Routes into the legal profession

All about law is a really good website for law students that's just had a revamp.

There's a really good interactive diagram of routes into the legal profession. There may well be more ways in than you thought - for AS study with OCR, you only really need to know the graduate path... but for your own life, you need to know that there's more than one way to skin a cat!

Must see legal TV...

BBC2, Fridays, 9pm. The Barristers. Download episode 1 for BBC iPlayer here!

Have a look at the fantastic website for the programme - loads of video clips from trainee barristers and experts for you to watch.

By the way - interesting radio discussion here about why the Bar is so male-dominated...

On a different note, there are proposals afoot for welsh-speaking juries to be selected in Wales if the defendant requests it... listen to a discussion on this here...

Training just got harder for would-be barristers (but easier for solicitors)

...says the Times today. Great stuff in here to throw into an exam answer on problems of training - good for A02 points!

AS students - read the article and answer the following questions for your file on the legal profession:

1. What is being proposed to "weed out" some people who want to do the BVC?
2. What did Derek Wood's reports say about the standards of some current BVC programmes?
3. In a given year, how many graduates are competing for how many pupillages according to the article, and how many places are there in percentage terms?
4. What will the revamped BVC be called?
5. What do you think the impact of these changes will be on students from disadvantaged backgrounds?
6. What measures are coming in to make it easier to qualify as a solicitor?

How competitive is it...

to become a barrister or solicitor?

Well, according to Legal Week magazine, in 2006 only about 550 people gained pupillage (a traineeship to be a barrister) - only 17.5% of students on the Bar Vocational Course.

Not great value at £10-12,000 a pop so you have to be good!

Question: what impact do you think such fees have on the diversity of the legal profession?

It's also very competitive to get a training contract to be a solcitor - only about 60% of LPC students get one straight away.