"I’m a Newly Qualified lawyer … please help!" (FREE bottle of bubbly for the best response)

There are so many Newly Qualified lawyers out there, yet so few jobs to match. Figures are continually growing; 2009 saw a dramatic rise in NQs and I am sure early 2010 will be no exception.

I imagine that 2009 and the first part of 2010 will not go down in history as the very best time to qualify as a lawyer – in particular, a lawyer who wishes to specialise in any field that was not in any way contentious. I’m thinking of commercial property, M&A…and when was the last Public listing?

When moving forward as an intermediary between employers and future employees, what do out-of-work NQs actually do when they are not being a Newly Qualified solicitor?

NQ roles are presently attracting huge interest. One recent role with a very specific brief from a London law firm attracted 50 applications in a single day. So what do you do to stand out and get noticed? And what does the person who allocates those ‘golden yeses’ want to see you doing?

Time for a case study – it’s up to you to provide the outcome for this NQ’s problem. Since it’s Christmas, the good people at Career Legal are offering a bottle of bubbly for the best answer.

To be in with a chance of winning your free bottle of champagne, be sure to leave your comments below.

Case Study

I'm a Newly Qualified solicitor with a 2:1 LLB from a good university. I achieved the LPC with distinction. My training contract was with a highly regarded law firm and I experienced fantastic quality work with lots of client contact. In my commercial property seat I showed a real aptitude for transactional work which was really cemented in my corporate seat. Unfortunately, my firm did not have an opening for me in either seats; I qualified in September 2009. I have applied to many law firms and in-house legal teams with no success.

What are my options? Should I:

1. Accept casual/temp work and keep applying for NQ roles;
2. Accept paralegal work and keep applying for NQ roles;
3. Keep applying for NQ roles and read legal publications as the above two may jeopardise my chances;
4. Live abroad or go travelling for a year and learn a language building life skills;
5. Legal volunteering/pro bono work, to build up experience and remain in the legal sector;
6. Take on temp work with a legal recruiter and keep applying for NQ roles as it keeps me in the legal field;
7. Look for work in a different field as the market is picking up slowly, and I can come back to law sometime in the future;
8. All of the above;
9. None of the above – do something else.

Martin Chivers
Director, Career Legal

Martin Chivers joined Career Legal in early 1998 and is currently a director. He has been in the recruitment industry for some 27 years, 14 of which have been spent recruiting almost every possible type of lawyer for almost every possible type of client.

Career Legal are delighted to be included in the recently published ‘HOT 100’ list, which identifies the most successful recruitment companies in the UK by consultant profitability. Career Legal achieved 9th place overall and are the highest ranked legal recruiter.

Comments

[DeAnna Grant]

In this present climate of recession where jobs are hard to come by I would recommend that you take a job as a Paraglegal; that's if you can get one, and continuing applying for NQ positions.

OK being a Paralegal is not quite the same as being employed as a Solicitor, but at least you will be able to keep up-to-date with your skills and earn an income at the same time. An income that can help reduce your student bill, which I'm sure is huge!

Working as a Paralegal will show any prospective employer that you are still engaged in the legal profession and determined to complete your training to become a legal professional. It shows resilience and perseverance, that you will wait until such time that you can become fully qualified.

[mza@talk21.com]

I think everyone is aware that given the current climate the legal profession much like any other has suffered. Options 1-9 are all suitable but really it is a question of addressing your own priorities when it comes to work. Do you need to work asap, if so a temp/casual role is ideal you earn money whilst giving you the incentive to keep applying for a suitable NQ role. I use the word incentive because if you are lucky enough to successfully apply and secure a permanent role it may not be what you are looking for in terms of your background and the seat you enjoyed the most whilst training.

In the meantime i quite like the idea of building on your life skills but a year out at this stage of your career? no doubt you have debts - i do not think its such a good idea but learn a language here plenty of evening courses and the extra skill can do you no harm especially if you want to return to a corporate environment.

hope my advise helped

[mr green]

No idea - but a good question - one that I shall soon face as I qualify in the next 6 months.

Good luck!

[Yasser Kazmi]

One question I have been trying to find an answer to for the last 2 years is,
If I have a 2:1 LLB Hons degree from UK, can I practice as a Lawyer in Dubai without having done LPC and having a training contract?
If anybody knows the answer, please let me know

[Sonia Jay]

I am a newly qualified and have tried all of the options...almost!!

What I have found is that whenever I have gone for an interview for an NQ position, I have been succeeded by someone with 1 to 2pqe experience...so where does that leave the genuinely NEW NEW qualifieds??!!

In interview, they expect you to have so much more knowledge and experience than any normal 6 month seat in a training contract would allow. Is it therefore fair that interviewers expect this from us?

I'm afraid paralegal recruiters do not want to take our applications seriously because we are NQs. They know we will up and leave when the right NQ role arrives.

I am tired of doing voluntary work; it's not the helping thats the problem, it's the not earning any money that is the issue - how long am I expected to go on like this?!

Any ideas?

[Jen Taylor]

Reading the above posts I can completely identify with the desperation to find a solution! I'm in exactly the same boat, trying to find a role in clinical negligence, which appears to be impossible in the current climate!

So far, I've considered becoming a policewoman, apparently the waiting list is hundreds of years long, working in a shop which has numbed my brain beyond belief and temping in an environment where people look like they are losing the will to live! I have spent a month in asia teaching children english, although inevitably the job hunt began when i got back....

My advice...keep plugging along with the search and hope that things pick up. No-one would have expected this downturn to have continued for so long but hopefully it will pick up equally as quickly.