Graduate Law Jobs – All you need to know

Reviewer — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 11:22:54 +0000

If you are fresh out of University in the United Kingdom and are searching for graduate law jobs or are contemplating a career in law; here is a look at the various prospects available,

The sources of legal employment opportunities; the qualifications needed to acquire a good job and how you can go about increasing employability .

The Education: Since the legal system in England, Scotland and Wales is exetremely different from Northern Ireland and Scotland, the routes to getting the proper qualification needed for lawyer as well as other entry level law jobs can vary significantly. For instance, In England and Wales, law graduates are expected to take the Bar Vocational Course (BVC) or a legal Practice Course (LPC) while professionals with a non law degree will need to complete the one year Graduate Diploma in law before they take the LPC course.

On the other hand in Scotland, law students will be expected to complete a one year Diploma in Legal Practices; there is also the provision for accelerated law degrees provided by several Scottish Universities.

People interested in practicing law in Northern Ireland will have to complete professionals with a non law degree will need to take a two year degree course.

Finding graduate law jobs: Depending on the type of career that you seek; there are different routes that you can use to find career opportunities in the legal sector.

Solicitors: If you are interested in entry level law jobs for solicitors, you should search through the websites of professional bodies, firms and university career services; this is where the majority of listings are posted. Solicitors in Northern Ireland will find that due to the speculative nature of the legal job market; it can be quite onerous to find entry level jobs.

Usually candidates are recruited for graduate law jobs during the last year of their law degree course on training contracts. You will also find employment prospects in smaller firms advertised in newspapers and other job related publications.

Barrister: It’s best to look at the Pupilage Portal for barrister jobs; applications are generally invited a year or two before the start date of the pupilage. Deadlines for the receipt of the applications are set by the Pupilage Portal non online system chambers; this date is given on their website. The Bar Standards Board is another body that offers a list of organizations that are interested in offering pupilage at the employed bar.

Paralegal; jobs: For paralegal jobs, you can look for advertisements in newspapers, various employment websites, firm websites and university career services. The skills that recruiters are looking for when hiring candidates for graduate law jobs apart from the educational qualifications, most recruiters and interested firms will also look for certain professional and soft skills such as:

Experience in the type of law practiced by the firm

Personal Achievements

Commercial knowingness and industry specific experience

Ability to work within a team

Excellent communication skills

Superior people skills

Great Research and Writing skills

Experience with pro bono work

Experience in debating, negotiating, mooting and public speaking for candidates interested in entry level law jobs

Most medium and large sized firms are very specific and stringent about their requirement of high academic performance for their graduate law jobs; as a matter of fact. It is common to expect a 2:1; however, you may find some small sized firms that will make accept a grade of 2:2. Graduate law jobs are not only fulfilling and intriguing but also extremely lucrative with impressive benefits packages, so all the hard work that you put in to secure a job will be worth it.

Researching Your Prospective Employer

Reviewer — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 14:47:27 +0000

If you have a job interview, it is important to stand out from the crowd. You can make a great first impression by showing a detailed knowledge of the company.

You should start with the company’s website. Things like the corporate structure of the company and its business life to date are good starting points. Check out the company press releases to get an idea of any recent changes or big announcements, such as just going public. If you understand before going in how large or small the company is or how fast it is growing or shrinking, you will gain an edge in the salary negotiation.

If you can find out what the business record is at employee satisfaction and benefits you will get a better understanding of how hard the competition will be for the vacancy. However, if you find any negative stories surrounding the company, it might be a sign of a weak legal or financial position. If you are a new employee you are more likely to be let go first if redundancies are made.

get some knowledge on the industry you would be joining. You can use websites like bestjobvacancies.co.uk to find out about specific industries. This way you can speak intelligently about aspects of your field that may benefit their business. Knowing data or technical terms about the industry or company could help you stand out. But make sure you have got all of the facts correct. You don’t want to use out of date statistics.

Finally, know your interviewer. The names of senior people in each department will be a great start. Again, go to the company website and see if there is some biographical information on your interviewer or prospective department head. If you have anything in common like university, you can use this in the interview but don’t make too much of it. If you take on some of this advice, you will stand out in a positive way to the rest of the applicants.

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Graduate Law Jobs – All you need to know

Researching Your Prospective Employer