Getting a graduate job

Arghh... may well be your first thought, but that number hasn’t changed for a number of years and most of you will end up with a job and a career.

It should be clear to you that not all of you are going to be getting onto a graduate programme. Few students will follow the textbook route of degree, (GDL), LPC, and Training Contract. So I would suggest it is a good idea to have a few back up plans in mind.

There are of course lots of other routes, although these are much less defined. One route which isn’t uncommon is to go as far as completing the LPC and then taking a job as a paralegal at a law firm. After a year or two of experience and showing off your skills to your employer it is not unusual for a person to be offered a training contract within a year or two. It is not of course guaranteed!

You could train to become a Legal Executive; ILEX the representative body for Legal Executives have courses aimed at graduates which will get you earning almost straight away and doing many of the same things are your counterparts that have trained as solicitors. It is also possible for a Legal Executive to become a solicitor once you have attained at certain level of experience at the discretion of the Solicitors Regulatory Authority.

You could work in related field; you could become a lecturer, an academic, or you could work for the police or the civil service using all of the same skills that may have attracted you to law in the first place.

Additionally, there is the Government Legal Service which is the largest employer of lawyers in the country, a body that is sometimes overlooked. Of course working in the Government Legal Service isn’t the only place you could work as part of the civil service. There are lots of different governmental departments that I think would be of interest to people with a legal background such as the Ministry of Justice or the Ministry of Defence.

Really, the list is quite long – think tanks, NGO’s and charities (not all charity work is voluntary!).

The only real difficulty is that the path may not be completely clear, so be flexible in your thinking; things are rarely as simple as you are led to believe by your high school careers advisor!

Keep your goal in sight; unfortunately you are probably going to have to work out your own path – after university earning money and building a career are your responsibility.

When you are stuck, start asking questions and not... “what am I going to do if I can’t get a training contract?” Because that is completely subjective – what you do is your choice, but if you want to know what paralegals do ask, if you want to know if you would enjoy being a Legal Executive call up a local law firm and ask if you can shadow a Legal Executive for a day or two. 

Good luck and keep your head up – you won’t be the first person to experience the feelings and thoughts that run through your head over the next few months. After University life can get complicated.