Private Client exam - and the last exam of the LPC

Well what can I say, the LPC is over! Last Thursday saw me take the final of my LPC exams in beautiful sunshine and boy did it feel good. 

The PC exam is just like all the others -  three hour paper made up of 20% MCQs (multiple choice questions) and 80% written questions. This translated into ten MCQs at two marks each and five written questions with varying marks, totalling eighty. I did the usual - and would recommend this to anyone else - took thirty minutes off the three hour time limit and then divided the remaining minutes by  eighty giving me the average minutes per mark. Then multiplying all the questions marks by the average and writing how long I have for each (always rounding down!). This should only take two or three minutes to do and is INVALUABLE in time keeping. I have particularly found on the LPC that sometimes you really do have to wind up what you are saying and move on. On some questions I feel as though I could write forever! 

I digress. My time keeping worked a treat and I finished with five minutes to spare. All in all I was really happy with the exam. As expected the written questions were quite tax heavy, whether you were actually doing tax calculations or explaining the tax implications of a variety of options to a client, there certainly was a lot of tax. This was heaven for me! As nerdy as it may sound I would happily sit that exam ten times over - such a relief to end the course on a high. Especially in comparison to the Commercial exam which, in light of PC, was pretty damn horrendous. 

RESULT PREDICTIONS:

International Commercial Law:            60%

Private Client:                                          70%

After the exam there was a real sense of finality. Although there were still two more exams to go on the following day it seemed that most people in that room had just sat their last LPC exam. I must admit in my final five minutes I sat and had a little look around the room, took it all in. 

The LPC really has been a roller coaster. I went into it quite terrified of public speaking and not at all confident in my ability to one day be a solicitor. I am leaving having conquered my fear and feeling like a legal career was made for me. When I remember how absolutely petrified I was of both the interviewing and advocacy exams I am now so incredibly proud that I managed to do the exams and pass them first time (and even enjoy them a little!). 

In terms of friendships, I have definitely made a few of those. It really has been eye opening the different people you meet and from all kinds of walks of life. The camaraderie has been second to none, everyone is willing to lend a hand and support you when needed. For this reason I am excited for the future generation of lawyers - a kind, intelligent and extremely determined bunch. 

So now I await exams and the classification of my Legal Practice Course, and that will be my final blog post on the LPC *sniff sniff*. 

….. BUT don't abandon the blog just yet dear readers! I will still be popping in to post about the search for training contracts. Indeed, Monday 30th June will see me attending an assessment day so hold out of for the results of that. And in even more exciting news, the blog will be fully taken over by a new student in September. I will let him introduce himself in his own blog post but he is an English Literature graduate and will be documenting his journey on the Graduate Diploma in Law. 

So for now, enjoy whatever summer you may have and good luck in your TC applications!

International Commercial Law exam

Yesterday was the first of my two elective examinations and was on ICL. The course itself has been so incredibly structured that I assumed the exam would be straightforward enough. If you are currently in the UK you will be aware of the ridiculously hot weather we are experiencing at the moment - and I don't do heat! Give me a log cabin in the snow any day! On top of this my new car has (a) manual windows (yes, they do still exist!) and (b) no air conditioning. So my multiple hour long journey to uni was less than comfortable. Nevertheless it was lovely to see the campus full of summery looking students all revising in the sunshine and I enjoyed a pre-exam salad with my friends on the grass before we went to our doom.

First of all, the room was SWELTERING. Genuinely, I walked in and instantly felt a little sick at the thought of spending the next three hours in that stuffy heat, trying not to drink so I could avoid a time-wasting toilet break and doing my best to maintain peak concentration. Luckily, we were all in the same boat. 

The exam began and in usual fashion it was ten multiple choice questions worth two marks each followed by the written questions worth the remaining 80% of the paper. As someone who generally struggles with the MCQs on the papers, I was sooo relieved to find that they were all unusually similar to the practice questions we are required to do for each workshop (and which I had run through that morning!). Hoorah!!! There were not many that I was not confident about. 

