Is work experience really that important? Absolutely. Getting work experience at law firms (to understand what lawyers do) and in the wider world (to build up your commercial awareness) is essential. Work placement schemes (run by many law firms during the university holidays) are a good place to start; they provide an opportunity for you to find out about not only law, but also individual firms. Firms increasingly rely on extended work placements to figure out which candidates they really want to take on as trainees.


Do law firms prefer candidates to have a law degree? Most firms are looking to recruit a balance of law and non-law graduates - in fact, these days roughly half of all solicitors are from non-law backgrounds. This means that if you've a burning desire to study English literature but think you might want a


career as a lawyer, it’s fine to do English at uni and convert to law by doing the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL). This is a postgraduate course which squeezes the seven foundations of legal knowledge into one year. You then join the traditional law graduates and do either the Legal Practice Course (LPC) or the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC), followed by a training contract in a law firm or a pupillage in a set of chambers.


Can I take a year out after uni? Definitely! It’s something a lot of students do. If you don't have a training contract or pupillage by the time you leave uni, it's probably a good idea to take a year out to spend time enhancing and making applications. Along with gaining experience (both legal and commercial), travel is a great gap year favourite - and provided that you end up with more to talk about than the beach, it can really enhance your applications!


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