Any lawyers on here that could give some advice to my dd age 15 ?

[LovelyYellowLabrador]

She is interested in studying law, she says she doesn’t want to be a barrister
Because she doesn’t want to have to reprint people that she can’t stand or have done terrible things …….

So she’s wondering what other areas of law she could go for

She particularly enjoys geography So wonder if environmental law a good area to aim towards ?

Just wondered if you had and general advice or tips for her
She’s on track for 10 GCSEs atm with predictions of all a grades
She’s a real grafter aswell

I'm not sure I've ever interviewed a prospective trainee that studied geography at degree level. Not sure if they're not applying or not making it through the initial screening? As well as law I see lots of English, History, Theology, Politics and increasingly Maths and various sciences. My the time people start their training contracts you can't tell who did and didn't study law.

For A Levels as others have said avoid law. Also avoid things like sociology, media studies etc. English, Politics, History, Maths and any of the sciences are a good option. Although I think personally I'd avoid just doing all Maths and science based subjects as you really want something to demonstrate essay based skills like English or History.

Tell her not to be afraid of using her initiative to get work experience outside of the "official" channels. I interviewed someone the other day for a vacation placement that had a really impressive array of work experience already. I thought perhaps it was family connections, but no, she'd written to countless firms and even turned up in reception of a big corporate headquartered near her to ask if she could get work experience in their legal department. I was very impressed by her.

A few posters seem to be critical of the fact that she doesn't know much about the legal world but, frankly, how are children who go to state school and don't have family or family friends who are lawyers meant to know anything about it?

Er, the internet??! With so much information available online, it doesn't reflect well if someone hasn't even tried Google.

I went to state school, I didn't know any lawyers (or anyone in professional services) but I decided at 15 that I wanted to be a barrister (after seeing them in TV shows). I had to do my research by going to the local library and writing off for information. That's just what you did in the 80s. So I'd have limited sympathy for a teen now who hasn't at least made an attempt to Google "how do I became a lawyer" or "what jobs can I do in law" or even "what is a well paying job". (OP I'm not necessarily referring to your DD, this is just a general comment).

Lots of info at dds state school and pre legal events etc

@Flapjacker48

Just make sure her a-levels are in traditional subjects. A-level law is seen as a joke.

@Flapjacker48 - A level law may be seen as a joke to you, but a close relatives teaches this to 6th formers (she's an ex-conveyancing solicitor) and says a lot of them take it very seriously and go on to gain a law degree and training contracts.

OP - yes, there are lots of areas of law your daughter can train in and lots of barristers. I knew through work a lovely family barrister. Depending on your career I know of two friends who after doing the silver circle route now work respectively for a charity and in-house legal counsel - both in their 30's but one has two young children. Another friend had a training contract at a magic circle firm but found the pressure really hard and moved out to SW England and got a specialist law job in a firm in Bristol, she is a single mother though. All Oxford graduates. One thing which might help is languages - one of them is fluent in Mandarin and so worked for 1-2 years at one firm's office in China.

I'd also say based on the above - Magic Circle firms are great if you get into them but Silver Circle are just as good. The pressure though, as stated above is immense. I know a few lawyers who after being a few years in conventional law firms have joined e.g. the Government Legal Department or legal jobs in government simply because WFH/work life balance is far better than in a traditional law firm.

Agreed with @ThreeBalloons - a 2.1 at least is best for her law degree because then easy to do a conversion to a law degree.

I do know a few people though who've either got their law degree or another degree at another uni - not RG - and maybe other connections, have done very well - but not necessarily in law firms - in house legal jobs.

A few posters seem to be critical of the fact that she doesn't know much about the legal world but, frankly, how are children who go to state school and don't have family or family friends who are lawyers meant to know anything about it?

I don't think people are critical. They're making the valid point that OP's daughter needs to know more about law as a career, because making career choices based on misconceptions fairly obviously just doesn't make sense.

