Travisthetrout's Blog

Life after the LPC – where are we now? May 28, 2012

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I bumped into one of my old friends from the LPC the other week in the supermarket (while deciding what processed meat to buy for my sandwiches).

It made me think… just how long has it been since I’ve seen the original group of friends? Well I last blogged about it in June 2010 (a year after finishing). So time to review where we are now… almost June 2012.

Out of the original group the majority have finished their training contract and are qualified (about half the group had their TC prior to commencing the LPC). Most of them qualified into the area they wanted to do while studying the LPC, but we a couple of surprise qualification choices. And all of them are still at the firm they trained with.

Out of the other half who didn’t start of with a TC we are all over the place. Only 2 of us went on to get a training contract post-LPC (myself and another who got a 6 month paralegal job leading to a TC at a small firm). Most of the others have changed paths altogether, with only one of us still working as a claims handler. Sometimes I feel a little left behind, being deferred for a year and a half, but I know I will catch up. Eventually. It worries me that other great potentially solicitors, may not and I worry it is because they no longer have the buzz to keep motivated.

Bumping into my old friend (who qualified this year) made me feel bad that I hadn’t met up with my close LPC friends, particularly as I seem to bump into other people I did the LPC with all the time at networking events, JLD events and work. But priorities change, with long working hours, weddings, new babies, new relationships and travel we all seem to have other things on our mind. Life. Fighting to keep a life with the people we want to share it with. Somehow everything else seems to slip away.

Should LPC Graduates get more support? September 26, 2010

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It is all about the figures: it is simple, everyone knows there are more LPC graduates than there are training contracts. It has always been a numbers game, but with most firms making cut backs, and the knock-on effect of deferrals it is worse than previous years and there is a lot of talent floating around in limbo. Talent that is being used.

A lot of colleagues, fellow graduates, and people I have met through this blog fall into this category and they are spending time working (some as paralegals, others are not) either while waiting for their deferred training contract to start (in the hope that it does one day start) or simply keeping their fingers crossed for the golden opportunity. Sure there are always the people who won’t make the cut – but there is also a lot of talent, worthy of some support.

When I was reading the Junior Lawyers Division update this week it hit me how rarely this “category” is addressed, not just by the JLD but across the profession. As technically we are not part of the profession yet.  The recent webinar on securing a training contract and advice for the downturn seems to be more prompted by the situation for the Halliwells Trainees rather than the downturn itself. Yes, the Law Society has an actual obligation to those trainees. But there are plenty of deferred trainees in limbo that should at least get an acknowledgment as well. Not to mention the LPC graduates who work as paralegals without a proper guidance or support other than what their firm chooses to offer them (for some friends this has not worked out so great).  LPC graduates who work as paralegals can continue to be members of the JLD (although there has been some confusion about this among friends). If they are, they certainly are not well represented nor encouraged to get involved falling into the same group as the students who receive a lot of their support from their LPC provider. Certainly if we look at the current news about JLD elections there is only one seat for a “student” member. This is obviously more likely to fall to an actual LPC student and not a recent graduate. This is of course nationally, and I know the some regional groups offer a fair amount of support and interaction for graduates/paralegals.

Across legal resources/publications and all the rest of it, students are widely seen as the talent of the future, there is a lot of guidance and support for them. I know there is I used a lot of it as a student and found it immensely helpful. But after graduating you rely on yourself to find a job and you rely on the integrity of your firm not to screw you over.

With times changing and the number of LPC graduates working as paralegals increasing shouldn’t there be more representation/protection for them? and have will forgotten about all those deferred trainees, the doubly deferred trainees? The ones that had training contracts and lost them?

We do not expect miracles, or training contracts to fall from the sky and into our hands.

Acknowledgment of our situation is all we ask for.

Life after the LPC: Paralegal Work June 30, 2010

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I recently got asked about how to gain paralegal work after completing the LPC, and about the advantages and disadvantages about going down such a route.

Easy answer: Paralegal work can be obtained simply by applying for the job.

Paralegal work can be offered in the form of “with the possibility of a training contract” but the not necessarily the case. In the same way with any job at the moment there is a certain risk. I’ve blogged previously about a friend who worked with a small firm for 6 months with the promise of a training contract at the end of the 6 months (working ridiculous hours and enduring a bad workplace environment) only to find she was made redundant because they had no money.

Some firms don’t like employing LPC graduates, because they know they won’t stick around/want a training contract/won’t work well with others. These are mainly firms that don’t employ a high number of paralegals, and like to have them in specialised areas and therefore invest a lot of time training them up. Many paralegal vacancies are marked as not for LPC graduates.

