Hey everyone!
a little bit about me - I'm an international student and graduated from a non-Russell group university in London (can you guess?) with high merit in LLB Law honours. My current stage is studying the LLM Legal Practice (SQE 1&2) starting this September, and I'm self-funding it.
I have never actually fully applied for vac schemes - don't get me wrong, I've tried to get myself to apply, and I've done a lot of research, but call it imposter syndrome - I just haven't been able to send in applications because I don't want to deal with rejection possibly😖
When talking about legal work experience - I actually have done a quiet 4 legal internships through the past three years of law school during my winter/summer breaks but in my home country - which is an international hub. Additionally I had volunteered all through second and third year of law school at a legal clinic - which technically does qualify as "qualifying work experience" but its too short of period to be considered. While I haven't applied for vac schemes, I have attended several open days and was a campus ambassador for a law-adjacent company and a brand ambassador for another. I have also just been selected for the Baker McKenzie and AS mentorship programme starting soon🤞 + I'm also currently on the ASPIRE programme to get ahead this year.
This is my last year to apply for vs/tc's before I have to leave the country + I'm also doing the sqe which adds even more pressure. I know that I can stay for two more years through the graduate visa but currently I'm not sure if that is something I would invest in, I do prefer staying in London so I'm for sure considering it but more so as a last option.
I was inspired to make a forum of my own so that I could hold myself accountable and actually apply. I've done a lot of research and the firms I'm interested in are big international law firms (Dentons, Baker Mckenzie, A&OShearman, Bird&Bird etc). I do have actually go into a deep dive and actually research firms but the goal is to apply for 5 firms a month so that's 20 firms in total over the course of 4 months (Sep-Dec) 🫢 I know I'm being very ambitious in applying to so many - but hopefully it works out in the end. I will also be applying to their oversees offices as most firms have an office in my home country.
On my to do list :
1. RESEARCH FIRMS
2. Keep up to date with commercial news to get my commercial awareness up to date.
3. Apply for open days so that I get at least one foot in through firms.
4. REVISE REVISE REVISE all 7 core modules (for the sqe)
I'm just starting out and I'm a bit lost and I have loads of information in my head so this forum is very much gonna be a digital dump for my brain! Oh also I've never really done a Watson Glazer test before so any thoughts, starting tips, or advice would be greatly appreciated😙 ( whether it's in general or regarding the test).
a little bit about me - I'm an international student and graduated from a non-Russell group university in London (can you guess?) with high merit in LLB Law honours. My current stage is studying the LLM Legal Practice (SQE 1&2) starting this September, and I'm self-funding it.
I have never actually fully applied for vac schemes - don't get me wrong, I've tried to get myself to apply, and I've done a lot of research, but call it imposter syndrome - I just haven't been able to send in applications because I don't want to deal with rejection possibly😖
When talking about legal work experience - I actually have done a quiet 4 legal internships through the past three years of law school during my winter/summer breaks but in my home country - which is an international hub. Additionally I had volunteered all through second and third year of law school at a legal clinic - which technically does qualify as "qualifying work experience" but its too short of period to be considered. While I haven't applied for vac schemes, I have attended several open days and was a campus ambassador for a law-adjacent company and a brand ambassador for another. I have also just been selected for the Baker McKenzie and AS mentorship programme starting soon🤞 + I'm also currently on the ASPIRE programme to get ahead this year.
This is my last year to apply for vs/tc's before I have to leave the country + I'm also doing the sqe which adds even more pressure. I know that I can stay for two more years through the graduate visa but currently I'm not sure if that is something I would invest in, I do prefer staying in London so I'm for sure considering it but more so as a last option.
I was inspired to make a forum of my own so that I could hold myself accountable and actually apply. I've done a lot of research and the firms I'm interested in are big international law firms (Dentons, Baker Mckenzie, A&OShearman, Bird&Bird etc). I do have actually go into a deep dive and actually research firms but the goal is to apply for 5 firms a month so that's 20 firms in total over the course of 4 months (Sep-Dec) 🫢 I know I'm being very ambitious in applying to so many - but hopefully it works out in the end. I will also be applying to their oversees offices as most firms have an office in my home country.
On my to do list :
1. RESEARCH FIRMS
2. Keep up to date with commercial news to get my commercial awareness up to date.
3. Apply for open days so that I get at least one foot in through firms.
4. REVISE REVISE REVISE all 7 core modules (for the sqe)
I'm just starting out and I'm a bit lost and I have loads of information in my head so this forum is very much gonna be a digital dump for my brain! Oh also I've never really done a Watson Glazer test before so any thoughts, starting tips, or advice would be greatly appreciated😙 ( whether it's in general or regarding the test).
