What to do next as a lost law student?
Hi everyone,
I think this post might be a bit of a rant and a cry for help/advice. Let me give you some background about me and my journey so far. Trying to keep it short.
I moved to London in 2020 December because of Brexit (from another EU country). I was then working in London (like a normal gap year after college). About a year and a half in, my family home burned down back home and I was lost (I was 20 when that happened). At that point, I started to reach 2 years in London, but didn't want to go back home cause I didn't have anything, so I applied to university through clearing. I got in to a non-Russell uni in London, and I had no idea at that time that ranking was a thing (it's not a thing where I am from). Anyways, 3 years, I graduated with a 1st and had a good time at uni. I then applied for a masters with SQE prep in London (Russell Uni), got in and that's what I am doing now, about to graduate in September.
My course is integrated with the SQE, so I sat SQE1 in Jan 2026, passed FLK2, but was 2 marks away from passing FLK1 (worst thing is, I know which questions made me fail lol). Anyways, super upset, because I was juggling other modules at university at the same time and was working really hard to pass.
I have now come to a point in my life where I am starting to wonder what I am going to do next. Naturally, I need to find a job to sustain myself and I would love to find experience within the field that I have been studying at my masters (commercial law, M&A, corporate governance). I have never really worked at a law firm except for a work experience for a month last year, or at the legal advice clinic at my old university. Other than that I worked part time as a receptionist throughout my entire undergraduate.
So I started looking at training contracts/opportunities to apply to that is open now. One of them being Macfarlanes, but I just found out that I would not be applicable to even apply for their training contract because I failed FLK1. I don't know why, but it completely broke me because I have been very interested in Macfarlanes as a firm for 3 years. I feel like an absolute failure, I am stressed, worried and many other things. I don't really know what to do next.
Just fyi: I will be resitting the FLK1 in July 2026
But yeah, is anyone else been in a similar situation? What can I do as my next step? It feels like I can't really think clearly and that my thoughts are just flying all around