Can anyone advice my brother on becoming a lawyer?

[curiousgeorgie]

My brother is currently at Kings studying international politics.... And thinking that he's made a huge mistake, as he has now made up his mind that it's law he wants to do.

He has excellent GCSE & A Level results (4 A*'s)

Obviously there's not much time until the next ucas deadline... I want to help him but Google is a bit of a minefield and I have no idea.

Could someone tell me the 'best route' (if there is such a thing) into becoming a lawyer. (With Human rights being the aspect he's most interested in)

Thankyou in advance!

Hi curious, your brother does not need to do a law degree to become a lawyer. He can finish his degree and then do the GDL (graduate diploma in law) which is a one year course covering the foundation law subjects.

He needs to think about whether he wants to be a solicitor or a barrister. After his GDL he will need to do nan other one year course (the LPC for solicitors, or BPTC for barristers) and then do a two year training contract with a law firm or a one year pupillage to become a barrister. Many large law firms pay the course fees and maintenance grants for both the GDL and LPC. There are also scholarships available for would-be barristers.

In his final year your brother should apply for vacation schemes (if he wants to be a solicitor) or mini-pupillages (if he wants to be a barrister).

Both routes are very competitive but becoming a barrister is particularly so. Human rights is also a very trendy area which many think they want to do but in reality few actually go into.

The most important thing is that he does well in his degree, obtains work experience and takes part in other interesting activities while he's at university. It's virtually impossible to obtain a training contract or pupillage with less than a 2.1 and a good CV.

Everything lawgal says is right of course. The urgent question is whether your DB wants to carry on his existing degree or whether he's not enjoying it and wants to switch to law. Either way could work, but realistically his priority should be picking the degree in which he is most likely to score a First or at least a 2:1. He should immediately prioritise talking to mates reading Law, read their books, lecture notes and essays to see whether he'd enjoy doing it for the next few years.

Politics is a very good degree to study if he wants to get into law so I'd say continue. However it's essential that he try to get into a summer student programme where he'll work in law firms almost like an intern during his summer break. He may have to apply to a lot of firms but generally most decent firms already know their future summer students and potential trainees by now so he'll have to work hard to get his foot in the door but if he can and makes a good impression then his opportunities could be great.