International non-law student

[envlaw]

Hi everyone!

I am a recent non-law graduate and am looking to become a solicitor in the UK. I only just decided to undertake this pathway but am really unsure on the way forwards, especially with the new SQE system being introduced.

As an international (that's currently not in the UK) and non-law student what are my options/ chances in securing a training contract with no super relevant work experience (e.g. VCs) in the field?

I'm thinking of doing the SEQ preparation course that is combined with a masters in the UK, either part time or full time, finding relevant work experience on the way.

My undergrad was in the environmental sciences and I'd love to continue working on environmental law - do Magic Circle or similar firms give trainees or new solicitors opportunities to work in a specific area such as the environment?

Please drop ANY information you might think would be relevant for a non-law, international person looking to become a solicitor in the UK, thank you!

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi everyone!

I am a recent non-law graduate and am looking to become a solicitor in the UK. I only just decided to undertake this pathway but am really unsure on the way forwards, especially with the new SQE system being introduced.

As an international (that's currently not in the UK) and non-law student what are my options/ chances in securing a training contract with no super relevant work experience (e.g. VCs) in the field?

I'm thinking of doing the SEQ preparation course that is combined with a masters in the UK, either part time or full time, finding relevant work experience on the way.

My undergrad was in the environmental sciences and I'd love to continue working on environmental law - do Magic Circle or similar firms give trainees or new solicitors opportunities to work in a specific area such as the environment?

Please drop ANY information you might think would be relevant for a non-law, international person looking to become a solicitor in the UK, thank you!

You can do environmental work at any of the larger firms, but as a trainee you would normally be doing a much broader range of work, and potentially also be working on matters than aren’t very environmental too! If you want to work in that specific area, it may be better to look for more niche firms who specialise in that area, rather than a broad full-service law firm.

As an international student not studying in the UK, your main obstacle is obtaining vac schemes. It’s highly unlikely a firm will get a visa for you for such a short placement, so unless you have the right to work in the UK, that can be tricky. Obviously, if you do a SQE prep course, that might be less of an issue but you’d have to ensure you 1) got a student visa for it (part-time courses might not give you one) and also the more informal course that don’t have a qualification level of 6 or above attached to them might not get a student visa either. And even if you do get a student visa, you’ll be limited to working full-time outside of term time, which can also be tricky with winter of spring schemes in particular.

It’s really hard to say what your chances are - as that will depend a lot of the rest of your profile. But nothing you have said so far suggests it isn’t possible - you just have a couple of hurdles (those mentioned above) to work around.