Law Society Diversity Access Scheme now open for applications

Please see below for details of the Law Society Diversity Access Scheme (DAS) which is now open for applications and closes on Wednesday 12 April 2017.

The Diversity Access Scheme

Opening doors, changing lives:
scholarships for the solicitors of tomorrow

The Law Society’s Diversity Access Scheme (DAS) is a scholarship with a difference. It provides awardees with:


Finance 

Funding for up to the full cost of your LPC fees.

Professional contacts

A professional mentor to help answer your questions about starting your career in law.

Opportunities to gain work experience

Work experience placements, brokered through the Law Society.
Already it has helped over 170 students complete their professional education. Without the DAS these students would not have been in a position to join the profession.

If you don’t have the financial means to pay for your LPC, the DAS might be able to help.

Who should apply?

We encourage applications from graduates and those in their final year of a law degree, including mature students.

The DAS 2017 application round is for those who wish to start a full time or part time LPC either in September 2017 or January 2018.

Application criteria

You have to fulfil certain criteria to be eligible for the DAS. To check your eligibility, please visit our website.

How many awards are available?

Up to ten standard DAS scholarships will be available this year.

When do applications open?

The applications are now open and close at midnight on 12 April 2017. The application form and guidance are now available to download from our website.

To find out more visit www.lawsociety.org.uk/das
or email diversityaccessscheme@lawsociety.org.uk 

Applications close on 12 April 2017

Student Event - Beyond corporate law: How to become a top serious injury lawyer

This event is definitely worth applying for.

Legal Cheek is joining forces with Fletchers, one of Britain’s leading clinical negligence and serious injury law firms, to host a discussion and networking session for students looking for a career beyond corporate law. There are 50 free places available.

The exclusive Q&A takes place on the evening of Wednesday 1 March at The Hive in Manchester’s Northern Quarter. A panel of leading solicitors and barristers will discuss developments in the high-value medical negligence field, talk about some of the major cases they have worked on, and share their careers advice with the next generation of lawyers.

After the hour-long panel debate — which runs from 6-7pm — there will be drinks and networking, where students will have the opportunity to meet the speakers in person and discuss their career plans with Fletchers’ graduate recruitment team.

The panellists are: Ed Fletcher, CEO of Fletchers; Christopher Melton QC, specialist catastrophic injury barrister; Adrian Denson, head of Fletchers’ serious injury practice; Mark Tempest, head of the serious injuries unit of Fletchers’ medical negligence practice; and Fletchers senior medical negligence lawyer Sue Taylor. The session will be chaired by Legal Cheek publisher Alex Aldridge.

Apply here to attend by submitting a CV and two questions for the panel. The CVs of those offered places will be passed on to Fletchers’ graduate recruitment team and attendees will be guaranteed an interview for the summer 2017 Vac Scheme.  

Students of all levels are welcome, but places are limited.  Good luck!

Student Event - "Practice Makes Perfect" at BPP University Law School, Liverpool

You might be interested in attending this - 

On Wednesday 22^nd February, BPP University Law School is running ‘Practice Makes Perfect’ at our Liverpool centre. This event will sharpen your professional skills, allowing you to approach the challenge of an assessment centre with greater confidence.

This is a comprehensive event for any student who is serious about enhancing their prospects of securing a training contract or pupillage, and you will walk away with our coveted 'Professional Skills and Commercial Awareness' certificate, providing a great opportunity to enhance your CV.

You will get to experience a mock assessment centre, requiring you to complete a succession of tasks you might encounter in the recruitment process, as well as attending a panel and networking event when you will get top tips from key members of the legal profession with DLA Piper, Riverview Law and Hill Dickinson appearing on the panel event. You will also have the opportunity to network with BPP Alumni who will be happy share their experiences and tips for succeeding in the legal profession.

With an unrivalled list of over 60 top law firms who send their students exclusively to BPP University Law School, and an excellent record of students who secure pupillage and tenancies in top sets of Chambers, there is no better place to prepare for your legal career. 

Avoid the pitfalls of the recruitment process by learning from them now in a supportive environment at our Liverpool centre!

Book your place now for Practice Makes Perfect by registering here:

·         Liverpool – Wednesday 22^nd February 

https://practice-makes-perfect-liverpool.eventbrite.co.uk

*Deadline for registrations – Wednesday 15^th February*

*For some of our events, delegates will have staggered start times from 4pm, and the event aims to conclude at approximately 8.30-9.00pm. A full agenda will be forwarded to you following your registration to the event.

CPS Legal Trainee Scheme 2017 now open

This blog post is more for information as far as undergraduate Law students are concerned, but it is definitely worth knowing about for possible future recruitment campaigns!

The Legal Trainee Scheme is offered to those who wish to complete their pupillage or period of recognised training (PRT) with the CPS. There are two different roles on offer in the scheme – a pupil barrister and a trainee solicitor. 

Academic Qualifications 

• Candidates must have a minimum of a 2:2 undergraduate degree – please note that this does not need to be a degree in Law. Candidates with a degree other than law must have completed a Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) or Common Professional Examination (CPE)

• Candidates must have successfully completed, or be due to complete the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) or the Legal Practice Course (LPC) to enable them to start within the CPS by November 2017


Please note the closing date for applications is midnight on Thursday 23rd February

Duration of the scheme - 

Pupillage - 1 year in duration 

PRT (formerly known as a training contract) - 2 years in duration 

Number of positions available on the scheme - Approximately 30 x Legal Trainee posts are available throughout England and Wales. 

