Help please! Withdrawing TC offer after LPC

[skay21]

Hi

I am pretty worried about this and would really value any help. I have a TC offer from a law firm which I am due to begin next year. I have completed the LPC whilst being funded (including a grant), but over the past year or so following the death of a close relative my mental health has severely deteriorated. Being honest with myself, the thought of training to be a solicitor gives me anxiety, and I cannot bear the thought of it anymore. After weeks of consideration, I have decided that it'd be in my best interest to withdraw my offer.

Of course upon withdrawing my offer I'll need to pay back what I owe the firm. This balance is currently over £20,000. I do not come from a wealthy family and would be funding this purely off my own back (I plan on finding a full time job straight after withdrawing my offer). Do firms generally give a reasonable amount of time to pay this money back?

I'm really worried that I'm in serious trouble whichever way I look - please help!!

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi

I am pretty worried about this and would really value any help. I have a TC offer from a law firm which I am due to begin next year. I have completed the LPC whilst being funded (including a grant), but over the past year or so following the death of a close relative my mental health has severely deteriorated. Being honest with myself, the thought of training to be a solicitor gives me anxiety, and I cannot bear the thought of it anymore. After weeks of consideration, I have decided that it'd be in my best interest to withdraw my offer.

Of course upon withdrawing my offer I'll need to pay back what I owe the firm. This balance is currently over £20,000. I do not come from a wealthy family and would be funding this purely off my own back (I plan on finding a full time job straight after withdrawing my offer). Do firms generally give a reasonable amount of time to pay this money back?

I'm really worried that I'm in serious trouble whichever way I look - please help!!

I have worked at firms where you paid it off in monthly instalments. I had someone do this after doing the GDL and LPC and they had over £30k worth of repayments, which were spread over 7 years (basically £350 a month).

I have known other firms where you will need to repay it fairly immediately though and have known people having to take loans out to repay them - that is tricky if you aren’t in employment though, and I have only known this to really be feasible when someone is turning down the TC for another well paid job.

I have also known firms write off the debt though. Some firms just can’t be bothered with the hassle of it and ultimately think £20k is a drop in the ocean and will just sign it off and you don’t repay anything. Firms obviously don’t really like doing this and you might find you need to sign some form of NDA about it as they don’t really want other people to find out this is what they have done at a risk of other people doing the same.

Some firms decide on a variety of the above options based on your individual circumstances. Given your health and the fact you aren’t leaving for another job, they way want some form of medical reference and they could then write the debt off. They might not though - really depends on the firm and who you are dealing with.

If it was me, I’d work out what my financial options are if the worst comes to the worst and I’d have to pay back the amount fairly immediately and in full. I would also work out realistically how much I could pay back each month too, just in case that did come up in the conversation.

But ultimately you need to speak to the firm in question to find out what they expect in this situation. They will just want you to be prepared for conversations around how/when you expect to pay it back, so to me that is the first thing you need to do, and fairly quickly. You should also let the firm know ASAP.

 

[skay21]

Thank you, Jessica - it's extremely helpful to know that there have been situations like this crop up in the past, and that I would not be the first.

 

[Jessica Booker]

Thank you, Jessica - it's extremely helpful to know that there have been situations like this crop up in the past, and that I would not be the first.

It’s probably happened to me about 6 times in my career. Each time was dealt with very differently. If it’s happened to me, there must be a number of other recruiters it has happened to, and I reckon there must be a handful of people every six months across firms that do this.

 

[skay21]

I've been thinking about this more and more over the past couple of days. I have some questions and would really appreciate your thoughts @Jessica Booker.

1. Will my withdrawal affect my immediate employment opportunities if I am applying to roles within the legal sector (i.e. in business services)?
2. If, let's say, 5-10 years down the line I'm at a better point in my life, my personal situation has improved and I decide to pursue this career again, will my withdrawal of this TC affect the applications I make? Do I even need to declare it?
3. Will I be eligible for training contracts? I've read in places that completing the LPC exempts you from SQE1, and that the LPC is valid until 2032. Are firms likely to take on LPC grads in my shoes, and provide sponsorship just for SQE2? Will firms still be adopting the old route to qualification (LPC + TC)?

Thank you so much for your help so far.

 

[Jessica Booker]

I've been thinking about this more and more over the past couple of days. I have some questions and would really appreciate your thoughts @Jessica Booker.

