How to succeed
Congratulations – you have a training contract
What next?
Unfortunately, the LPC wasn’t the last exam of your career as a lawyer. As a lawyer, learning never stops. As you progress through your training and become a qualified solicitor you need to continue to develop your knowledge and expertise to provide the best advice to clients.
There are a number of compulsory courses you need to think about – the Professional Skills Course is the first of these, and it must be completed during your training contract.
You may want to specialise, become an advocate or work in local government. The College of Law can help you achieve each of these goals.
But of equal importance is what your firm expects of you...
Firms want trainees to “hit the ground running” and be a credible and valuable member of their team from day one. If your training contract is the first time you have worked in a professional environment, you might be unsure what is expected of you.
If you haven’t yet got a training contract, don’t give up.
Your LPC does not have an expiry date so you don’t need to worry that your qualification will become outdated.
There are many steps you can take to improve your chances of attaining your training contract. Gaining legal or legal-related experience can help you maintain and add to your skill set, as well as increasing your marketability.
Continuing professional development
Once you are a fully qualified lawyer, you will have to complete a set number of hours of continuing professional development (CPD) hours each year (currently 16).
But successful lawyers see this as an opportunity, not an obligation. To stay competitive and up-to-date with the latest legislative developments and build successful, satisfying careers, you need to continually expand your skills and improve your capabilities. This will enhance your and your firm’s reputation, not to mention increasing job satisfaction and quality of work.
And to make sure you succeed in your chosen profession, you should always look to The College of Law, the specialists in training for legal professionals, for all your future training needs.
