Mocks and the Advocacy Exam

Oh dear… somebody hasn't been blogging for a while. I am sure any students out there know how busy December is for us all *tiny violins* and I have also been training for my first half marathon so unfortunately, with all the best will in the world, the blog did indeed fall by the wayside. 

But no more! I hope to be back and blogging from this point onwards. Obviously with only six months remaining of the LPC it would be a shame not to see it through to the end so I am 100% back. 

So let us begin with a round up…

Civil Litigation and Property mock exams

November not only held my birthday but mock exams. The mock exams were held just one week after my advocacy practice assessment, on a Wednesday and during what would have been our workshops for that module. I am not going to lie, my preparation for the mocks this year fell far below the standard I set for myself for the BLP mock one year previous. For BLP I had prepared crib sheets for all the workshops we had done prior to the mock and was serious about my revision. 

For the civ lit and property mocks no such crib sheets were prepared. And revision was minimal. To be honest it was a general theme! Having had no actual time off from the course to revise it just seemed impossible to be as ready as we all would have liked. 

We sat the exams and from the mark sheets I think most of us were confident we had at least passed which was the main thing. The course continued and mocks were swiftly forgotten. 

Advocacy Assessment

The real advocacy assessment was held on the final day of term, the 18th December, and was the only thing we had that day. In addition to this we were also informed that our mock exam papers would be ready for collection after we had done our assessments. Hoorah…

My assessment was at 15:15 which, given how far away I live, suited me just fine. I turned up an hour early looking my best and feeling ridiculously calm! The practice assessment had gone smoothly and I thought that ten minutes of talking for an exam was going to be a breeze. After a quick run through in one of the quiet rooms I felt ready and made my way to student services to find out my room allocation (we were told to arrive at student services fifteen minutes prior to the assessment to collect this). 

Student services was filled with around twenty nervous looking students all lined up to collect their numbers. My stomach dropped and I finally felt the first twinges of nerves. I collected my number and found my room. My opponent was waiting outside and I promptly took down her name while she babbled about how nervous she was. Why is it that nerves are contagious? My stomach dropped for the second time. 

In the advocacy literature we are told that: once you enter the exam room you are in "court room conditions" and the assessment has begun. This effectively means, don't go chatting to the assessor like they are your best pal, they are assessing you from the start. So imagine our surprise when our assessor invited us in and begun talking to us, telling us what she would be doing, where she wanted us to sit, told us of time limits and warnings. I was utterly thrown. My stomach dropped for the third time. And then it began.

I introduced myself and my partner perfectly fine. I went to take a breath to begin the case introductions and it hitched in my throat. The nerves had hit full and fast and I suddenly wondered if I would even be able to talk again. I am sure this has happened to almost everyone and for that reason you will all know that, yes, you do talk again. The first two minutes were touch and go, I felt awful! But I regained my stride and composure and by the time I was taking the "judge" through the bundle my voice had returned some confidence and my breathing had relaxed. I finished without a time warning and the adrenaline buzz of finishing felt amazing!

My partner began her submissions and I hate to say it but she really struggled. I hated having to sit and listen to her and realised how she had probably felt during the first part of mine. Unfortunately, she did receive a time warning and then committed the cardinal sin of abandoning her bundle right where she was and going straight to her concluding submissions. When you receive a time warning you have exceeded the ten allotted minutes for your submissions but will generally be allowed a further two before you are completely cut off. This should allow you to (quickly) finish the bundle and then conclude. Abandoning the bundle, at any point, is a terrible terrible idea. 

The time warning put her off completely and her conclusions were shaky at best. I managed to make a further point and then the judge decided that my partner had "won". This time I managed to respond to costs and I "won" that element of the hearing. 

We quickly left - having finished much earlier than the other students. As we left the building we whispered how we thought it might have gone and my opponent agreed that I had been nervous, in fact she had seen me shaking! The relief of having completed one of my most dreaded assessments on the LPC was immense. Although it could have gone better I was so pleased with myself. 

The day ended on a high with a too-fancy-for-students Christmas meal at a lovely steak restaurant. Our suits came in handy! Generally, my classmates felt passes were on the cards but none of us thought it had gone perfectly. The nature of assessments. 

