r/uklaw

please can any of you lovely people that escaped take pity upon me and provide any tips? context: 20 something year old, sold my soul to a conveyancing mill in hopes that it would give me the transferable skills to branch into a “better” speciality but now i just feel pigeon-holed by recruiters?? not to mention the NW seems to have absolutely no paralegal roles going that aren’t ELPL/motor/personal injury etc ??

i’m more interested in corporate/commercial but i will literally do anything at this rate. i fear im destroying my reputation in the market because of how much i hate my job and how much it drains me and how little i actually want to do.. im considering handing in my notice soon bc its 3 months but that would require me to sort something out within those 3 months and we literally have a war going on and idk think that’s going to make this terrible job market any better

For anyone that trained at a MC/US and moved anywhere with a better WLB when you qualified, how did you find it (and what kind of firm/area did you go to)?

Thought I would be able to do the long hours but the regular 2am finishes multiple times a week, every week across multiple seats in my TC (and being told off for not taking on more work!) has made me realise this isn’t for me. The money would be great on NQ but not even sure I’ll be retained by my preferred practice areas. Every recruiter I’ve spoken to only seems interested in pushing me towards the even more intense US firms. Thinking of just leaving and going literally anywhere with a better WLB. Would be nice to hear others’ experiences!

I’m looking for cases that have applied particular provisions of law that I’m talking about in my exam. Can I use AI to help find cases that apply these laws (I’m not using it for anything else, like summarising the case as I do that myself)

Hi all,

Me again! I was here yesterday with some questions and now I have another. So, I'm a non-law grad who recently made the decision to transition in my 1st year. I've been doing a lot of research into the practice and it's something that interests me. I think the degree I'm doing is fine (English Lit and Linguistics), as apparently a lot of English grads convert to Law following the completion of their degree.

But I'm a tad concerned about my university's standing. I currently attend University of Birmingham, which is a Russell Group, but it seems as though it may be viewed at the bottom of the barrel compared to the other members by law firms, which is a shame. I worked really hard to get the grades to come here. Nevertheless, that's my fault and I should've done research into this (even though I only made the change recently!) before coming here.

So, how can I make do? I'm never going to beat an Oxbridge applicant, but do I have any chance at all of entering MC and US firms if I bust my ass off, get a 1st and get some experience under my belt? Does anyone with experience know anything about my circumstances?

Thank you in advance!

My question is should I bother? Would it make me stand out having a years experience at a small firm? Thanks

I have an in-person, timed, closed-book exam where I have to answer an essay question. The topic can come from any material we’ve covered since the start of the year, so it’s quite unpredictable and stressful. Does anyone have advice on how to effectively prepare and revise for this kind of exam? we’re allowed to bring an A4 cheat sheet, but since the exam is essay-based and focuses more on theory/ discussion, I’m not sure how useful it will actually be for me.

I’m 11 months into my QWE (I will have finished my 2 years in June 2027).

I’m scheduled to sit my SQE 1 in January 2027 and SQE 2 in July 2027.

SQE 2 results would be released in October 2027.

So by that logic I’ll be qualified in October 2027.

However, I desperately want to leave the firm that I’m working at as soon as possible. I won’t get into the details but it’s horrible.

Is it safe to leave in June 2027 after I get my 2 years signed off and then just focus on SQE2 until I qualify in October?

When I say “safe” I mean will it look good to other firms when I apply for NQ jobs that I’ve had a period of unemployment right after getting my 2 years QWE? All I care about is making sure that I can land an NQ job asap.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

PS. When should I start applying for NQ jobs? Can I say “I’m scheduled to pass my SQE 2 in October/scheduled to qualify in October”?

This is very random but I'm starting as a Crown Court Clerk pretty soon, and need some fashion advice since this is my first job out of uni. Anyone who has worked in crown/magistrate courts can you let me know what the dress sense is for Court employees, or Court Clerks? Like what have you observed them to wear: muted colours, only suits, some casual style or not?

I understand it to be quite formal but need a little bit more insight.

I’m a third-seat trainee in London trying to decide where to aim for qualification. So far I’ve done Real Estate, and Commercial, and I’m currently in Energy.

I’ve enjoyed aspects of each seat, but none feel like the right long-term fit. With my final seat coming up in September, I’ve been speaking to partners in Banking, Corporate, and Commercial Disputes to get a better sense of direction.

I’m drawn to litigation. I did a year as a paralegal in disputes and genuinely enjoyed it. That said, I suspect I’m better suited to transactional, commercially focused work, and that this might be more sustainable and enjoyable over the course of a career.

