How do I become a lawyer in the UK?

How do I become a lawyer in the UK?

• The A level I want to do are History, Psychology, English Language, Religious Education.Whilst in college what things could I do to improve my CV?

• Answer:

  Some singularly unhelpful answers here. For the person who said we have "no lawyers in the UK", we do. In England and Wales we have solicitors and barristers (who are lawyers, which is a generic term), in Scotland I believe they have solicitors and advocates, and I am not sure what terms are used in Northern Ireland. Which highlights, one area that needs clarification: There are 3 different legal systems in the UK. I assume, at the early stages at least, the things you need to do will be quite similar, but my answer is based on England and Wales. In England and Wales (and maybe elsewhere) there is also a more vocational route into the legal profession, which is ILEX. Essentially, this involves starting at a junior level in a law firm, and learning on the job, while at the same time studying. Eventually you will qualify as a FILEX (Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives) which is more or less the same as being a solicitor. At this stage, whether you want to be a solicitor or barrister, the route you take will be the same. Your A-levels will be taken into account when you are applying for your first legal job, so you need to aim for A and B grades. You would then do a law degree. In general, law A-level is not needed for this, and the subjects you take are not important. But if you have a particular university in mind, you should check their requirements. You could do a non law degree, but you would then need to spend an extra year doing a "conversion" course, called the GDL. Once you have the law degree or GDL, the path splits, and you do the legal practice course (LPC) to be a solicitor or bar vocational course (BVC) to be a barrister. These take a year, after which (if you have secured one) you start working as a trainee solicitor or pupil barrister. In terms of improving your CV, you need to do everything you can that shows a genuine, long term interest in the law and/or develops skills in advising clients, research, etc. EG, part time work in a law firm, working for CAB, etc. A lot of larger law firms will run short term work experience placements over the summer holidays. Having done one of these will help you, but it is not critical. Also, if you want to specialise in a particular area of law, then work in that sector will help. Please note, law firms often recruit well in advance. You will probably need to apply before Christmas for a work experience placement for the following summer. And when you come to apply for your trainee solicitor or pupil job, you may need to apply 2, or even 3 years in advance - certainly for the bigger firms.