Why is she interested in studying law? What is it that fascinates her?

I studied law because I was interested in how the world works. How are rules made and why? How does international trade work and why can’t everyone just rip each other off? etc.

If she decides to study law or become a lawyer she will be applying to people who have dedicated their lives to law so she needs to have a spark of interest. Too often law is seen as a safe choice.

I work in financial services law and have covered everything from regulatory consultations, insolvency through to large scale acquisitions involving household names. It would be hard to sustain if I didn’t find it interesting.

There is a huge difference between being a barrister and being a solicitor.

As others have said, barristers don't just do criminal law.

Do you have any contacts in the legal world? Even if you have ever used a law firm yourself as a client, e.g. for your divorce or a property transaction, your daughter could email the solicitor you dealt with before and ask if it would be possible to come and job shadow for a week.

For barristers, if you don't have any contacts, see if it's possible for your daughter to go along to court and sit in the public gallery. Ideally not just criminal cases but other stuff as well.

The legal profession is exceptionally diverse, and the more insight she can get into what different kinds of lawyers do, the better.

My 15 year old is going to be a solicitor she is personally suited to it

Academic
Always extremely careful in her dealings with people
Weighs everything up before acting
Age 9 she had to write an apology to a parent or damaging an item that had happened while she was there but she hadn’t done it. Dh was blown away that she carefully wrote an apology without actually admitting liability
Attention to detail
Listens carefully and takes on board instructions

She doesn’t want to do criminal law though. Skill set for barristers very very different no way could she do that. You need a big personality lots of confidence and the ability to think on your feet none of which Dd really has.

Worth going alone to the crown court with her to watch a trial

I used to work in the recruitment department of a city law firm -part of the 'magic circle' if you are familiar with the terminilogy - and as others have said invariably the best candidates were those with the broadest general education and knowledge. I used to share a flat with four lawyers too so have a slight insight into commercial law.

She needs to do A levels in 'proper' subjects but subjects which she loves and will be successful in. Then do a degree at a good university - not necessarily law.

About half our applicants had law degrees and half other. In many cases those with non law degrees found it easier to show their passion for law as they had deliberately chosen to do a post-grad conversion course rather than just going through the motions of law degree and then LPC with the expectation of a training contract.

The other degree subjects also allowed them to have insights into different areas of law. For example is your daughter did a degree in Geography she would be in good position to understand environmental law. In all cases the people who were successful had a broad education and lots of outside interests. Many had gained voluntary experience: eg they spent time volunteering with a law centre or had shown their interest in law in some other way. So take all the opportunities available.

Of course she doesnt need to work for a law firm - being an in-house lawyer at a company/central or local government body/ other organisation alway struck me as being in many ways more interesting as there is more variety of law and she would get to spend time with a broader range of people - working for a law firm can be very intense and in many ways a bit dull!

I’m a barrister. She’s not ready to make this decision if she thinks being a barrister is necessarily about crime (if that’s what you mean by “having done terrible things”). She also needs to understand that justice requires giving a voice even to those who may have done terrible things. We are well past the era in which the accused was automatically denied representation in court.

Head down for the best possible grades. There’s plenty of time to learn more about the legal profession and decide whether it’s for her or not.

That's harsh - because your requirement means that the vast majority of children from poor backgrounds who don't have barristers in their family or the parents of their friends 'aren't ready to make that decision' right at the point that they need to be making it in terms of college applications/A Level selection.

I don’t think it’s harsh at all. I think it’s realistic and recognising that she needs more guidance. Law is far from all about crime. Personally I’d say avoid crime as it’s a lot of work for very little money. Yes it’s interesting but so are other areas of law - employment, family etc all have the human element too.

There’s no better or worse between doing a law degree.and doing a non- law degree plus conversion. If she’s really interested in law, do law. Doing that degree means you get to do some more interesting bits like philosophy of law etc. If she loves history (say) but would like a career as a lawyer, do history and then the conversion course.