1. Will my withdrawal affect my immediate employment opportunities if I am applying to roles within the legal sector (i.e. in business services)?
2. If, let's say, 5-10 years down the line I'm at a better point in my life, my personal situation has improved and I decide to pursue this career again, will my withdrawal of this TC affect the applications I make? Do I even need to declare it?
3. Will I be eligible for training contracts? I've read in places that completing the LPC exempts you from SQE1, and that the LPC is valid until 2032. Are firms likely to take on LPC grads in my shoes, and provide sponsorship just for SQE2? Will firms still be adopting the old route to qualification (LPC + TC)?

Thank you so much for your help so far.

1) not necessarily - your application will just look like you haven't secured a TC, not that you have reneged on one
2) no - data protection means that data won't be stored anywhere
3) yes - you will still be eligible for training contracts. Passing the LPC does make you exempt from SQE1 but that is likely to only be during the transition stage. It is difficult to know what firms will chose to do in regards to sponsorship of SQE prep courses and SQE assessments though. I very much doubt firms will stick to the old system for long though as there won't be significant numbers of people to warrant doing so.

 

[Jane Smith]

So you have completed the LPC alrady but do not start at the law firm until next year. It may be that you are feeling better by next year. Would it not be better not to "burn your boats" now by withdrawing from the TC and seeing if you feel more like it next year as it is quite an opportunity you are turning down. Also with a training contract it is quite hard to sack trainees compared with other jobs so you might even find there is less stress than any other job you might take and paying back £20k might be more stressful than not doing the TC. Even if you never intend to practice or want to take 10 years off if you could just keep do the TC from next year that might ultimately be better. My siblings work in mental health (psychiatrist and one a clinical psychologist) not that that makes me an expert, but all jobs are stressful including my older son's who drives a van for a living so may be your answer is to start the TC next year and spend the time until then relaxing, taking some therapy and just seeing how you feel by next year?

 

[skay21]

1) not necessarily - your application will just look like you haven't secured a TC, not that you have reneged on one
2) no - data protection means that data won't be stored anywhere
3) yes - you will still be eligible for training contracts. Passing the LPC does make you exempt from SQE1 but that is likely to only be during the transition stage. It is difficult to know what firms will chose to do in regards to sponsorship of SQE prep courses and SQE assessments though. I very much doubt firms will stick to the old system for long though as there won't be significant numbers of people to warrant doing so.

Thank you for your response - this is all really handy to know.

 

[skay21]

So you have completed the LPC alrady but do not start at the law firm until next year. It may be that you are feeling better by next year. Would it not be better not to "burn your boats" now by withdrawing from the TC and seeing if you feel more like it next year as it is quite an opportunity you are turning down. Also with a training contract it is quite hard to sack trainees compared with other jobs so you might even find there is less stress than any other job you might take and paying back £20k might be more stressful than not doing the TC. Even if you never intend to practice or want to take 10 years off if you could just keep do the TC from next year that might ultimately be better. My siblings work in mental health (psychiatrist and one a clinical psychologist) not that that makes me an expert, but all jobs are stressful including my older son's who drives a van for a living so may be your answer is to start the TC next year and spend the time until then relaxing, taking some therapy and just seeing how you feel by next year?

Thank you very much. Trying my best to get through the TC is definitely another potential option I've been considering.

I'm going to take the next couple of weeks to make a final decision as I know I'd be giving up a lot in withdrawing the TC. I have also been looking into therapy options and have been prescribed medication by the doctor, so that will hopefully help in the meantime.

 

[shadow-demon]

Thank you very much. Trying my best to get through the TC is definitely another potential option I've been considering.

I'm going to take the next couple of weeks to make a final decision as I know I'd be giving up a lot in withdrawing the TC. I have also been looking into therapy options and have been prescribed medication by the doctor, so that will hopefully help in the meantime.

Maybe ask them if you could delay your start date by 6 months/1 year. Explaining your circumstances. I feel like once you've had time to get the help you need and your mental health improves, you may see things differently. Also gives you time to get a job in the interim and start saving some money in case you did need to pay back if you ultimately decided it wasn't for you.

 

[lawgirl101]

Maybe ask them if you could delay your start date by 6 months/1 year. Explaining your circumstances. I feel like once you've had time to get the help you need and your mental health improves, you may see things differently. Also gives you time to get a job in the interim and start saving some money in case you did need to pay back if you ultimately decided it wasn't for you.

I also think checking with the Law firm if it is possible that you could defer the start date for a year. I know that firms do do this on occasion and considering your personal circumstance hopefully your firm would be open to this. This would hopefully give you enough time to think about what you want, save if you need to without completely cutting off something that I am sure you worked very hard for to achieve!

 

[polarxpress]

Hey, any update on your situation? What did you decide finally?