What should I focus on in 3rd year after not securing VC?

[Lani]

Hello TCLA and others,
I would like some guidance as to what I should prioritize in third year. In second year I unfortunately was not able to secure a vac scheme/tc.
So I seek guidance as to whether I should put energy into trying to secure a vac/tc in third year, or whether I should prioritize my studies (those who have been through the process know how draining it can be).
My current plan for after university - doing my LPC + LLM - do graduates normally apply for VCs/TCs whilst completing their LPCs or do they apply after?

Thanks in advance

 

[CaramelLatte]

Hi Lani,

I read your post and thought I’d share my own insight. As a disclaimer, my advice is from my own experience and my best advice is to think for yourself always, but naturally I hope my own experience serves as motivation to you.

I wasn’t successful in obtaining a VS/TC throughout the 3 years of my undergrad LLB. However as best I could I sought to build my own exposure and experience. In my final year I chose an elective called ‘legal clinic’, in which I assisted real clients as part of my law degree - this was ideal work experience for me as it also contributed to my studies so I was not losing time between one or the other. Since you mention studying your LPC after graduating, I assume you are studying a law degree, so hopefully your degree has a legal clinic or pro-bono equivalent. If you are on a non-law degree or your university does not have a legal clinic, I know there are alternative legal clinics outside of university that you can absolutely apply to and I would recommend doing so.

Aside from this, my personal advice is to concentrate on your studies and aim to graduate with as best a degree as you can - while getting as involved as you can in your law society / extra-curricular societies. It’s something I wish I did more, having now realised it’s completely okay not to attain a TC during university as not everyone does. For me, at the latter end of second year I did become involved in my law society and for my final year I kept up with my sporting activities.

I ended up self-funding an LPC LLM in 2020 after graduating in 2019 and kept up with the applications. After 2/3 previous rounds of application practice, I started seeing real progress in my applications. Personally I cut down the amount of applications and focused on tailoring. In particular, it was my Watson Glaser ability that improved massively simply from having done it so many times before. Finally, studying the LPC gave me an added commercial strength, as the LPC is a very practical and commercially applied course and electives such as private acquisitions became incredibly useful during assessment centres for contract review tests and case studies etc.

I ended up securing 3 VS interviews, of which I converted two by the end of the year.

So, keep going, keep your head up and know that if you haven’t been successful so far, that doesn’t mean you won’t be. You just have to keep grinding at improving yourself, which for me was a combination of added work experiences via clinic (and even being a bartender over summer which I referenced in my VS interviews) as well as focusing on my studies and getting good results. Most of all, be kind to yourself. I was never kind to myself during University until my LPC year and the self-confidence and charisma I developed was a core reason (I believe) for my eventual successes.

Good luck to you and take it easy!

 

[Lani]

This has helped me so much, I really appreciate the time and effort put in this response, thank you!

 

[Dheepa]

Hi Lani,

Bhavan has already given you fantastic advice here, but just to give you a bit of perspective my advice would actually be to focus on applications. Finding the right balance when doing your degree can be tough, but personally I always prioritised my applications wherever possible. At the end of the day, law firms don't really have a preference between degree grades. As long as you secure a 2:1 overall, and maintain relatively consistent 2:1's across your modules, you'll be fine. I also found that in my second cycle I was writing far better applications because I'd been through the process before and knew what to do/not to do. I think there's value in keeping at it because the practice at various stages of the process does really make you better. Perhaps an alternative is to just submit 3 or 4 applications during your final year, that way you still give yourself a chance at the TC but have plenty of time to focus on grades. As has already been said, focusing on quality rather than quantity will actually increase your chances at making it further in the process.

 

[Lani]

Hi Lani,

Bhavan has already given you fantastic advice here, but just to give you a bit of perspective my advice would actually be to focus on applications. Finding the right balance when doing your degree can be tough, but personally I always prioritised my applications wherever possible. At the end of the day, law firms don't really have a preference between degree grades. As long as you secure a 2:1 overall, and maintain relatively consistent 2:1's across your modules, you'll be fine. I also found that in my second cycle I was writing far better applications because I'd been through the process before and knew what to do/not to do. I think there's value in keeping at it because the practice at various stages of the process does really make you better. Perhaps an alternative is to just submit 3 or 4 applications during your final year, that way you still give yourself a chance at the TC but have plenty of time to focus on grades. As has already been said, focusing on quality rather than quantity will actually increase your chances at making it further in the process.

Thank you for your input Dheepa I will consider this too when I decide what I am going to do.