How to start your career as a solicitor
Whether you are a law or a non-law degree holder, there are two key points to remember as you start your career journey:
- Research – do as much as possible as this will give you a clearer idea of where you want to go when applying for training contracts
- Legal work experience – get as much as you can, whether it's short-term, long-term, part-time, full-time or voluntary. With some legal experience behind you, your job applications will look more credible and you will have a better feel for which area of the profession might suit you best.
Apply for work experience
The best work experience you can do if you want to become a solicitor is to take part in vacation placement schemes with law firms. These are short periods of work experience, usually undertaken during university holidays. They can be done at any point before your LPC and the earlier you apply the better, as it’s good to have a few vacation schemes under your belt before you apply for training contracts.
You could also apply directly to commercial and government organisations with in-house counsel for work shadowing (observation for a few days). See the Law Society's Directory for details of employed solicitors and in-house counsel.
Gather information
As soon as you start thinking about a career as a solicitor, investigate different employers and areas of legal practice.
For example, do you want to work for a corporate law firm or high street legal practice – or would you prefer to work as an in-house solicitor?
- if you are at university, you should have started your research by your second year (if you are a law student) or your final year (if you are a non-law student)
- attend general careers and law fairs (which tend to take place between October and February each year), careers talks on becoming a solicitor and any presentations by law firms. Visit your careers service for information or go to prospects.ac.uk for information on open access events at other universities
- if you are not currently studying law but have friends who are, ask if they know of any events you can attend
- if you are already working, you can find out about law fair dates and venues from www.prospects.ac.uk
Where to get information
There are a number of sources available to help you:
- your university careers service
- College of Law open days
- Solicitors Regulation Authority website (www.sra.org.uk)
- Law Society website (www.lawsociety.org.uk) and Directory of Solicitors and Barristers
- graduate careers website, such as Prospects (www.prospects.ac.uk)
- student guides to the legal profession such as the Chambers Student Guide and the Training Contract and Pupillages Handbook (lawcareers.net)
- legal graduate recruitment directories such as Target Law and business-to-business directories such as Chambers and Partners and Legal 500, which are comprehensive client guides rather than purely student guides
