The BLP mock

Phew! I am so glad to finally be snuggled up in bed at the grand old time of 17:48 today. We sat the BLP (Business Law and Practice) mock this morning and I could not be more relieved that it is over. I am also pleased to report that it was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be and, having received an answers sheet, I believe that I have at least passed *cue the champagne cork*

First, lets talk strategies. My strategy was to do the questions I am most confident about first (tax and partnerships) and the more difficult ones later (both the company questions). We were advised against this haphazard approach to the questions by our tutor who claimed that, students who do not do the questions in the correct order notoriously do worse. RUBBISH! So I went ahead with my tried and tested method and it seemed to work. 

As with earlier posts, time dedication is soooo key to succeeding on this course. The exam was straightforward, no trickery. 

In other news....

An interesting development at the high street firm I am currently working for. One of the fee earners is due on maternity leave soon and mentioned helping out with her files now with a view to helping to cover her when she was gone. Of course I jumped at the opportunity and then...... the glorious words that we do not even dare to think were mentioned...... Training Contract. Not exactly an offer per se but a conversation was had along the lines of- remain with the firm for the duration of the LPC and you can expect a TC. Very positive! Even so, I think I will put that second bottle of champagne on hold for now.

Electives Brain Ache

Consolidation week has sadly come to an end. I say sadly, yet no rest was had by me and certainly not by any good LPC students. Gold stars all round. The reason that I am sad consolidation week has ended is that, for part-time students like myself, the deadline to select electives is looming. I have never been a particularly decisive person; I always feel I might be missing out on the options I didn't choose. This extends as far as choosing a restaurant to eat. I am, a terrible person.

“Someone once told me the definition of Hell: The last day you have on earth, the person you became will meet the person you could have become.”

- anonymous

So you can understand how agonisingly difficult choosing my electives have been. In the end I think the decision really comes down to what type of firm you want to work in and that is why the decision is so hard. At uni, you can be confident that the optional modules you choose will have little or no bearing on your ultimate career path. But the LPC is different. 

There are distinctly "corporate", "high street" and "legal aid" modules. To be honest I have always been set on qualifying with a high street firm as the city lifestyle has not appealed to me. This is until Eversheds shortlisted me for a vacation scheme. Now I know that (a) it is only a shortlisting and not an offer; and (b) this is no guarantee of a training contract offer; but I began to wonder if I have been selling myself short. Maybe I can succeed in the city? Maybe I might even enjoy it? I have, after all, been surprised by how much I enjoy BLP. 

I am torn. I have said all along that the only elective I am sure about is employment and I think this could be a little bit more transferable in the corporate world than some other 'high street' electives. Criminal has never been an interest, housing even less so! I have spoken with my tutor who advised that the second year electives are only provisional and can be changed...

Anyway, the long and short of it is that I have chosen Employment for my first year elective and International Acquisitions and Mergers and International Commercial Law for my second year. I guess you know which route I decided on. For now. 

Consolidation Week

I haven't blogged for quite some time. Truth be told, I have been completely rushed off my feet (yeah yeah I know, big surprise huh). Thankfully, we have reached consolidation week. If you think that translates as the LPC's version of University reading week you are hideously mistaken. Oh no no no monsieur, the work does indeed continue...

Course Updates.

We have now finished PLR (Practical Legal Research) and our first assignment for this was emailed yesterday *shivers*. Luckily PLR is one of the topics graded as Competent/Not Competent so 50% is all I need. 

We are now well into BLP (Business Law and Practice) with sessions in Tax, Partnerships and Company Law well underway. I have to say that I have quite surprised myself by absolutely loving Tax! The general feeling seems to be that it is rather refreshing to be studying something that requires theory, methodical calculations and only one correct answer at the end. Although, when you get the wrong answer and your calculations span three A4 pages....seriously frustrating. 

News.

Good news! I have managed to get another part-time job! wahooo. Currently I am working as a legal assistant one day a week which is kinda not paying the bills, but I received a call from a small firm I did some work experience with a couple of years ago and I will be working their reception one day a week starting Monday. 

Thoughts.