Oh and in terms of mock results…

            CIVIL LITIGATION :                58%

            PROPERTY:                                74%

Lots of work to do for civil then! 

Christmas was the perfect break. Obviously, jobs continued but having a few weeks away from uni left me feeling revitalised for the final push of 2014 and the finish of the LPC. 

I hope you all had a good one. 

Advocacy practice assessment

The day I had been dreading finally arrived on Wednesday, the practice assessment for advocacy. I didn't actually feel too apprehensive in the days leading up however, come Wednesday morning I was a bag of nerves and very eager to get it over and done with. 

I met my opponent outside the interview room and luckily remembered to jot down his surname so that I could introduce him correctly. Unfortunately, his name was rather difficult to pronounce and I spent the next 10 minutes prior to entering the room repeatedly asking how to pronounce it - I am sure this came off as extremely rude but I hope he could see how nervous I was!

The hallway was filled with anxious students, some jabbering away, some quietly reading through notes, some wearing suits, others (like me) in their usual uni get-up. My pair was the last to get called in. Luckily the woman taking our assessment was my Tax teacher and I was grateful for the familiarity. She spent a couple of minutes chatting to us and I felt thoroughly calm by the time she pressed the timer and I had to begin. (In retrospect, it may have been better not to have had this prior chatting as, in the real assessment, you are treated as having begun the assessment as soon as you enter the room and should treat the room/assessor as you would a courtroom/judge). 

My intro was a little shaky and I forgot a few things I wanted to say, albeit nothing vital. After I had the introduction of the parties and the application out of the way I regained the flow I had had in the practices I had done at home and the whole thing seemed to whiz by. 

The 'show and tell' section (in which you are required to take the judge through the bundle, showing the relevant parts and telling how they strengthen your client's case etc) was my weakest part. This was mainly due to the fact I left out a large part of the respondent's evidence on the basis that I thought if it weakened my case it was best left for them to bring up. As I found out, it is necessary to address this evidence and try and put a positive spin on it in light of your client's case. Obviously I have used this technique before but thought, with only 10 minutes to make my case, it would be best focussing on all of our evidence and leaving the dissection of theirs to the full trial! Whoops!

My opponent had a very strong start but slowly began to unravel and I felt extremely uncomfortable for him, as I am sure he felt the same during my weaker points. Eventually he abandoned the 'show and tell' and moved on to a rather persuasive summary. 

Either way we were both found to be competent, and luckily not on the borderline. We were both told that our 'show and tell' was the weaker part of our advocacy, we both had felt it. After examining our notes, I was told that mine could be annotated a little more without risking a fail and that his were too annotated, bordering on breaching the NO SCRIPTS rule.

To be honest, the whole experience wasn't nearly as terrifying as I thought it would be and those 10 minutes flew by. The real assessment is on 18 December and we get our case notes on 2 December. I am hoping to get an application for security for costs again but there is a chance I will be given summary judgment. 

Some good advice our assessor gave us was to only have a brief read through of the papers when you get them. That way, when you come back to them in a week or so time you will have remembered in your head only the key issues i.e. those issues you are introducing as the relevant issues to be decided. 

Anyway, no other news this week. I hope everyone else's practice assessments are going well. 

 

Advocacy

I have finally finished the two advocacy workshops that are part of the litigation module. I won't lie, I still find it absolutely terrifying but I think I have a good shot at being found 'competent'.

The basic idea is that two students go head to head in an interim application hearing in front of a tutor acting as the judge. You receive the case papers two weeks in advance and can highlight and make notes as appropriate in preparation. 

As with interviewing, advocacy is a 'skill' and therefore marked as competent/not competent. My practice hearing is on 20 November and I have been given the role of applicant in a security for costs application (there are two roles: applicant or respondent, and two types of hearing: summary judgment or security for costs). One of the scariest things about being an applicant is that you speak first and it is your job to introduce both you and the respondent's solicitor, the basic facts of the case and then your specific points. Originally, I thought our class (all being applicants) had gotten the raw end of the deal but after the practice sessions I actually think the respondent's have it worse. The respondent's have to remain calm enough during your ten minutes of speaking to actually respond to what you have said. Not only do they have to address the points the applicant has made but also put forward their own version of events and reasons why the application should be dismissed, taking each piece of evidence in chronological order and making sure not to miss anything that the applicant has said that may harm their case. This is actually rather difficult!

