Legal Careers

The types of legal work experience can vary, from witnessing Barristers and Solicitors in Crown Courts and Magistrate Courts working on criminal cases, at sentences and hearings, to taking up a work experience position which can be either paid or unpaid at a Solicitors Firm.

This form of Legal work experience will usually involve tasks such as conversing with Clients by telephone, filing, audio typing and putting together information on clients cases with the opportunity of sitting in on cases in the Courts.

In order to qualify for a legal career as a Barrister or Solicitor one should ideally enrol in an English Law Degree, although it is possible to obtain a Degree in any subject and become eligible for a career in Law by taking a Law conversion course, a Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) which is also known as the Common Professional Examination (CPE).

This course can be completed over the period of one year by studying full time, or over two years by studying part time. Once this has been completed the prospective Law professional will either embark on a mandatory Legal Practice Course (LPC) followed by a two year apprenticeship known as a Training Contract to become a Solicitor or a Bar Vocational Course followed by a years training in Barrister Chambers, known a Pupillage, to become a Barrister.

What’s the difference between a Barrister, a Solicitor and a Lawyer?

Barristers
A Barrister will take instruction from a Solicitor and represent the Client in Court. Barristers are independent and are trained to advise clients of the strengths and weaknesses of the case. A Solicitor will usually liase between the Client and the Barrister, which may mean that the Barrister will not have direct contact with the Client.

Solicitors
However, Solicitors with appropriate advocacy experience are entitled to acquire higher rights of audience, enabling them to appear in the superior courts.

A Solicitor is the direct point of contact for those seeking Legal advice. A Solicitor will also give Business advice, Will advice and Family Law advice and may specialise in one specific area of the Law.

Lawyer
A Lawyer is mostly a broad term used to describe Solicitors and Barristers as well as a variety of other Law trained persons such as Legal Executives. Once qualified, many doors are opened to the Lawyer. One should usually decide to specialise in a particular area of the Law once qualified and either work within a private practise, self-employed or at the Bar. A career in Law can progress in many diverse ways, for example one can specialise in family law jobs, Media Law jobs, Healthcare Law, Media Law jobs, Commercial Law, Property Law and Criminal Law.

It is possible to specialise in a particular area of Law early on in a Law career, however most will decide to gain experience in Law before deciding which path to take. In most cases, Law specialism areas such as Conveyancing, Commercial Law and Family Law begin to progress once the lawyer has qualified. Commercial Lawyers work is usually split into different sectors such as banking, corporate, litigation and employment. Conveyancing usually stems from work in property law. Specialisation in either field requires extensive training within the application of law, either working within a private practise or as a self employed Lawyer.

A career in Law is a very competitive profession. In 2009 29,211 applied to study Law, of this number only 19,882 were accepted. Therefore the need for hard work, top grades and work experience early on is the key to progression within the field.

In 2010 15,270 Barristers held a practising certificate, which is 0.5% up on 2008. This marks a steady growth in practising Barristers over the past five years; averaging at 1.2% per year.

Of the 15,270 practising Barristers in 2010 around 12,241 were self-employed. The total amount of practising Barristers can be broken down to 65.6% men and 34.4% women.

In 2010 a total of 117,862 practising solicitors were recorded, which marks an increase of 3.3% on the year before. 86,748 of these practising Solicitors worked in private practise. Women account for 45.8 of the total practising solicitors.