Thinking of becoming a lawyer? Consider your legal career options

Are you considering a career in law? Make sure you're aware of all of your opportunities. Solicitors and barristers aren't the only people that practice law. With so much competition in the legal sector, it's worth knowing about the alternatives. This article explains the different types of legal careers for you to consider.

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What is a “lawyer”?

A lawyer is someone who gives advice to clients on their legal rights and legal obligations. There are many lawyers who are not solicitors or barristers. However, the law and various bodies in the UK regulate this kind of activity, and determine how much legal work a person may do, depending on their training.

What are the different types of lawyers?

Solicitor

Solicitors give advice and assistance on matters of law. Specifically, they are the first point of contact for people and bodies (members of the public, companies and charities) seeking skilled legal advice and representation. Most solicitors work together in private practice, but some also work in central and local government, or in-house in a commercial or industrial organisation.

There are various routes to qualifying as a solicitor:

(a) Gain a law degree (LL.B) which takes 3 years, take the LPC (Legal Practice Course) which takes 1 year full time or 2 years part time, and then undergo a training contract which takes 2 years - time to qualify approx 5-6 years (new courses are in place which allow you to start your training contract while you are doing your LPC, which can take the time to qualify down to 5 years).

(b) If you already have a degree in law, take the Graduate Diploma in Law, effectively converting your degree to a law degree, which takes 1-2 years. Then take the LPC and undergo a training contract, as described above. Time to qualify - around 3 years plus your initial degree.

(c) Train as a Legal Executive, then take the LPC and undergo a training contract. Under this route, if you can clock up 5 years of experience while you train as a Legal Executive, you can be exempt from a training contract after completing the LPC.

Barristers

Barristers offer advice on legal issues and are on the front line, representing clients in court. They receive their information and instructions through a client's solicitor. When not appearing in court, they work in chambers where they prepare their court cases and arguments.

To qualify as a barrister, you need to complete three stages - your law degree (LL.B), the BVC (Bar Vocational Course, i.e. a practice course) and finally, a practical stage, i.e. pupillage. However, it's very difficult to get a pupillage and even though only a few people who pass the BVC achieve this (around a third), the profession is very over subscribed, meaning that even if you succeed, there is too little work for too many barristers!

Legal Executives

Legal Executives are qualified lawyers who perform tasks akin to that of a solicitor. There is in fact practically no difference between a solicitor and legal executive, except that:

Legal executives qualify via a different route
A legal executive CAN be a partner in a solicitor's firm (contrary to what the ILEX website says - the info on that site is out of date) but cannot run a firm by themselves, i.e. they must still have a supervising solicitor as a partner
To qualify as a Legal Executive you actually need practical experience - whereas you can be a qualified trainee solicitor, advising clients, with absolutely zero experience
Legal executives tend to specialise in more niche areas
It's possible to train as a legal executive whilst gaining practical experience - ILEX have a college which allows you to complete the courses from home (although you do have to sit an exam for each module)

Legal Executive lawyers are able to act as Commissioners for Oaths, and Fellows of three years good standing may sign cheques drawn on their principals' client account.

People are often surprised to hear, in addition, that Legal Executives can have extended rights of audience in civil, criminal and family proceedings - Fellows who train and qualify as Legal Executive Advocates can represent their clients in the County Court, Family Proceedings Court, Magistrates' Court including the Youth Court, Coroners Court and in most Tribunals depending on the area of law in which they practice.

A Legal Executive can go on to qualify as a solicitor if they want to - they have to take the LPC (1 year or 2 years) but after that, if they are a F.ILEX with appropriate experience, they will not need a training contract. However, unless the Fellow plans to set up their own firm, there is no real reason why a Legal Executive would want to be a solicitor, in my opinion, as many firms now advertise for a 'solicitor or legal executive', appreciating that the roles are virtually interchangeable.

Legal Secretary

If you do a quick search on Monster or a similar jobs site, you'll see that Legal Secretaries get a good wage, usually much better than trainee solicitors - and good legal secretaries are in high demand. Having worked as a legal secretary myself, I'd say this is an excellent way into the profession - you can study for your law degree (for example through the Open University) whilst gaining practical ‘on the job' experience without needing any qualifications.

So what skills do you need? Fast, accurate typing is essential, and this is usually oral typing as ‘fee earners' - i.e. the lawyers in the office - will dictate letters and legal documents for you to type up. A polite friendly telephone manner is also beneficial as you'll be the first point of contact for the client. It's also a huge advantage to have some knowledge of the area of law you'll be working in. I recommend that you complete an ILEX Level 6 Practice Course in the area of law you're interested in, because this will give you a sound basic understanding of how transactions work, enabling you to be truly useful to your fee earner.

ILEX also do a Legal Secretary course but I have no first hand knowledge of this (http://www.ilex.org.uk/study/legal_secretary_qualifications.aspx)

I also recommend you study the Solicitor's Code of Conduct, published by the Solicitor's Regulation Authority. You might think as a secretary, this won't apply to you, but it very much will. How you handle money, duties of confidentiality, identifying potential conflicts of interest - all these matters will crop up on a daily basis and if you make a mistake, you could land your firm in a lot of trouble. The code is here: http://www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/code-of-conduct.page - an awareness of this will of course give you an edge at the interview.

Licensed Conveyancer

A licensed conveyancer is a lawyer that deals with property transactions. Unlike Legal Executives, Licensed Conveyancers can set up a business and practise on their own (without having a supervising solicitors) but only in relation to conveyancing, i.e. property transactions.

The Council of Licensed Conveyancers supervises their activity and training. Training involves the study of property law, contract law, landlord and tenant and accounts. If you have already completed part or all of a law degree, you may be exempt from certain modules.

Paralegal

A paralegal is usually an untrained lawyer - i.e. one that does not have formal qualifications - who works in a law firm and carries out duties similar to that of a solicitor, under the supervision of a solicitor. They are frequently paid a lot less than legal secretaries - and you might think this is because they complete lesser work but that's not true - in fact, it's because the demand for these jobs is extremely high. Why such high demand? Because this is the perfect way to gain legal experience which will actually be taken seriously on your CV. For example, if you're training under ILEX or as a Licensed Conveyancer, before you're fully trained, this kind of experience can really get you a foot in the door as an advantage over other fully trained applicants with no experience.

Jobs are frequently available in conveyancing and in costs (i.e. just preparing bills for clients) as these are two areas where there are a lot of relatively uncomplicated cases/tasks to deal with.

There are many, many more legal careers to consider - you can get more ideas by visiting a site like Reed and browsing through the ‘Legal' section (http://www.reed.co.uk). Remember, for law firms, experience can be a crucial factor - there are always plenty of candidates for the roles they advertise, all with very similar qualifications and experience - but those who can get straight into a role with little supervision are the best earners for them. So consider gaining experience as a legal secretary or paralegal before you apply for your dream job. Also remember that your manner with clients is just as important as your legal skills. Whatever job you're going for - even as a legal secretary - be aware of the Solicitor's Rules of Conduct (mentioned above) which are available here: http://www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/code-of-conduct.page

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