AIBU to ask for legal career advice?

[thelongwayhome]

Posting for traffic. Uni have been unhelpful. I was meant to have a placement year, this was canceled due to covid. I am in my final year of my law degree. I'm trying to apply for training contracts but getting somewhat confused.

Do I need to apply for the LPC before securing a TC? I will not be undertaking the LPC without a TC, it's a risk I'm not willing to take. I cannot afford to do the LPC myself, do all TC offers fund your LPC, or do some require you pay for it yourself? The firm websites do not make this clear.
I have good grades and a decent CV, I cannot move as I have a child who is settled here and we live near her father, but there are many well respected local firms.

My other option is to undertake the SQE and find work in the meantime, obviously that will be somewhat difficult given the current climate.

I mention the placement as I would have been applying for 2022 starts with no period of potential unemployment after finishing my undergrad, however now I'm effectively finishing a year earlier it's really screwed that up.

Any and all advice is welcome, especially if I've misunderstood something. As I said uni has been less than helpful in regard to what's next for us! Trying not to worry too much.

You can google companies that offer to pay for lpcs op. Cilex is another route in but i understand more limiting, paralegals even though they ask for experience I’d go for it, apply anyway.

My daughter was taken on as a paralegal by a top ten who had asked for two to three years experience, she had none, she then was offered her training contract by one of the largest global firms there is, she did her lpc whilst working as a paralegal at the first firm, who tried to keep her but she jumped.

She started as a paralegal on a very low wage, just above min, but was glad for the experience, and was quickly moved up to supervisory and on 27k before she left for her training contract.

I’d say looking at her route into it, you need to be willing to roll your sleeves up and get your hands dirty and apply for whatever you can at the same stage. She limited herself as she didn’t wish to do high st, and is commercial/corporate and I have to say there were times I was really worried for her, but she persevered to her credit and achieved it.

It’s hard but you’ve just got to get on with it. Apply for everything and anything.