We recently held our Summer tutor enrichment seminar: Getting Into Law. The seminar was led by three expert panellists, who have all studied and worked within law. It was great to hear their experiences; from different routes of law study, to where their studies had taken them on their career journeys. The panellists were able to use their experiences and expertise to share top tips for getting into and working within law, as well as answering our attendees’ burning questions.

The purpose of the event was to share insights and top tips about studying and working within law for volunteers who are considering pursuing law in their future studies and careers. The attendees gained understanding of a multitude of branches in law that they could get involved with, as well as receiving invaluable advice from the experts.

Our panel of law experts included:

Tia Freeman: Tia completed a law conversion course and LPC (Legal Practice Course) followed by an LLM (Master of Law) in Energy and Natural Resources Law. She then completed a two year training contract with an American law firm, with a particular focus on the energy sector, qualifying as a solicitor. Tia is now Head of Operations at a tech startup.

Louise McMahon: Legal director in the Property Law Team at Hill Dickinson LLP. Louise has been qualified for 9-10 years.

Sarah Cozens: Sarah studied her undergraduate degree in Law at Sussex University before obtaining an internship at PWC, as part of their Corporate Immigration Team. She then moved to work at Deloitte, where she is currently a manager within the Immigration Team.

After sharing their differing journeys within law, our panellists shared their top tips for getting into and working within law.

Here are just some of the pearls of wisdom shared during the event:

• When applying for a training contract, make sure that you convey genuine interest for the practice area that you are applying for in your application. Employers will be more likely to invite you to interview if you demonstrate that you have a ‘fire in your belly’ to work within the practice area for the role you are applying for. Furthermore, you need to genuinely enjoy the area that you work within – as you will be spending a lot of time doing it!
• Be personable and convey personality during assessment days, at interviews and throughout your career. It is important that you are good at talking to people and are able to talk about yourself in a comfortable way. For interviews, try to think about an interesting fact or hobby that will make you memorable.
• Ensure to maintain a healthy work/life balance. Working in law can mean that you have a heavy workload at times, so make sure to schedule in down time so that you don’t burn out.
• Arrive at interviews or assessment days at least 15 minutes early. This can be an excellent opportunity to meet people and get talking!
• Be persistent. Law can be very competitive. Once you’ve decided upon the area of law that you are interested in, you may need to fill in a lot of applications before you secure a training contract or role. Be resilient and don’t give up even if you receive some rejections.

Unfortunately, one of the panellists, Madeeha Saher, who is currently studying law at KCL, was unable to attend the seminar. However, they shared the following advice for our volunteers considering law:

‘It is not necessary to study law at university to practise law. Most firms and chambers I have spoken to take on an equal amount of law and non-law graduates, and so the grades you get, the networking you do and the experience you attain is probably of more importance. Without a law degree, you would also need to do a PGDL (conversion course to law), which is like a crash course of law, and this can be quite intense in one year. 

My biggest piece of advice is study what you enjoy and what you will succeed in. Law is very open to those from all backgrounds.’

Finally, a question submitted by our volunteer tutors asked for book recommendations. The following books were recommended by the panellists:

• The Rule of Law – Tom Bingham
• The Secret Barrister
• Books specific to banking and finance:

• The Big Short – Michael Lewis
• Freakonomics – Steven D. Levitt

Team Up would like to thank our panel of expert speakers for the invaluable wisdom and knowledge that they shared during the seminar. We hope that our tutors left this seminar with an insight into what it is like to study and work within law, as well as tips about how to begin and maintain a career in law. We wish our tutors the best of luck in their future law studies and careers!

Keep an eye on our social media channels @teamuphub to hear about more upcoming seminars and workshops, exclusively available to our volunteers.

If you are interested in joining us to tutor on our upcoming programmes (and gain access to more seminars like this!) please contact us at: tutor.applications@teamup.org.uk or apply now to start your Team Up Journey.