The workshops themselves were extremely helpful and we got a lot of great practices in. The key here (more than ever!) is to prepare the advance case papers. Unlike interviewing, you can't just wing it and won't get the most out of the sessions without knowing who your client is and what you are actually arguing. Seems obvious but unfortunately very few people were adequately prepared. However, advocacy is similar to interviewing in that, the biggest tip in terms of properly utilising the sessions is to completely throw yourself into it. Most people were happy to have a go and everybody got something wrong. I personally think the ones that were reluctant and didn't give it their all are the ones at risk of not passing. 

A few little points: not wearing attire appropriate for court is an instant fail. Having a script is an instant fail. Writing more than a few bullet points on the case papers is a possible fail. Using two highlighters to show your points and their points is advised so that if you do go completely blank you can at least try to locate the right colour and go from there. 

We also have mock exams for property and civil litigation coming up on 27 November. Property is going fairly okay; it was never going to be a great love of mine but it isn't as hellish as I anticipated. I think I can do well in it with a little bit of focus and time. 

We have also handed in our final electives choices. After much consideration, deliberation and tipex, I finally settled on Private Client and International Commercial Law (which has replaced standard Commercial Law). I think that these, along with Employment, prove to be a well rounded and not too niche set of electives attractive to a majority of firms. Importantly, they are also subjects I predict I will enjoy and are areas I would be keen to eventually practice in - win win!

As for the LLM dissertation I remain undecided along with 80% of my classmates. I honestly think it will depend on my personal circumstances nearer the time. At the moment, as with most of the part time students studying the LPC, I am working four days per week and attending university one day which leaves me two days to try to fit in some relaxation plus the 15 hours workshop prep time. I personally can't see where I would fit work towards a (good) dissertation into that! Also, if i manage to obtain a training contract I don't think I will spend a further three months studying toward a qualification that won't result in me gaining anything. The LLM has never been a specific goal of mine. I would be interested to hear other people's thoughts!

First few weeks- round up

I have been back a few weeks now and I apologise for the lack of blogging, so expect a long one. 

GLS

I finally got the feedback report for the GLS assessment day (note to anyone applying in the future: they say you will receive it by the end of September but this actually means the very last day in September so don't be hanging on every email like I was!). 

All in all I scored 20/35. Obviously this isn't particularly great. My strengths were motivation for law and the GLS, collaborative working and delivering at pace. One of my biggest weaknesses (and my lowest mark of 2/5) was for decision making. This is something I am already aware of and am seriously trying to address, but it has definitely brought it home how very important it is that I change in this area. 

My writing skills were good and presentation skills also good so not a complete disaster!

University

We have completely settled in to Civil Litigation now with the course being in full swing. I actually quite like it although there is ALOT to do and the 7.5 hours suggested prep time for each workshop falls short. So far, my shortest prep time has been around 9 hours and this week I am already on 8 with still one i-tutorial and a test and feedback to go! 

Property Law and Practice (PLP) began last week and I must say it is yet to get me excited. So far we are on the conveyancing procedure and it all just seems dull dull dull. The prep for the coming week is addressing land law issues such as easements, covenants and trusts; it is basically a revision week of the LLB module. Oh the thrill! Anyone getting that I don't like land law??

We also have to choose our remaining two electives this coming week. We did do this last year, but with the change from LPC to LPC LLM some of the modules have also changed and so we need to reselect. This year I was a bit more organised and arranged a meeting with my personal tutor to discuss the options, deciding Private Client was a good choice as this is the area I currently work in and also Commercial Dispute Resolution to add a commercial element to my choices - top decision making right there!

We also need to state our preliminary intentions with regard the LLM dissertation. It is all a bit confusing to be honest and the real sting in the tail is that the LLM is not distinct from the LPC, meaning that the dissertation can bring your LPC mark down (especially considering it is weighted very heavily). In all honesty, my gut is telling me to avoid it like the plague. We are the first year doing it and it does feel like we are all guinea pigs with the tutors themselves not even knowing the answers to some of our questions. With that said, I won't rule it out at this point in time and will see how things look in February when the title choosing and planning process begins.

