UK law conversion mid-career via GDL?

March 31, 2010 3:35 PM

CareerChangeFilter: Anyone have experience of graduate conversion to law mid-career in the UK?

Looking at doing the GDL part-time while working and getting a training contract... at some point.

Does anyone here have experience of doing that?

I've heard all the success stories. Just wanted to here some more "gritty" experiences if possible. Hence MetaFilter!

Feel free to MefiMail me if you prefer.

posted by KMH to Work & Money (1 answer total)

It depends on what you want to do with the qualification. The job market for law students who want to be solicitors in the UK is pretty dire at the moment. Firms have cut back massively on training contracts and a lot of people have become stuck after completing the LPC (and spending anywhere from £10-20k to get there), basically left over-qualified for paralegal jobs but under-qualified for practice. There is a new proposal by the SRA to provide alternatives to the training contract but that may take a while to take off.

So basically, buyer beware. GDL and LPC providers are not under any obligation to be realisitic about the market - they get paid regardless of whether or not you get a job afterwards!

If you want to work in law but not neccessarily as a solicitor there will be more and more opportunities for non-solicitors to work in firms, e.g. marketing, practice managers etc, for which the GDL might be beneficial. The changes to the Legal Services Act are opening a lot of non-traditional routes in.

I am not a lawyer but I work for the legal profession.
posted by freya_lamb at 2:55 AM on April 1, 2010