Legal apprenticeship: any tips on trying to find a trainee solicitor job

Believe me , you can actually spin that in the interviews ! Use it to show you were involved in college life etc and would be well able to build contacts :L
 
Thrifty, I did it all onmy own, I had a lot of material though from my llb ansd got notes off my friends, the griffith packs on their own are sufficient enough I think
 
Hi Thrifty,

Griffith charge nearly the same fee just for the notes as they do to attend classes. Over € 300 per subject if I recall correctly . The classes really are very good and would be worth going to , if you are planning on shelling out that much for the notes and of course if you live near enough to be able to attend Griffith !
 
SNB said:
Hi Thrifty,

Griffith charge nearly the same fee just for the notes as they do to attend classes. Over € 300 per subject if I recall correctly . The classes really are very good and would be worth going to , if you are planning on shelling out that much for the notes and of course if you live near enough to be able to attend Griffith !
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They do lectures in other parts of the country too. I did the distance learning course before which means no lectures but you can still submit homework. You are entitled then to go to lectures at the end of the course when "tips" may be give out.
 
Does anyone want to give me suggestions when approaching firms with cvs, I know to well that most of the time when you give cvs into them that they bin them straightaway, how can you get past them? these offices are like obstacle courses in themselves
 
hey, I just came accross this site by pure accident... but it seems like a godsend!!i have just spent forever trawling thru the past messages, consoling myself that I am not alone in this law hell like existence!! I graduated last year with law degree, and have just passed four of my FE1's so am delighted!! but laced with a feeling that my hopes of just getting an apprenticeship were far fetched. I never have applied before and i know that the big firms do all their recruiting in oct time, but do the other firms accept cv's all year round? i know it is probably a fact of life that it will b more or less ignored, but nothin ventured, nothin gained! is it a good idea to just take out the directory and send cv to everywhere, or more to the point, is there a point? pls help and thanks soo much in advance!!!!

:)
 
yvo said:
hey, I just came accross this site by pure accident... but it seems like a godsend!!i have just spent forever trawling thru the past messages, consoling myself that I am not alone in this law hell like existence!! I graduated last year with law degree, and have just passed four of my FE1's so am delighted!! but laced with a feeling that my hopes of just getting an apprenticeship were far fetched. I never have applied before and i know that the big firms do all their recruiting in oct time, but do the other firms accept cv's all year round? i know it is probably a fact of life that it will b more or less ignored, but nothin ventured, nothin gained! is it a good idea to just take out the directory and send cv to everywhere, or more to the point, is there a point? pls help and thanks soo much in advance!!!!

:)
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Hi There,

Well I took out the directory and wrote to over 100 firms 2 years running and got 3 interviews, 2 knock backs and 1 seriously dodgy offer which I turned down. I am now exploring other career options as despite surviving the hell of the FE1s I have now discovered the search for a traineeship is the real stumbling block. Best of luck - most people are luckier than me I guess and eventually end up with one but plenty of people also abandon the idea due to the difficulties.
 
hey,

Thanks trafford.. Yeah I'm only really beginning to realise how hard this could actually be and it's scaring me more than a little!! Do you think my best bet would be to wait til oct to send or send now? or really is there a difference?
gosh, so you have given up? GULP!!

yvo :)
 
yvo said:
btw, what is the directory???!! R how do you get it?
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The Law Directory is sent out to every solicitor/member of the Law Society and as I work in a legal department of a bank I have access to it. There is a new one every year so I'd say if you contact any solicitor and ask for last year's one they'll give it to you.
 
There's a listing of solicitors on the law society website anyway- not sure if it is as up to date though.

Sorry to hear you have given up Trafford. Maybe a bit of time out and regroup? I had no contacts myself in law when I was looking for an apprenticeship and at the time, in the early 90s, jobs were much more scarce. Eventually I did get one but it involved a good deal of compromise on money. At the time there wasn't a compulsory minimum wage and many of my fellow apprentices were on pittances, supplemented by weekend work and our parents. Maybe the minimum wage is scaring the smaller employers off because frankly most apprentices ( I'm thinking of myself) straight out of a degree/academia take a good deal of training before they are actually useful in an office. I had a great apprenticeship ( apart from the money issue) and a great master and yes, I had no money for three years, but I did qualify in what I wanted to do.
 
Vanilla said:
There's a listing of solicitors on the law society website anyway- not sure if it is as up to date though.

Sorry to hear you have given up Trafford. Maybe a bit of time out and regroup? I had no contacts myself in law when I was looking for an apprenticeship and at the time, in the early 90s, jobs were much more scarce. Eventually I did get one but it involved a good deal of compromise on money. At the time there wasn't a compulsory minimum wage and many of my fellow apprentices were on pittances, supplemented by weekend work and our parents. Maybe the minimum wage is scaring the smaller employers off because frankly most apprentices ( I'm thinking of myself) straight out of a degree/academia take a good deal of training before they are actually useful in an office. I had a great apprenticeship ( apart from the money issue) and a great master and yes, I had no money for three years, but I did qualify in what I wanted to do.
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I think a lot of the problem now is also the huge increase in numbers doing the FE1 exams compared to a few years ago.

I haven't necessarily given up but I am exploring my other options in case this doesn't work out. I have until 2010 to get sorted as you only have 5 years from whence you first pass an FE1 to get yourself into Blackhall.
 
I thought it was five years from the time you passed your last FE1 ? On my letter from the Law Society I was sure my last entry date was five years from the year I passed the last.

I don't have the letter to hand to check , but it might be worthwhile to have another look at yours.

Have you registered with the trainee register in the Law Society ?
 
Yes it is very very hard to secure an apprenticeship especially after all the studying for the FE-1's but do persevere. You have got this far so don't give up at the final hurdle. I sent out dozens of e-mails and letters and didn't even receive acknowledgements. I have since discovered that the solicitors don't always open the mail themselves and appplications get thrown straight in the bin with all the junk mail. They best thing is to visit offices in person. Some solicitors won't have time to speak with you but all you need is one who is willing to give you a chance. If you don't have time to go around to each office on your list then at least find out the name of the individual in the firm who has the hiring power and addres your your correspondence to them as they will be less likely to treat it as junk mail. IMO this is the best time to start looking as exisiting apprentices will be off to Blackhall in a few months and there will be upcoming vacancies in a lot of offices. You will find somewhere that is right for you. The hardest part is not giving up.
 
SNB said:
I thought it was five years from the time you passed your last FE1 ? On my letter from the Law Society I was sure my last entry date was five years from the year I passed the last.

I don't have the letter to hand to check , but it might be worthwhile to have another look at yours.

Have you registered with the trainee register in the Law Society ?
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The way they phrased it on my letter (as I checked it again last week) was "5 years from when you first get exemptions". By this they mean from when you pass your initial 3 exams, which in my case was the April sitting 2005.
 
Apparently they are expanding the Cork PPC1 and there will only be one (probably bigger) Dublin PPC1 this term.
 
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