The written questions were a bit more tricky. There were four and they were all styled on "read the email and write your response in a report". Annoyingly unnecessary when you don't want to waste precious time faffing and just want to answer the question! Because of this slight set back my timing was a bit off. Each "report" had specified subtitles but it wasn't clear how many marks were allotted under each subtitle, only under the whole question. This meant I was unsure how much was required in each bit. 

I did finish the exam and do all the questions. One of my friends missed the last question but then it was only worth six marks so not necessarily catastrophic. Now I am preparing myself for my final ever exam on Thursday for Private Client. I cannot wait!

The Last of the Last Days

Wednesday marked the very last day at university for me and many others in my classes. Amidst the teachers handing out review forms and giving us vital last minute exam information/tips there wasn't a lot of time to get nostalgic. I did bring in cake though, and cake always marks a special occasion. 

I can now officially say that I have completed all of the learning on the Legal Practice Course. I have been reflecting on the past two years and whether I feel I have achieved everything that I set out to achieve on the LPC. I am obviously disappointed that I won't be starting a training contract this coming September as I began the course in high confidence that I would be able to secure a TC starting in 2014. Things don't always go to plan. I do, however, have a promising job in a firm that have invited me to apply for their 2015 training contract, so it is not all bad. 

In addition, I have really concerted my efforts into succeeding on the LPC - more so than on the LLB. I am of course aware that the LLB is regarded much higher than the LPC but I am still proud that I have gone from averaging mid sixties to mid seventies, showing my dedication and the amount of time I have invested into this course. I am genuinely proud of my achievements (and I don't say that very often!). 

For now, it is revision for me in preparation of my final exams. They are  a week apart too which makes me feel far more relaxed about the whole affair. We are also arranging a large group meal for all my lovely form mates so that is something to look forward to! 

For those of you coming to the end of courses, whether they be the LLB, GDL, LPC or BPTC, I hope your last days and exams  went well :)

Results: Litigation, Property, Writing and Conduct

Although a little late, I am here to talk about results day last Thursday. The strangest thing about getting results is that no matter how well you feel you did during and directly after the exams, the more time spent waiting for your grades, the more you begin to self-doubt. With ten long weeks to wait between the final exam and results day, self-doubt was in abundance among my friends in the last couple of weeks. Most of us were working on that Thursday and, if I'm honest, it is a bit of a relief to have an excuse not to be able to have the pointer hovering over the "open" button at 13:59. By 15:00 I had mustered the courage to open results after finally accepting the realisation that not opening the results didn't change their outcome! 

I logged in to elite. And then received a text from a close friend to say she had opened hers and got distinctions in both. My stomach sank and I closed elite down. It took me twenty minutes to get back to the page and I finally checked my results:

Litigation                            85%

(civil litigation                     65/80)

(criminal litigation              20/20)

Property                             76%

Conduct                              90%

Writing                                Competent

Needless to say I was completely overwhelmed by the grades and have been the given the boost I need for the final push. We now have only one (YES ONE!) teaching week left at university before more exams and then the end. Commercial is going really really well, and although there is a lot of prep for the workshops I am definitely enjoying it. We have now done workshops on competition law and online sales contracts. This module is, unsurprisingly, heavily based in EU law (being International Commercial Law) so is not for the person wishing to forget all those wonderful EU regulations learned on the LLB/GDL. Private client is also going well but I am surprised about the sheer volume of tax work in this elective. Not that this is a bad thing from my tax-loving point of view, but I can see how some people are beginning to feel a little grumpy at the prospect of doing another exam on tax!

Now, off to prep for the final week. I hope you have all been enjoying the wonderful sunshine.

Failing the LPC

I feel that, with exam results looming and due on 15 May, I am most likely tempting fate by writing this blog as it is all about failing the LPC. 

Ask any current student on any Legal Practice Course and they will all know of at least one failure related horror story. Mine is this: a girl in the year ahead of me managed to secure a training contract with a decent firm in her first year of the part time LPC. Having gained distinctions and competents in all of her exams thus far, she was horrified to find she had failed Civil Litigation. Even though she retook the exam, passed, and retained her 70% distinction average (even with the 50% cap on Civil Litigation), she could be awarded no more than a pass, as university rules state that to fail a core exam limits the student to an overall pass mark on the LPC. Do not pass Go, do not collect £200. As if the poor girl's situation could not seem any more devastating, upon informing her firm of her fail they hastily withdrew her training contract, as per the terms of said contract. The student who was once averaging a distinction and had a promising future in the bag lost it all by one failed exam. 