I think the biggest tip I could give from my experiences of the LPC so far is this: you must must must put in the hours. It seems pretty obvious but there are so many people in my classes who could not have possibly put in the required hours because they do not have a clue. Harsh, I know, but the way I see it is that if you are going to spend £13000 on a course you better bloody well make the most of it. This means only applying for the LPC when you know you are in the best position you can possibly be in to give the course a good shot. Give YOURSELF the best chance, competition is fierce. If you are working a 40 hour week, where do you think you can realistically fit in those extra 20 hours studying? (if you're part time that is). Yes it is easy to convince yourself you will do a 60 hour week, "it's only two years", "it will be worth it in the end", "who needs sleep/fun/food anyway?"; but the truth is, you are human, you get tired, you need time to do the things you enjoy and won't actually spend 2 years working like a farm horse. In reality, something will have to give and it sure as hell won't be your 9-5. Don't get me wrong, I really really admire those people who manage to juggle a million things and still do well. But these people are rare. I myself am not one of them. Be honest with yourself about what you can achieve and you can make the most out of the LPC. 

First day and induction week

I love law school!!! I have had the best week. So, induction turned out to be 3 days (even though I am part time). When I was trying to prep for my first day I searched around on the net to find out what to expect and was seriously disappointed to find…well not a lot. So here I will provide a run down of what to expect and then finish off with a few first day/week tips.

First day

I thankfully arrived on time having survived the hell that is the M25 at rush hour. Registration started at 9:15 and we had 45 mins to get a drink and meet some of our fellow students. Now this was the bit I was most worried about – who really wants to ‘mingle’? It’s awkward and embarrassing. But, it really wasn’t so bad. I managed to get chatting to a few girls and, honestly, nobody in the room was on their own. I guess everyone just wants to make friends. Phew!

We had lots of introductory talks (welcome talk, employability etc.) and 1 workshop. I loved the workshops soooooo much! Being a habitually shy person (I know right-why does she want to be a lawyer) I was nervous about the participation part of the workshops. However, the groups are small and everyone is so friendly.  I quickly got stuck in and the rest is history.

Added bonuses: 2500 free printer copies for every student, printed timetables in the handbook, FREE CoL PEN AND STICKIES! (if you’re as obsessed as me with organisation you will understand my excitement).

TOP TIPS

What to wear: anything casual. A jumper and jeans is fine (and standard). Just don’t be that girl who turned up in heels, false lashes and tonnes of makeup/fake tan. Yes, most of us girls are partial to these things on a night out or special occasion, but turning up to college like this will only alienate all the people who turned up in their grubby converse and a sweatshirt. Friend points: zero.

What to bring: money for lunch (they didn’t take card), nobody had brought lunch so I left my sandwiches in the car and ate them on the way home! You 100% must bring the recommended suitcase. Yes, you will feel silly dragging along an empty suitcase, yes, you will worry that when you get there you will be the only nerdburger who brought one BUT almost everyone had in fact brought one and those who didn’t seriously regretted it. They may have looked cooler and laid back walking to college and upon arrival but they certainly looked like idiots trying to juggle 15kg of books from 12pm onwards….

Pre-course work: now this will be a little controversial, and I don’t mean to get anyone into bad habits but please do not get hung up on the pre-course work. I spent the whole week before the first day worrying about this prep and in reality the teachers were so chilled and understood that some people had not had sufficient time. I had done all the tasks but at least 50% of people hadn’t and nobody was made to stand in the corner/10 lashes from the Head Master/ publicly humiliated. To summarise: RELAX!

Overall, I could not be happier with my choice to study at the College of Law. I have met 4 teachers so far and the standard of teaching is extremely high. They are friendly and so approachable; I can contact them about any issues I will encounter throughout the year. However, I’m sure my good mood will last, hmmm, about 2 weeks- until we begin Business Law and Practice…. *vom*

You don't have to study in London...

The course starts in 3 days! And being the extremely sadistic person that I am I decided to make my last week of placement more stressful than it already was by changing the centre that I would be studying at. When deciding where to study I went through the standard BPP vs. CoL deliberations (I didn’t consider anything else mainly due to my location) and eventually chose the College of Law-  it seemed laid back and I thought that open book tests would suit my style of learning. 

