Jacqueline Said:

Work experience for yr 10s at law firms?

We Answered:

Suggestion for what?

Francisco Said:

law firms that offer work experience?

We Answered:

What stage of education are you? Are you intending to do a law degree? If so, you need to take it really seriously and get yourself organised. My son's a lawyer - and this is what he did.

He went off to do his 3 year law degree. After the first year, he started writing to firms to apply for work experience - sometimes this is like applying for a job in itself, and there is a lot of competition even for one or two weeks' experience. Most firms take on a few students at a time, and over a number of weeks in the summer. He got the webpage of the top 500 firms and worked his way through them.

So, we live in the north of England, but he wanted a variety of experience. He wrote to over 50 firms - some small and some large, and all over the country. In the end, he got about 8 offers - and he took them all. Two were in London, another in Carlisle, one in Leeds, on in Hull etc. His summer was packed with work experience, one week after another (two were for 2 weeks) and he got different types of experience in each one. Sometimes he twiddled his thumbs and it wasn't worth much, other times it was really interesting. Each week he'd stay in a B&B, then move on to the next one.

At the end of that summer, he had a fantastic CV. So when he came to apply for training contracts (before he even finished his degree), he did the same again - only this time he went to the list of top firms, and he applied to 150 of them. Again, he got invited to interviews all over the country and it was a busy time, about 20 interviews in all (yes, from 150 applications). But it paid off and he got offered a training contract with a London firm and got sponsorship for law college.

He's now jumped ship to a really big firm in London, but I've no doubt that his career got that kick start from the initial work placements that caught firms' attention. So if you want to be a lawyer, just do as much as you can and work on that CV :)

Lonnie Said:

Need some advice..go back to school to raise GPA for another Bachelors or gain work experience for law school?

We Answered:

You need to talk to the counselors at a law school to figure out your best plan. And if you want to get a second bachelor's to bring your GPA up, take something really easy.

Francisco Said:

I've applied to top law firms for work experience in summer, i'm only 17 so how likely are they to consider me?

We Answered:

They are very unlikely to consider you due to your age, lack of work experience and the economy in general. Lawyers deal with highly confidential information, hence most will want a more mature employee. That isn't to say that you could not do the job, just that they would eliminate you from consideration. Top law firms are going to want someone with a few years of legal experience. You should not hold back from applying for other positions even if they are not your first choice. The job market right now is very tough, and it's especially hard at your age.

Samuel Said:

how to apply for work experience in law firms?

We Answered:

Your university should have helped with your first placement which is by far the hardest part of becoming a solicitor. I have no idea if they will help you at this stage, you have left it a long time.

Edit: if your university has not been helpful and you have tried applying to Law firms directly with no success for a year, it is time to step back and rethink this. There are plenty of other jobs where a Law degree is useful. For instance, Accounting firms like to hire Law graduates as do Investment banks.