Graduate Advice - What's your next move?

There are times when preparing for a career in law seems really unfair, especially when compared with other graduate professions. When the medical society got to party all night and dress up the cadavers, the law society got a sober black tie ball. When the philosophy students got to reference with a name and date, the law students had to struggle with The Oxford Standard Citation of Legal Authorities. But the worst inequality has to be what happens after graduation.

For graduates with a future in banking, once the robes are off it's a matter of an internship, a few applications and the £30,000 a year career can get moving. For future lawyers waving university behind, there are still two years to go.

Depending on what you're planned career path is, those two years are likely to be spent on either a training contract or undertaking pupillage. The former sets you up to be a solicitor and the latter leads to the Bar.
The upside to these two years is that, unlike in other careers, graduates get eased into their working life. The profession understands that if you're going to be responsible for a contract being legally binding or a person staying out of prison then you're going to need to be comfortable in your surroundings and know exactly how everything works. That's what the two years are for but what exactly will they entail?

Pupillage

All bar one

With uni behind you and a glittering career in law on the horizon, there's only the pupillage left before you can start checking the post for that call to the bar. But what can you expect from the next few years?

What are they?

For you they're a chance to take those years of university education and apply them to some good, old-fashioned legal graft. Kind of like an apprenticeship for barristers. For whatever chambers you apply to, they're a chance to pass on some of their wisdom to the next generation whilst scouting for new blood.
They involve a bit of shadowing and a dab of work experience, with most pupils given six months to see how the old guard do it before taking on cases of their own.
Pupillages, unlike a lot of training, have to be paid. The minimum rate is £10,000 a year plus reasonable travel expenses.

What do you get at the end?

A pupillage is the easiest way of proving your worth and getting your foot in the door of a Chambers. As well as £833.33 a month, pupil's get the chance to start making a name for themselves and the kind of contacts that a barrister needs to be successful.

How long will it last?

Typically, a pupillage lasts one year. They won't last any less but in rare cases might last a little bit longer. That time's divided into two 'sixes', so-called because of the number of months they last.
The first six is non-practicing, which means the only actual work done is paperwork. Pupils are still supposed to come to court and to see everything that goes on but aren't expected to get their hands dirty.
Come the second six, pupils are given their own caseload and the real barrister-ing begins. It's normal for this to involve trials at crown or magistrates court. It's very much the exception, not the rule, but some pupils are involved in jury trials too.

Getting prepared

'Know what you want to do' is the crucial advice any budding pupil should be given. The kind of chambers applied to alters everything. Obviously it effects where you'll be and who you'll work with but it'll also have an impact on things like how often you'll be in court. Pupils in commercial sets may well never see the inside of a courtroom, for example, while pupils in criminal sets might as well pitch up a tent there.
A pupillage might only last a year but it's after-shock might ripple through your whole career. If you make a splash as pupil then it's quite likely you'll be asked to join the chambers.

Training contracts

First job or final hurdle?

With a trusted degree in hand and a look of steely determination on your face, the training contract is the last stop before a career as a solicitor. But how exactly do these elusive beasts work and what are you expected to do about them?

What are they?

The connecting bridge between studying law and practicing it, training contracts are the first chance for a trainee solicitor to apply everything they learned at uni in the real world. In a lot of ways, it's like a legal apprenticeship.
Trainees are supervised by a professional solicitor from the firm they're training at, who acts as a safety net and also provides feedback that will help the trainee apply their skills professionally.
As well as imparting new knowledge, training contracts afford the opportunity for a trainee solicitor to find out where they're best suited. It's not uncommon to move around departments and to try on different areas of the law to see which one fits.

What do you get at the end?

Two years of professional experience on the CV will certainly impress future employers. But the absolutely key part of any training contract is the PSC (Professional Skills Course). Without this you can't be a solicitor and getting a training contract means your employer has to pay for it.
PSC's are made up of three core modules and contain at least one formal, sit-down, written exam.

How long will it last?

Training contracts last two years. Usually, particularly in larger firms, this is divided into four 'seats'. Typically, each is in a different department and usually last six months. While some smaller firms might not arrange it this way, it's a requirement of the SRA (Solicitor Regulation Authority), who monitor these things, that anyone on a training contract covers at least three different areas of work.

Getting prepared

For most graduates, a training contract is their first experience of practicing the law. The firm that they take the training with has an impact on what kind of law they get to practice and in what way. Spending two years in housing law, because that was the first training contract on offer, has set many a graduate with an interest in criminal law off on slightly the wrong track.
Like everything in the legal world, training contracts are competitive. Applying for one and hoping for the best isn't quite as effective a way of getting one as applying for all of them in a particular area of the law.

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