For me, it was never a question to study anywhere other than London. Not only was it close to my home but being the capital and the home of many large firms, I figured my chances of securing a TC were higher if I was based there. Fast forward 9 months and cue the mini panic when I realise I would much rather attend a different centre, that I honestly don’t like London and spending even one day a week there would not be ideal and that it will cost me £49 per week WITH A RAIL CARD to get there. It took me 24 hours to switch centres and I am now a much happier bunny (picture rainbows, meadows and me hopping around like a loon).

So now I am tackling the pre-course work, which, by the way, is ridiculous! Nothing like throwing us into the deep end. It should take around 24 hours and this may not sound a lot but it was available only a week before the first day and I have been working full time. Again, cue panic. I really think I need to learn to control my stress levels if I want to survive the next 45 years of my life… Also this week: I have completed my Professional and Career Development loan forms, gotten those horrific passport pictures done for my enrolment and gone stationary shopping (ahhh my favourite part of the new academic year). I still haven’t received the SRA confirmation of my academic stage but I am not too worried as we have 6 weeks from the beginning of the course to provide this.

In other news, the company I was vac scheming with have offered me a part time job :D of course, I snapped it up and I am now a fully fledged member of staff with my own office, case-load and responsibilities. This opportunity will make such a difference to my TC applications after Christmas as I will now have 3 vac schemes, an 18 month stint at the CAB and employment as a Legal Assistant as my relevant legal experience. Bring on the applications!

The manfriend, let’s call him Tall-Dark-and-Handsome (TDH) is at a festival this weekend so I am getting some much needed rest and enjoying the beautiful weather before the craziness begins Wednesday *sips cocktail and reclines on sunlounger*

Law school countdown

And so it begins...

So I have been toying with the idea of a blog for quite a while and I have finally got around to doing it - hooray! My plan is to write an honest and frank account about law school. I have generally been worrying about law school, oooooh since I stopped worrying about starting University, and there are still so many questions I can't find answers to. So I will be the guinea pig and report back :)

A little bit about me: 

• I am due to start the LPC in September (shudder) at a provider in London
• I do not have a training contract *sniff*
• My personality: I recently had to take a personality test for a vac schemed.... the outcome... I have a compulsion for organisation (correct!), I am determined (correct!), I am opinionated (what self respecting law grad isn't?) and a perfectionist (ah my weakness...). Other than these passive/aggressive characteristics I like to think I am good natured and, on rare occasions, I may even be funny.

So a quick rundown of the past 4 years since I started uni...

My first year was great. I loved Contract and Criminal and managed to scrape a 2:1 (wahoo!). I even managed to get a place on a vac scheme at the very last minute, albeit not a very prestigious vac scheme but a vac scheme none the less!

Second year was even better than the first. I honed the studying skills that are oh-so-important. I loved all my modules except Property, for which I was thankful I did well in Criminal as I honestly considered murder. A solid 2:1 topped off the year (even in Property- shock!). I started working at the Citizens Advice Bureau and a high street firm.

Third year .... hmm this is a tricky one. For some reason I was unusually distracted in my final year, and this was not the year for distractions. Equity and Trusts almost finished me off after the massacre that was Property Law. 3 weeks before the exams I received a 48 in my final piece of coursework. Needless to say, panic ensued. I dealt with this panic by giving up on Equity and Trusts, the logic being: Equity and Trusts is a lost cause, make everything else better and it will bring up that mark! I realised the error of this approximately 24 hours before the exam, for which I had by this point done NO REVISION. Yes you are reading this right, arguably the hardest exam of the LLB, my final year, 24 hours to go and NO REVISION. When results were released 3 days early (thanks Facebook!) I was not prepared. I had accepted my fate of the dreaded 2:2. My short lived and practically non existent legal career was over. 

Equity and Trusts..... 61%!!!!!!!!!! 

The exam God was looking down on me. And so I graduated, rather unexpectedly, with a good 2:1. 

....And now. I am finishing my FIRST PAID vac scheme in 3 weeks and 5 short days after that I will be a first year one last time! Please feel free to ask questions. Please be aware that although everything I say in this blog will be true, I am writing under "Penny" to protect my identity. I hope that this will enable me to provide a more honest account without risking any personal or professional repercussions. 

Happy reading!