Other firms constantly employ paralegals and their staff are purely made up of LPC graduates. These tend to be firms with a high concentration of paralegals/casehandlers to save money – PI, Insurance litigation, residential conveyancing. From my experience and friends who work in these in firms the work is repetitive, no one stays in the job long and new people are recruited every month and they are driven by targets. BUT it has the advantage of being a great starting place.

Tips for landing the job:

• Every job is different – know what your potential employer wants to get out of employing someone for the role and show how you can do it.
• Don’t treat the job as a way of getting a training contract if it isn’t advertised as a “Stepping Stone”. You must want the job itself – recruiters pick up on these things.
• Don’t be arrogant about having completed the LPC. They want you to fit in with an existing team and if that existing team are people who are paralegals who are completing ILEX etc an arrogant I-am-too-smart-for-doing-this-job individual will not make the cut. One colleague in my old firm got fired for being to big for her boots and rubbing the rest of the staff the wrong way.
• Focus on your skills not just your academic ability. Although my academics help me understand everything that is going on (and that is now just taking for granted) what makes me stand out from the crowd is how I handle situations. Interview questions will be skill based and hypothetical-situation based. Only some firms test you legal knowledge of what you remember from the LPC.
• Remember there are just as many applicants for these positions as Training contracts. And in some cases multiple interviews. Have something special.

Every job is different, but just sharing what I’ve experienced this past year. Next monday I hit first full year of full time employment How time flies.

Drinks with LPC Students: June – Training Contract Applications June 27, 2010

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Another mini gathering of the non-TC set of LPC friends: Summers day, some cool cider  outside in the sun, good company – how could I resist?

It had been a couple of months since we had been together despite our intentions of a monthly get-together. Life, love and unemployment seemed to get in the way.

This time we all had one thing on our minds: The looming TC deadlines. We discussed many issues. Our thoughts I have decided to share.

• At what point do we stop applying for Training Contracts?

One friend is making this her last year. She has spent most of her time travelling, she doesn’t know if she wants to be a Solicitor anymore. The legal knowledge is slipping away, the small law firms she has worked with have been off-putting. She has made the decision that if she doesn’t get one this year, she won’t.

Part of me agrees. But that has more to do with me loving my current job. In my job I experience a lot of what it is like to be a trainee, but without the perks (different seats, socials, training,own caseload). The drive for a TC stems from me seeing what the trainees get – and wanting that myself. However, in some ways I get perks they don’t get (variety of work, working for all fee earners and partners, meeting clients, leading others). I feel that the job will develop as I do, and if I don’t get a TC this year my job will be better for me than what I will get out of a TC (except qualifying as a solicitor obviously).

• Do we re-apply to ones we’ve had interviews with?

One friend is only applying to the firms he has had a mild success with before. I get the hint that this a time-constraint thing – I don’t think any of us realised just how close the deadlines where as the full-time job seems to get in the way. Wise choice? I’m not sure. In some ways a lot have changed since he last applied – he now has his LPC qualification and has worked as a paralegal in a medium sized firm for 10 months. So I’m sure some advantage will come out of that. Besides one friend from the LPC got her training contract on her third consecutive attempt at being interviewed by a top firm. But by the same token it will demoralising if he isn’t successful. With a lot of firms halting their recruitment last year – places are even more competitive. Particularly for those to start this year.

On this point the general rule is apply if you can bring something extra to the table.

• Do we apply for ones where we’ve had no previous success?

Again I think this is the same concept. A couple of my top choices I’ve applied for before but with no luck. However when I applied before I had just completed my LLB – yes I had gained my 2.1 but I lacked any experience. They didn’t take applications last year, so I am hoping that the couple of changes in place (distinction in LPC and more work experience) will help out in making my no-previous-success firms more successful. At the end of the day it doesn’t hurt to try, after all if you really want to work there it makes it worth it. A lot of the time is it more about who you are up against, rather than just yourself as a whole. every year is different.

• Can we honestly compete with fresh graduates? even 2nd year LLB students?

One of the great things about having completed the LPC (and each of us have been employed by at least 1 or 2 firms since) – is that we now know what kind of firm we want to work for. We felt that back in second year that we didn’t really know what we wanted. We all applied for large commercial firms because they were the ones we met at law fairs, they are the ones our tutors told us about and for some people, the ones that offered a large salary.

Post-LPC none of these friends of mine want to go down the commercial route with their experience and choices have led them to want to practice for example, family, private client or residential property. They have worked in close contact with clients and gained great satisfaction at the closure of a case – where they feel they have helped someone with their lives, and receive a great thank you. Contrast to my life in a Commercial firm where we provide a full service for large commercial clients, competing with other top law firms to keep them as our client and to gain more work as most large firms only act for a particular client in relation to one type of work.Its competitive, stressful, there are so many checks to ensure high standards for our client that even solicitors can’t do some things without colleagues higher up the food chain checking their work.