Upon successful qualification Legal Trainees will be offered permanent posts as Crown Prosecutors, with the expectation that they will gain the necessary skills and competence to apply for Senior Crown Prosecutor posts through regular recruitment procedures. 

Legal Trainees are offered a starting salary of £23,276 per annum (more in London) with 25 days leave


For more information please go to Legal Trainee Scheme 2017

Open Day at Middle Temple for aspiring barristers

This event is ideal for all you aspiring barristers out there!

Open Day

Middle Temple Open Day for Schools and Universities

The Middle Temple organises an Open Day every year, usually in March, aimed at students at Sixth Form and undergraduate or GDL level with an interest in a career at the Bar. Experienced practitioners as well as students will be on hand to provide information on all aspects of training for and a career at the Bar.

The programme starts with registration from 9.30 am and is expected to conclude by 4.30 pm. A sandwich lunch will be provided.  Between sessions, there will be ample opportunity to look around the Inn and to speak to practitioners, judges and students currently undertaking the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC).  Visiting students are of course not obliged to attend all sessions.

The event is held in the historic Middle Temple Hall and is highly recommended to anyone who wants to find out more about the Bar in general and the Middle Temple in particular.

The next Open Day is scheduled for Saturday 25 March 2017.
 

Booking

Attendance is free, but you must book as places are limited.  To request a place you must complete the online booking form.  You will be notified separately by email if your application has been successful.  Due to the high numbers of students interested in the event we may have to cap numbers.  If this happens you will be placed on a waiting list and offered a place if we have any cancellations.

If you no longer plan to attend the Open Day please let us know.  There will be a waiting list so it is likely that someone can take your place, even at short notice.
 

Getting Here

Please click here for information on how to get to Middle Temple.  Please note that at weekends access is only availbale via Tudor Street, so do allow extra time, particularly if you are arriving at Temple station.

Law Commission now recruiting Research Assistants for September 2017

To start off the New Year, as always, the Law Commission is recruiting Research Assistants to work for approximately 51 weeks starting in September 2017 in London. Chambers, solicitors’ firms and universities regard time spent at the Law Commission extremely highly. The posts, for which there is a great deal of competition, will be available in the following areas:

1. Commercial and Common Law
2. Criminal Law
3. Property, Family and Trust Law
4. Public Law

The research assistant role involves a mix of legal research, policy analysis and administrative work. 

The Law Commission is a statutory body set up under the Law Commissions Act 1965 to keep the law of England and Wales under review and to recommend reform where it is needed. 


Its aims are: 

To ensure that the law is fair, modern, simple and as cost-effective as possible

To conduct research and consultations in order to make recommendations for reform for consideration by Parliament

To codify the law, eliminate anomalies, repeal obsolete and unnecessary enactments and reduce the number of separate statutes 

The Law Commission is an independent non-departmental body sponsored by the Ministry of Justice. Further information about the Law Commission and its work can be obtained from its website at http://lawcommission.justice.gov.uk/. 


The posts are on a fixed term basis, up to 12 months. 

Applications are now open for final year Law students and close on 2 February 2017. Interviews will take place between 13 and 24 March 2017.

Qualifications

The minimum criteria are that by August 2017 you should have completed two years’ full-time substantive legal studies (or the equivalent in part-time study). The results must be at, or at the equivalent of, first class or good 2.1 standard, with at least some elements of first class work.

Details of the posts are available in a separate guide for applicants, which you must read before applying, at:
http://www.lawcom.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/RA_guide_2017_final.pdf

2017 - the year to get started with your Law career!

Happy New Year to you all!

No matter what year of your degree you are in there is plenty to occupy your time in 2017 if you want to get started with planning your legal career.  So, don't delay - start today.

First Year students  - now is the time to apply for Insight Days designed by Law firms specifically for you as first year students.  It gives you the opportunity to spend a day at a large commercial Law firm to see if that environment is right for you.

Go to Student Ladder and Employment 4 Students to find details of the Law firms involved.

Second Year students - you need to be aware that Work Placement or Vacation Scheme application deadlines are coming up fast at the end of January or February 2017.  Have a look at the list of closing dates on Lawcareers.net and decide which, if any, of the larger firms you'd like to apply to.

Work Placements in the larger commercial firms usually last for one or two weeks during Easter or Summer 2017 and they are paid! You can also apply for other work placements in smaller firms.  You probably won't get paid but the experience gained could be just as valuable and you will be adding useful contacts at the same time.

If you are a second year opting for Work Based Learning in May 2017, why not look for opportunities at home to carry out your 5 week placement?  You can search for local firms at Find a Solicitor

Final Year students  - you can still apply for Work Placements as well as Training Contracts.  Check training contract deadlines on Lawcareers.net

You can also apply for the Legal Practice Course (LPC) at any time on the Lawcabs website.

The Pupillage Gateway is now open for applications until Tuesday 7 February.  You can apply for up to 12 pupillages through the Gateway plus those which you apply for directly to Chambers. If you are hoping to start the BPTC in September 2017, this applies to you!