At the moment, I’m particularly interested in:

Corporate (especially M&A, which my firm does a lot of)

Banking (including private credit)

Would really appreciate hearing from anyone in these areas:

What do you actually enjoy day-to-day, and do you enjoy it?

What are the downsides people don’t talk about?

How did you decide it was right for you?

I’m conscious that this final seat will likely shape where I qualify, so keen to make an informed decision.

Thanks in advance.

Hi everyone, I’m an in-house trainee at a small firm (approx. 20 employees) due to qualify soon. I am the firm's first trainee, and my supervisor has limited experience with managing trainees and the SRA’s training requirements.

The issue is that I’ve gained little to no dispute resolution/contentious experience during my TC. 

My supervisor initially dismissed this as "part of the in-house training contract experience” but has recently realized it is a mandatory SRA requirement for qualification. They have asked me to research how an in-house trainee can obtain dispute resolution experience.  

So far I’ve considered law firm secondments, legal clinics, chambers and litigation programmes as options but I feel like I’m hitting dead ends. 

In terms of Law firms secondments: My supervisor believes the law firms we instruct won't take me because we don’t "generate enough business" for them. I don't understand this rationale, as we have long-standing relationships with our law firms & I have been working with them throughout my TC. My supervisor is in the process of speaking with them but has yet to be successful.

On Legal Clinics: I have not been successful yet as they have either been unresponsive, require more experience or don’t have availability for volunteers. My university legal clinic for instance require volunteers with 3+ years PQE. I have contacted Citizens Advice but have yet to hear back. 

I don’t know anybody in Chambers who would be keen on taking on a trainee for DR experience. 

I’ve also looked into trainee litigation programmes (BPP/ Ulaw) but they don’t seem to satisfy the SRA’s requirements (they only last a couple of days & some don’t provide actual work experience).

Aside from law firms and clinics, are there alternative ways to satisfy the contentious requirement (e.g., specific pro bono schemes or ADR-focused placements)? Anybody I could contact?

I am tempted to reach out to our law firms directly. Should I reach out to them & propose a short secondment or "work shadow" arrangement or do I leave this to my supervisor? Anything I could do to ease the process?

Do you think that a law firm would refuse a trainee secondment from a client based on the volume of work a client provides? Any guidance on how to approach in-house to private practice secondments (keep in mind we do not have any HR)?

I feel like I am running out of time and can’t seem to find anybody who relates to my situation. If anyone has navigated an in-house TC with a lack of contentious work, I would be incredibly grateful for your insight.

How are we,

So I'm basically asking this because I know someone is who is still on bail (has been for many months) for a minor, I believe Summary Offence and they are to stand trial in an English magistrates court next month in April (2025) after pleading not guilty. They were charged with Criminal Damage (value is under £5000), due to writing/graffiti on a few walls.

The person now resides in the European Union and has no intention on attending the court date due to the person feeling that they're being overcharged and punished for something minor and something they explained wasn't mean to be taken to seriously. The person also doesn't want to live in the general area that they've been charged with anyway.

This happened in England at the time and the person was charged in England by an English police force. Even the CPS has stated that they would look at a fine or/and community order or something.

What would police forces in England and Wales do when you fail to attend court (trial) for a minor summary offence? Would they constantly keep looking for you at your last known address, would they even try to extradite someone from a country, would they put a Interpol Red Notice on you, would they flag you name at UK borders or flag your name on the PNC?

Could English and Welsh police try and hunt for you even if you were in another UK jurisdiction, like the Isle of Man, Gursey or Scotland for example?

UPDATE APRIL 2026: It's been over a year since they were meant to go to Magistrates Court in England, no police have hunted them down, they've worked, rented e.g. but not living in England. They believe a FTA warrant has gone out for their arrest.

I have recently qualified as a Solicitor and intend to register as a Freelance Solicitor. One of the requirements is that I require an address for service. Renting a commercial space is quite expensive on my own, so I was considering a chambers arrangement. I wanted to check here how common is this arrangement for Solicitors?

Background: I'm an Indian lawyer and I do not plan to move to the UK this year as there's no visa scheme that is available to me as a sole practitioner.

I feel like this subreddit is probably the only one that will lend a listening ear to this rant.

Some context here. I am almost 4 months into my role as a trainee solicitor. As part of my training contract, I have to do rotations in several departments. In my current rotation, I’m in a team of 7 male lawyers (3 senior associates, 4 partners) and 2 other female lawyers (1 senior associate and 1 junior associate). I’m the only trainee solicitor in my team. My direct supervisor is one of the male partners.