We would like to hope that gaining more a perspective on what we want out of our job, what type of work we like and what type of working environment we work well in – would boost the quality of our applications. However, I still wonder if we can honestly compete with fresh graduates, who are younger, still optimistic/idealistic about a career in law, and are more tactical when it comes to ticking the boxes. I am currently struggling to find a decent answer to activities and responsibilities section as this is more aimed at the university student who has time to pursue such interests. I do try, but there is only so much commitment I can give when working all hours.

• What is the point?

The endless training contract application process can be demoralising, the endless waiting on outcomes stressful and for me the competitiveness, damaging.

I go through this because I love the job, the challenges. I get a buzz, an adrenaline rush.

Not because, I would feel like it was a waste of money doing the LPC if I didn’t do a training contract, not because my family want me to (they would rather I didn’t) and most certainly not because I don’t know what career I could do, and law is an “option”.

It was nice for the group to inspire each other, share our fears and finish the day with fighting talk: more determined than ever to make this our year.

Just when we thought we were safe… April 12, 2010

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Last month we finally reached the target of all of our LPC group being in legal-related employment. It took a while but we all got there. Those of us who started their training contracts have now completed their first seats. And those of us without training contracts finally thought we could relax for a bit before starting yet another round of applications and interviews.

Unfortunately this was short lived as one of my closest LPC friends got made redundant. She had been working at a firm as a paralegal for 6 months (with the possibility of a training contract at the end of it) unfortunately they didn’t offer her a training contract because they couldn’t afford it. And unfortunately they didn’t keep her on as a paralegal either, but with the amount of work they had been giving her and the hours she kept, they clearly needed someone in that role. I feel terrible for her as she has had to move back home to “sort herself out” in a sense.

The rest of us have got unsettled again, worrying about our job security. We all work for very different law firms and companies. None of our experiences have been the same but we regret getting too complacent about our jobs. Our friend was amazing at her job, but clearly that wasn’t enough and it is a scary thought to think that sometimes what we do doesn’t matter…

Drinks with LPC Students (and Graduation) November 29, 2009

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This week has been spent in celebration of my graduation. My parents flew over for the occasion and stayed the night. It was a more relaxed affair than my last graduation, maybe because it was very “been there done that”. More friends gathered round, all complaining about jobs and the lack of training contracts etc – a common feeling.

There was the usual embarrassing photographs, one person who fell completely flat on their face, one extra long speech and of course the hat that wouldn’t stay on. We were sat in alphabetical order by class, so those of us who got a distinction got it over and done with pretty soon, but then my hands got sore from the continuous clapping afterwards. But all in all the evening was disaster free.

After graduation there was champagne, then dinner with the parents and finally more drinks with some fellow students before I shamefully had an “ early night” (these 4.30am wake up calls are taking their toll).

Drinks with LPC Students: October Edition October 17, 2009

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The previous catch-up with this set of LPC students was in August with the addition of the friend who has began paralegalling at my firm. So there was two of us from a medium rather impersonal but fun to work for firm and two from a small, we-are-drowned-in-work-and-don’t-get-lunch-breaks firm.

The tales from the two drowning in work was entertaining, what with suicidal clients, mental patients, mountains of paperwork and court appearances on their second day it sounds like a good way to learn (even if it does all sound a bit scary). But it makes me worry about the quality of legal advice their clients are getting, no disrespect to my friends I’m sure they are trying their best but when advice is coming from googled information and they are simply getting no support from the lawyers that work there it doesn’t inspire confidence. Particularly as they feel it is all too much and are considering quitting their job (especially as they found the LPC difficult) – for me it also makes me think that that I do want a job like that and need to stop being comfortable in my current position.

After the end of a weary week we were happy to sit down with a few drinks and bitch a bit, and in all honesty it was nice spending time with old friends, as I find it more difficult to bond with work colleagues. A couple of friends we haven’t heard from are those who have embarked on a TC with a top law firm earning over £30k, the general opinion between friends is that they better be working to midnight every night as the rest of us are getting worked extremely hard for a fraction of their wage. Ah, the competitiveness of law students shines through as always.

Drinks with LPC Students: September Edition September 9, 2009

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A nice glass of wine in a local wine bar set the mood for a catch-up with a different set of LPC friends. Both of which are confident students with training contracts lined up and a focused approach to life.

One of which has just had her first week on her TC, and loving it. The other has been enduring a more stressful time with a deferred TC with unknown start date, and is currently working for an in-house legal team, although her job is shaky as the company has just merged with another who already have an established in-house team.

Really nice catching up and sharing work stories and the tales of our summer adventures. Again I wish I had done something nice with my summer instead of slaving away in a job. Maybe next year I keep telling myself. As we all continue to count our pennies, we hope that work gets easier sometime soon and we get more appreciation for our efforts and job security. Wishful thinking.