Dear all,
My name is Soliha. I am a final year international student reading law at the University of Law. I am not from the pool of students who always wanted to be a commercial lawyer. I have tried my way to many career paths: tutoring, human rights, charity, business, medicine, etc. In my final year at high school in my country, I was fortunate to join the mooting club to prepare for P.Jessup International Moot. I loved the process: extracting the relevant law from volumes of acts/regulations/cases, working on it and presenting it. This was the key experience for me to decide to be a lawyer.
I am from a developing country. The legal system in my country is quite different. I had no idea that the career routes are divided into Barrister and Solicitor routes in the UK and many other countries. In my first year, I did lots of research, read Chambers, attended events, became a finalist in intercollegiate mooting in London, represented international students at the Students Association. I was very late when I found out that there are many opportunities for first-year students: insight days, open days, organisations that offer networking opportunities, mainly because I had no acquaintance in the legal industry. It took me a while to understand the recruitment process and how the City works (I am still working on this bit). I did an internship at Amnesty International in the summer and understood that human rights/NGO work is not for me.
In my second year, I started my first cycle of applications. I attended more events (Legal Cheek events, insight evenings), participated in the Commercial Awareness Competition (made to Round 3), did some more mooting and talked to barristers. With the insight I got from them, I made sure that I did not want to be a barrister. I received support from Strive Consultants to improve my commercial awareness and my understanding of the city. My mentor helped me a lot to get where I am now. I made six vac scheme applications and failed at the application stage or online assessment stages. (I have confidence issues in my writing and application techniques)
Now here I am. Being offered TCLA scholarship, I feel much more confident than the previous year. I will be posting updates here. Good luck to everyone.
My name is Soliha. I am a final year international student reading law at the University of Law. I am not from the pool of students who always wanted to be a commercial lawyer. I have tried my way to many career paths: tutoring, human rights, charity, business, medicine, etc. In my final year at high school in my country, I was fortunate to join the mooting club to prepare for P.Jessup International Moot. I loved the process: extracting the relevant law from volumes of acts/regulations/cases, working on it and presenting it. This was the key experience for me to decide to be a lawyer.
I am from a developing country. The legal system in my country is quite different. I had no idea that the career routes are divided into Barrister and Solicitor routes in the UK and many other countries. In my first year, I did lots of research, read Chambers, attended events, became a finalist in intercollegiate mooting in London, represented international students at the Students Association. I was very late when I found out that there are many opportunities for first-year students: insight days, open days, organisations that offer networking opportunities, mainly because I had no acquaintance in the legal industry. It took me a while to understand the recruitment process and how the City works (I am still working on this bit). I did an internship at Amnesty International in the summer and understood that human rights/NGO work is not for me.
In my second year, I started my first cycle of applications. I attended more events (Legal Cheek events, insight evenings), participated in the Commercial Awareness Competition (made to Round 3), did some more mooting and talked to barristers. With the insight I got from them, I made sure that I did not want to be a barrister. I received support from Strive Consultants to improve my commercial awareness and my understanding of the city. My mentor helped me a lot to get where I am now. I made six vac scheme applications and failed at the application stage or online assessment stages. (I have confidence issues in my writing and application techniques)
Now here I am. Being offered TCLA scholarship, I feel much more confident than the previous year. I will be posting updates here. Good luck to everyone.