Work

Work is going really well and I have started doing lone home visits, only to collect documentation but it feels great to have the client contact. I am starting to get to grips with Wills and Probate and it is beginning to feel familiar. The team are fantastic and have thankfully taken me under their wing. Life is good!

The Last First Day

School is back! And without wanting to get too sentimental and yucky, Wednesday was my last ever first day back at "school". Never again will I feel the excitement over new planners and timetables. Never again will we eagerly discuss our potential new tutor or lay out your first-day-back outfit the night before. I must say that the thing I will certainly miss the most is the new stationery. 

But onwards and upwards. 

The first day back consisted of registration with our new tutor, book collection and the first Civil Litigation workshop. 

Our new tutor is honestly amazing. I was sad to see that we were getting a new tutor as our last one was so approachable and a bit of a laugh but I am more than happy with his replacement. She is also the head of Civil Litigation which is great if we have any queries. 

Unlike last year I was a bloody idiot and didn't take my suitcase in anticipation of new books. Luckily for me, there was no book similar in size to the one of dreaded BLP legislation so I just about managed to lug my plastic package of first term books to class. Rookie mistake one. 

My second rookie mistake came in the form of the tiddly folder I thought was appropriate for the first session. My usual lever arches had a day off and stayed in their warm and cosy home on my bookshelf while this teeny weeny ring binder got a trip out to university to aid me in my Civil Lit endeavours. I was sorely mistaken to think this poor excuse for a folder could hold anywhere near the amount of paper we received and in the end I bundled it as best I could into my bag. Inconvenient. 

Civil Litigation was not at all what I expected. For some reason, many students tend to dread Civil Lit. I personally think it has to do with the two Advocacy workshops in the module. Either way, those students are wrong. I was pleasantly surprised and really enjoyed both the prep and the workshop. So far we have only really begun to cover the general litigation process and writing a letter of advice/response in the initial stages of a claim. I am very much looking forward to the progression of this module. 

One thing I am most definitely NOT looking forward to is Property Law and Practice (PLP). Anyone who has taken the time to read this blog from the beginning will know my history with Land Law and I am afraid that I never have, and probably never will, enjoy this area of the law. We have all gotta hate something right? Anyway, this wretched module does not begin for a couple more weeks so I am granted a brief reprieve. 

Other News

I was surprised to learn that not one single member of my class managed to secure a training contract this summer. In fact, surprised is an understatement; I was downright shocked.  There are some fantastically talented and dedicated individuals in the LPC classes, which is the case with every provider. My class is no different. I have no idea what happened but I am guessing that at least a small part of it is the sheer competitiveness in recent years and the ensuing bottle-neck of applicants. I genuinely have no idea what has happened to the world when students achieving high grades at degree and LPC level, volunteering and working 30+ hours, all maintained over a period of 3-5 years, cannot get a job in the legal sector. Who are the people getting these jobs?

My first assessment centre

Phew! What a busy month it has been. With my new job and plenty of overtime at my second job it doesn't really feel like there has been a summer break at all. In the midst of all of this I also got the opportunity to have my first assessment centre experience, and I can tell you from the off (to avoid any false hopes!) I unfortunately wasn't successful. However, every cloud has a silver lining and, now that I am two weeks on from the disappointment, I am confident that I can use the experience for a successful experience next year.

Now, I wasn't sure whether it is the "done thing" to publicly name the firm you're interviewing for but having desperately searched the web for info on this particular organisation's assessment centre (info not provided in the assessment centre pack of course) I was bitterly disappointed. So on that note, the organisation I am writing about today was the Government Legal Service and I hope that my experience can provide an insight to any future hopefuls. 

As background, the application process for the GLS includes an application form and Situational Judgment Test, successful applicants are then invited to complete a Verbal Reasoning Test and, if successful in that, a Critical Reasoning Test. Finally, there is the assessment centre which includes a written task and an interview with a panel. 

