My loans repayments are due and I still don't have a training contract

Readers' comments (18)

• Anonymous | 29-Jun-2009 4:34 pm

  Looking for further financial assistance??!! Does the word "parent" not jump out at you? Ask them to dig deep and fund their little darling while you get much needed work experience. At the end of the day - when you are earning top bucks at law firm you can loan them your holiday home in the Hamptons.........

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• Anonymous | 29-Jun-2009 4:57 pm

  I think that is pretty narrow minded, most adults want to be independent of their parents! If you need money then you should do any commercial based work and then try and keep doing legal work experience.

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• Metallica | 30-Jun-2009 10:02 am

  Disregard the comment at 4.34pm - immaturity at its best.
  I do not advice going further into debt. If I were you, I'd seek any office based work to build up your bank balance. If it is not with a law firm, so what?! Be clever about how you put this on your CV. There are many skills you can enhance in a non-legal job which would be relevant in a legal job - communication, organisation, drafting, responsibility, etc. All this will be vital for a training contract which you must secure as soon as. In an interview if a firm asks why did you undertake non-legal work, just say you wanted to gain experience that would enhance your skills rather than sit on your backside. That shows a good attitude to work. Good luck.

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• Anonymous | 30-Jun-2009 12:29 pm

  Why not try office-based recruitment agencies especially legal recruitment agencies and work as a legal assistant? I did this and it has kept me largely out of debt and provided me with some valuable experience.

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• Anonymous | 1-Jul-2009 12:07 pm

  Completely disregard 4:34 - not everyone has mummy and daddy to go running to every time the going gets a little tough! Show some independence, integrity and maturity anon 4:34 (unless perhaps you are still in your teens which your comments may indicate!).
  
  My recommendation would be to try and get commercial work (preferably with a blue chip company) and look for legal work on the side. Before my TC the majority of my roles were in the commercial world, with shorter stints of legal experience. This didn't seem to be a hinderance in getting a TC as I could demonstrate that I was well rounded with good business acumen - being able to relate my experiences to the needs of the client.

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• Indiana Pwns | 1-Jul-2009 4:48 pm

  Ignore the idiot at the top, not everyone's parents are Daddy Warbucks, although there are quite a few such individuals in law.
  
  The best thing to do is find any sort of remotely relevant job, bankruptcy won't help your chances of becoming a solicitor at all.

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• Anonymous | 2-Jul-2009 2:15 pm

  I don't know what are the financial options you have got, some time ago I was in a similar situation. I self funded my degree I am an international student, so you can imagine that me fees were very high!
  I enrolled on a paralegal course paid £100 a month. After that I managed to get a job at a high street practice firm, it is a way to put your foot in the door, saved money to take the NY Bar exams, passed and I am continuing with my paralegal job. I will complete the 2 years experience required by the Law society in order take the QLTT and finally become a solicitor in England, and guess what? I have got dual qualification.
  
  Good luck!

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• Ayikaley | 2-Jul-2009 2:45 pm

  I can completely empathise with your situation. However, I am in a worse off situation. Having self funded all my education without any help fro mum or dad, as they were not around. I managed to successfully complete the BVC and was called in 07. Since then I have been searching for the so-called 'pupillage’ they make so hard to get.
  
  The current economy has made finding a job so hard, even the basic legal and non-legal work is hard to come by. At 25, I am in debt of £50k excess, my loans, credit card bills, are expected to be paid and due to me not being in a position to repay, the companies are seeking to enforce CCJ’s against me, given my inability to pay back their money, through no fault of my own. U tell me, where the justice in that is!!!!
  
  You people out there, who decide who to give pupillage to, really need to sit up and change your ways, because if my sacrifice and commitment does not show how much I want to be a barrister, then I do not know what will. Its disgusting, the amount of debt people have to engage in, all to pursue a career in law, and when your right at the end, its when people now all of a sudden realise that your not good enough. That’s just crap!!! Had I not pursued the bar, I would not be in this great financial mess. I hope a decent person out there gives me the break through that I deserve.
  
  I hope you are able to sort yourself out before you hit the stage I now find myself in. All the best.

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• anna | 2-Jul-2009 3:34 pm

  Hi!
  I would not advise anybody to take the LPC without having secured a training contract first. The financial situation is pretty bad not only in the UK but also all around the world. If one is going to get in trouble financially it is not worth it, because at the end one is not going to make as a solicitor!
  I also agree with Rosa, at the time the best option would be a paralegal course, its cheap and it teaches the skills required. Apparently that is the type of job a trainee solicitor does in the training contract!
  In what is concerned with the NY Bar, I am not sure as I dont know how it works. but it that is true it seems another option to consider.
  
  Good luck to you all!

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• Anonymous | 2-Jul-2009 6:38 pm

  I symapathise with Ayikaley's situation. I relied on loans to get me through the GDL & LPC and have paralegalled for 3 years since then. When the time came to offer a TC my employers decided that they couldn't afford me, so now I have been unemployed for 6 months.
  
  Despite all this I am still adamant in pursuing a career in law: I don't know how else I can show a commitment to the profession.
  
  In response to the reader's question I would suggest that they find a paralegal position or any law related job. This will kill 2 birds with one stone: they can repay their debt with their wages and gain relevant experience to put on their CV whilst still searching for a TC.
  
  Having said this: vacancies in any legal job are very few and the competition is fiercer than ever. So good luck.
  
  Lastly: don't expect sympathy from the bank. I am using the majority of my JSA to keep up with monthly repayments.

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