u/Commercial_Chip_6574

In a particularly desperate moment, I came across one of those Training Contract coaches on LinkedIn. They were advertising a ‘mentoring’ scheme for ‘disadvantaged’ students and it genuinely looked charitable so I dropped them a text.

We hopped on a Zoom call shortly after, where they once again didn’t mention any price ONCE for 30 minutes, only to hit me up with an email about an hour later asking for £850 per MONTH to continue their coaching

And despite paying almost a thousand a month they still put a cap on how many applications you can receive support for

Do people actually pay these??? There surely has to be demand to justify these prices but that prospect only terrifies me further

Edit: With all the requests of naming and shaming, see the comments below

Hey chat, I am applying for Macfarlanes’ Spring Vacscheme, I read the application is only a test/work sim - did anyone here take it before? I’d appreciate any insights big time as law firms like to be super vague about what to expect

I genuinely can’t tell if I am underqualified or overqualified for legal secretary/legal assistant roles (not paralegal) and I’d be grateful for any insights on what kinds of people law firms are looking for in those

I am a fresh RG graduate with a 2:1, I have work experiences with both US and national firms (not vac schemes) where I assisted paralegals with admin work, I also have been handling the secretarial duties (i.e filing, doc management, correspondence, etc.) of my family’s small businesses for 5 years - so I thought I had quite the experience to handle admin work within a law firm (on the side as I apply for TCs) - but every single application I have made has been unsuccessful!

I reached the final stages with training contract/vac scheme applications before, so it was quite surprising that I didn’t even get a single interview for business support roles (even when I tailored my CV) - what causes this?

I have also been unsuccessful with my paralegal endevours so I switched to secretarial work as I have been advised it would be “easier to get in” but I am also struggling with those - is there no way to get a law firm job as a graduate that isn’t a TC???

I am currently house hunting for professional houseshares and keep getting very nice-looking adverts for rooms in Filton and Fishponds

However my knowledge of both areas is very limited, how are they at night, are they safe? I am mostly reliant on busses so are they that much of a hassle to get to the city centre with?

I am going to stay for a short term anyway (circa 6 months) but I’d greatly appreciate insights from anyone who knows these areas better than I do, cheers!

I have property viewings in Brislington (one right by Sainsbury’s, one on the Sandy Park Road) the houseshares look great and I have been around briefly before to pick stuff up from Argos but that is about it in terms of my knowledge of the area.

Is it safe, how is it at night? Buses are shit everywhere but how is it in terms of accessing the city centre regardless?

I am going to stay for a short term anyway (circa 6 months) but I’d greatly appreciate insights from anyone who knows the area better than I do, cheers!

We all know how the TC market is, everyone is overqualified and I am getting desperate.

While on Grindr, I saw one of the recruitment leads of a big city firm and he tapped me (which is the equivalent of a like for heteros out there). Honestly … should I do it?

I have slept with a partner at another firm before and it had no impact on the hiring decision (even though he promised to help, ugh) but maybe doing it with the actual grad rec can help (he is also quite hot icl)

So, friends, romans … this is what the law job market has come to

By the grace of god and black magic from Etsy witches, I somehow secured a paralegal role with a prominent private client firm (in the league of CRS/Farrer etc)

I do have a genuine interest in the department I am in, however, I have never worked for a private wealth firm before. My only other work experiences are with corporate clients (mainly in-house) so I don’t really know what to expect, especially as (from my understanding) I will have much more client contact compared to corporate departments and the clients are mostly HNWIs

So I do wonder if the Reddit hive mind has insights to offer? What to look out for, how to approach conversations with clients, any tips etc (I would be very grateful for all!)

Just like many in my cohort, I am honestly getting quite sick of the law job market and disillusioned with the profession as a whole

So just to maybe consider my options - what are some non-law careers one can switch to with a law degree?

I would love to do a tech jump for example, but not sure how to make that jump exactly. Did anyone here made a similar jump? If so, how?

There are already countless discussion on here for the training contract process but barely anything on how to actually land a paralegal position

Everyone I met talks of it as if it is nothing but personally I found paralegal applications more challenging than the TC process so far… I am a RG graduate with work experience (several internships), tailored CVs for several practice areas, always have a cover letter ready to go even when they don’t ask, I chase recruiters with a follow up email … still, not a single response after over 100 applications

So paralegals of reddit … honestly what does it take to land a role like yours?

I have an ethnic name and go by a more anglicised version of it in real life. Some colleagues suggested I should use the ‘anglicised’ version in my cv even when it isn’t my legal name to have a better chance of hearing back but … I am not sure how law recruiters would see that

Have you seen anyone do that?

I am currently applying for paralegal roles and my CV has a link to my LinkedIn so I am not surprised they are checking it, what I don’t understand is at what stage they are checking it?

Recruiters for barely 1/3 of jobs I apply for have checked my profile so I want to assume it is because they progressed me from the first screening and want to dig deeper, but am I out of line with that?

Or is it just morbid curiosity on their part? Would appreciate any insights with that

Honestly, all templates online are either criminally generic or AI generated

My uni careers service hasn’t been much different either

I don’t know any paralegals personally either

Where can one get decent templates?

I am graduating next month and moving out of my accomodation, and I have a whole bookshelf full of law books I bought in fresher year that has been collecting dust since

They are outdated by now so I don’t think they will be useful for SQE - hence I don’t want to keep them… but I have no idea what to do with all these books either?

Uni library doesn’t want them, not sure if I can sell them either - so is there a charity or something that I can donate to? Or maybe get paid for recycling? I really don’t know what to so if you have any advice …

I have been put on the reserve list for the vacation scheme of my dream firm.

I made it to the final stage and have been told they have seen ‘high potential’ in my application but didn’t make it to the definite list

So in all honesty - should I get excited or have any hope at all? My chances depend on someone dropping out and I am not even sure how high I am in the reserve list

Better than nothing I guess but I don’t know how to feel about this

Not to rant here - but I am genuinely confused

I applied for a paralegal role at a firm I previously worked as a legal secretary so I already knew a good chunk of the people/culture and had like half of the department I was applying for as my referral. I also have good work experience in that area, so imagine my shock when I not only didn’t get an interview but the person they chose in the end is a fresh graduate who just came back from year abroad - no work experience or anything

I did some digging and I don’t think it is a nepo baby situation either. I don’t think the issue was my personality either as all my colleagues reffered for me willingly

I found a job elsewhere so it is not the end of the world for me but I can’t stop thinking about it - what might have caused this ??? Does this happen often with other firms too or did I piss off someone at HR without realising?