you or you could suck it up and ask him for help.

I know which I would prefer.

Think about it

[sumoking]

She's not good enough to make it as things stand.

1. She needs to sit down with the uncle and see what options he can suggest and help with.

2. She needs to work in law, ie paralegal, get solid experience and get a TC in place as a result of working for a firm before doing the lpc. She may then have to do a training contract plus lpc at the same time.

To put this in context a friends daughter has managed to suceed in doing this to get into a good high street practice but she has a 1st class law degree.

You sister has managed to make a complete mess of her education so far and there is nothing that makes her stand out.

You absolutley cannot afford to pass up any opportunity for help.

What does she think you do in a high street practice?

[NicB]

unless you're incredibly wealthy and the fees for the lpc are not an issue then i really think she should defer lpc for a year or even longer and try and get some decent legal work experience, this does not pay highly but she should be able to get a secretarial role at the very least. this will giver her an insight into the job and a chance to network with real lawyers.
in the meantime, if you have an uncle in the legal profession then use him for all you can
as an aside, if your sister wants to be a lawyer why is she not seeking advice and help herself?

[james_s]

Thanks very much for your helpful responses. The reason she has decided to look at high street firms is because they seem to deal with the areas of Law that she wants to go into and is also aware that she has no chance of getting in to any larger firms anyway.

I have only just come across this forum but will inform her of it so that she can come on here and ask questions and learn more for herself.