The assessment centre is held in London across four days. We found out upon arrival that they were interviewing 112 candidates in groups of seven (four sessions per day) and that over 3000 people had applied; these were incredible statistics and indicative of just how fierce the competition to obtain a training contract is. 

The written task involved advising a minister on a proposed piece of fictional legislation, particularly in relation to four specific members of the public's concerns, within a one hour time frame. The task was typed and we were given a hard copy of the materials and permitted to make notes. Generally, I found the task okay. I finished just in time but felt comfortable and not flustered throughout that hour. 

We then had a 20 minute break in order to have a drink or snack before being called for our individual interviews. Interviews were held by a panel of three (two GLS lawyers and one independent person). They were very friendly and definitely put me at ease. That was until the questions began! 

The first 15 minutes consisted of questioning on the written task. I had expected to be questioned on the rationale behind my answers but the questions seemed to be more technical:

"You have suggested an exemption to this section 13(b), how would you implement it?"

"Who would be better to decide the annual fee in the legislation, the local council or wider government?"

I think I fared okay but my unpreparedness for these types of questions definitely showed and I actually had a moment of complete blankness, which completely threw me off. 

The remaining 55 minutes of the interview consisted of competency based questions requiring the applicant to give an example of a time when they have demonstrated particular competencies, in this case decision making, leading and communication, team working and working to deadlines. These questions were testing. I was obviously aware of the types of questions I would be asked and had thought long and hard about examples I could give, however, I wasn't sufficiently prepared for the depth I would be questioned into these examples and they ended up coming off a little shallow. I often had to stretch the example to fit the question they were asking and it all felt strained. Advice to any future applicants: talk through your examples, write them out, dissect them in every way and analyse them at a great depth before the interview so that you know them inside out and can in turn discuss them in better detail. 

In addition to the competency questions, we were asked to discuss a current legal issue which interests us (I spoke about David Miranda) and finally our motivation for working for the Government, particularly in public law. 

It was intense.

I left the building feeling entirely shell shocked. In my defence, it was my first experience! The questions were relentless and just when you thought you had cracked it they threw in a curve ball. The panel took it in turns to ask the questions giving you little time between questions to compose yourself and I often asked for a moment to think or take a sip of water. With that said, the conversations with other applicants seemed to suggest that private training contract interviews for top firms were even more intense so perhaps I got off lightly!

The GLS recruit on a top down basis. Everybody gets a mark for their written task and interview and then they take the top 30-35 so it really is a case of "may the best man win". I was completely gutted not to have obtained a place but I am determined to give it another (better) shot next year. 

With all that done, I am now preparing to return to the University of Law for my final year on the LPC in less than 2 weeks. Back to business!

Year One Results

As I sat on my bed, at 13:46, longing the minutes to go slower and simultaneously wishing it was all over, I was lured back into 'exam hysteria'. By this point I could no longer care and the constant bleeping of my Whatsapp group message became a comfort. 

By 14:02 I was logged on and hovering the pointer over the 'open' button beside my results. Here they are:

- Interviewing: Competent

- Solicitors Accounts: 90% (pass)

- Employment: 79% (distinction) 

Relief is an absolute understatement and I am over the moon with my results. Needless to say a few drinks are on the cards for me tonight...

In terms of my friends, I don't know their precise marks but I do know that the main instigator of 'exam hysteria' achieved a distinction in the employment elective and passed everything else. That's always the way! Regardless, everyone is returning for a second year of LPC madness and I cannot wait.

In other news...

Remember the legal admin position I was applying for a few weeks back? Well, I got it! In addition to this role a training contract has been discussed and is on the cards for 2015/2016 providing the firm like me so I am extremely pleased. I will initially be based in one of their smaller offices with a lovely tight knit team and I just can't wait to get stuck in. I guess the suit paid off ;)

Given the above, I halted my TC applications once I had received the job offer. Now I know that the TC isn't exactly certain, and probably a lot of you will disagree with my approach, but I am keen to train with this particular firm and would like to see how it plays out. Obviously, I won't withdraw any completed applications and will be interested to see how they fare too. 

I hope you all did well in exams and good luck with your applications!