Career timetable: solicitors
Anyone wishing to pursue a career as a solicitor must be aware that as of September 2021, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has introduced a new ‘super exam’, which all prospective solicitors will have to pass in order to qualify. This is called the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE). Anyone who started a law degree, Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) or Legal Practice Course (LPC) before the SQE was introduced in September 2021 can still qualify through the old route, without taking the SQE, until 2032. But all students who started a law degree or law conversion after September 2021 must pass the SQE to qualify. Although the SRA will continue to recognise the LPC until as late as 2032, candidates won’t necessarily have that long to qualify while avoiding the SQE. The training committee of the City of London Law Society, which represents City firms, has said that firms will not want to run two separate qualification systems alongside each other and are therefore likely to insist that all future hires take the SQE from 2022. The SQE provides more flexibility for students, enabling different approaches to preparing for the exams as well as completing the qualifying work experience (QWE) requirements. However, many law firms are set to continue relying on the trusted two-year training contract and hiring their future trainees two years in advance of their start date. Find out more about training as a solicitor in the rest of this section, but first take a look at the rough timetable below, which sets out the commonest route to becoming a solicitor. First-year law and second-year non-law students As you consider this career path, ask yourself the following questions: • What does it mean to be a solicitor? • Am I cut out for the work?
• Why do I want to be a solicitor rather than a barrister? • Do I want to practise in London or the regions? • In which practice area?
For help with all of these and more, use LawCareers.Net’s New to Law section.
You should try to arrange some summer work experience to begin checking out the different types of firm (note that some formal work placement schemes don’t take place for another year, though). Above all, work at achieving and maintaining good grades: when it comes to applying for formal work placement schemes and training contracts, firms will definitely want to know your first and second-year grades, not just what degree you’ve ended upwith. Second-year law and final-year non-law students Autumn term, winter holidays and spring term Decide whether you genuinely believe that law is a career which will suit your character and skills through further research into the profession. Go to your careers advice service and discuss the profession generally with a careers adviser. Attend law firm presentations on campus and at firms’ offices, and develop your networking skills. Research and apply for work placement schemes (which take place every winter, spring and summer). Attending vacation schemes is a great way to get a feel for the range and types of practice available to you. See ‘Work placement scheme deadlines’ for closing dates. The big annual training contract application deadline shared by many firms is 31 July. However, firms are free to recruit and offer training contracts at any time, so increasingly there are vacancies to apply to all year round.
Most university law careers fairs take place in October/November. They represent your
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