As you can tell from the title of this post and the gender ratio in my team, the male lawyers often engage in a lot of inappropriate locker room talk. They use misogynistic, homophobic language. When things go wrong, in the sense that person A caused trouble for person B, they often say person A r*ped person B. Strange choice of words that I don’t feel comfortable hearing as a woman.

I think they are well aware that they are quite crude cos once or twice, they have told me not to report them to HR …

Also the male lawyers like to ask questions about my personal life which I find quite intrusive. They like to ask about my dating life and how many apps I’m on. When I say I’m not on any, they say I should try. Idk is it common for older male colleagues to comment on each other’s personal lives like this? I don’t like sharing details about my personal life but they often keep prodding. Is this thinly veiled workplace harassment? Am I being too sensitive?

There was also an incident where I was asked to follow my direct supervisor for lunch with a client. I did not talk much during the lunch. My supervisor was talking to the client. The convo was about cigarettes and women. I don’t have anything to contribute and I didn’t feel comfortable with what they were saying. After the client lunch, my supervisor told me that I needed to work on my EQ because I did not talk during the lunch.

My rotation in this department is almost up and I’ll be moving on to my next department. Hopefully, the lawyers in my next department aren’t like this. I feel like I should’ve said something … However, at the same time, I’m the most junior person and they may think I’m too sensitive, can’t take a joke and cannot fit in, which may affect my retention at the firm

Fellow LBWT, how do yall handle such situations? Anyways here’s the end of my rant, thank you for listening 🫶🏻

Edit: Thank you everyone for your kind comments. This is the sanity check I needed. I thought I was crazy for feeling uncomfortable when everyone else seemed to be going along with the jokes.

Being in the investigation business, I once had a case where a man murdered the wrong guy. Despite the advice to remain silent in interviews, he told the police he couldn’t be guilty of murder because he accidentally killed the wrong person. Basically he happily admitted the killing but: “I killed the wrong guy, none of your malice aforethought nonsense applies, so it’s just manslaughter.” The detective: “perhaps we could talk about transferred malice …”

Hey guys,

I’m planning to do my Master’s in the UK, most likely at the University of Law. I’m confused between choosing Psychology or a Business-related course since I studied both during my bachelor’s.

I wanted to know which field has better job opportunities in the UK, especially for international students. Is Psychology worth it or does it require a lot more study to actually get a job? Or would a Business-related course be a safer option?

Also, how is the University of Law in terms of reputation, teaching, and job prospects?

Would really appreciate any honest advice or experiences!

I have enjoyed all three seats and am stuck on best option for qualification. I like the research and analysis in PC and tax but also enjoy the techical nature of restructuring and insolvency with the „real life” element and a lot of client contact. What should I prioritise when thinking long term? I have found pure litigation quite stresfull previously.

Hi there, I am in my second year of my degree. I am starting to consider what path I may want to follow within the legal profession. Unfortunately I have no passion for the corporate side of things, despite that being where the money is. I was wondering if anyone could provide any insight into medical negligence law? It is an area I am keep to learn more about. I have always had an interest in medicine and medical procedures but never had the science/maths grades to actually pursue medicine. What does a day to day look like, and is this an area I could make decent money in? I have a passion for legal justice for victims of sexual abuse however it is an extremely emotionally taxing area of law with little pay out for how difficult it is. If medical negligence was something I was interested in can anyone provide advice on next steps? Thanks!

Most students don’t lose marks on knowledge but on structure and analysis.
Happy to answer questions about essay technique, structure, or how to improve marks in general.

Hi everyone,

I’m graduating from the Uni of Leicester this year and, if all goes well, I should be coming out with a first class law degree. I’m trying to get my foot into the legal industry and I’m honestly open to anything at this stage, legal assistant, paralegal, caseworker, admin support. Just something to get started. Ideally I’d love a paralegal role.

I was wondering if anyone here has any advice on how to actually break into the legal sector locally, or if you know of any firms or organisations around Leicester (or nearby cities like Nottingham, Birmingham, etc) that might be hiring.

For a bit of background, I did a legal internship a couple of years back at the AG Chambers in malaysia, and I’ve also been a caseworker for a pro bono project at uni. Aside from that, most of my work experience has been in unrelated areas like food and beverage, so I’m a bit worried my CV isn’t as strong as others going straight into law.

I’m aware of the classic, “just network” advice but it doesn’t really seem to be going anywhere for me.

Would really appreciate any tips, advice, or even just pointing me in the right direction. Thanks a lot!