I did a little research and this type of situation is, unfortunately, not uncommon. And even worse is the cut throat attitude of other law students commenting on this type of situation. One pleasant chap was so outraged by the fact that anyone could fail an LPC exam that he stated that a person who fails an LPC exam was clearly not worthy of a training contract in the first place. It got me thinking, are the the LPC exams really that difficult to fail? And if a person does fail does that mean that they are henceforth irredeemable as a lawyer? 

Having studied on the part time course I have had the opportunity to meet people from a variety of different backgrounds. We all have careers outside of law school. Many have families and other commitments outside of law school. Basically, for some people, the world simply cannot revolve around law school. And this can lead to the dreaded fail. 

During the previous exam period I had my exams sandwiched between work days. I could not afford to take more than the actual days of the exams off. Has this affected my performance? We will see. But does this make me any less of a lawyer compared to a person who is fortunate enough to be able to study full time and without having to work? I am not so sure. 

If the legal world doesn't look any further into a person's circumstances before rejecting their application based on a fail (or worse, withdrawing a training contract) I have to wonder whether the profession genuinely does want to move towards representing a wider section of the community. The kind of student who has to work to fund their LPC is the same student typically from poorer backgrounds. In this way, the barrier to these students still holds. These students generally cannot get time off from work for work experience and certainly cannot afford to undertake the common place unpaid work experience. They cram their study in to ever busy working weeks and struggle to keep their heads above water. And on top of all this, one bad day, one hectic week at work, or one poorly child the night before an exam, could mean their whole LPC is rendered worthless. 

So to that extremely closed minded man who sought to make the author of the forum question feel totally worthless, open your eyes and see that, yes, failing a module on the LPC may be down to one's laziness and lack of motivation. But it could also be due to a whole host of other reasons that do not make that person any less of a fantastic lawyer.

Paper Pushers

This blog post is going to be all about us poor student solicitors/trainee solicitors/qualified solicitors, so barristers feel free to tune out. Not really, but this post will feature a few barrister-related frustrations. A very good friend of mine (since secondary school) has recently started her pupillage at a local chambers. As you can imagine we are all extremely proud of her. However, out of myself and eight other of the ladies that all regularly still see each other from school, five of us are involved in the legal profession in some way and she has been the only one to pursue the bar. Prior to her getting pupillage and whilst on the BPTC she described the rest of the legal profession as "paper pushers" in trying to explain to the remaining four friends the distinctions between myself as student solicitor, my two paralegal friends and one legal secretary. Oh. Wow. I was so offended. Since then she has diminished the pay of those who are not barristers (apparently she would be starting on £60k) and glamourised the bar whilst simultaneously dulling any other legal career. 

For the sake of not wanting to sound bitter and jealous we have all remained silent. But is this view of the different legal professions universal? Last week my mother was on jury service. Upon its conclusion we were sat discussing some of the hilarious things the barristers and judges had been saying (one barrister going into the intimate depths of his "expensive bottle of wine" and the "delicious joint of roast pork" he and his wife enjoyed the previous weekend - don't ask, the link was tenuous at best) when my mother flippantly remarked "oh (daughter) I wish you were going to be a lawyer". My response "I am going to be a lawyer, mum". It left me thinking how society really views solicitors. The new series of Silk started recently and I absolutely love it, but look at the solicitors on there. They are either the purest and most corrupt of evils taking bribes with no moral compass and representing the worst criminals, or they are doe eyed women just happy for the chance to be seduced by a QC. Is this what we have been reduced to? Has anyone ever seen a paralegal or legal assistant featured?

I didn't go into law just to say I'm a lawyer and think that that commanded respect. I know that, like the taxman and politicians, lawyers aren't always held in high regard. But I don't understand the difference in perception between barristers and the rest of the legal world. Anyone in the profession knows that the distinction between solicitors and barristers is fast becoming smaller and smaller. My friend on pupillage text me just the other day saying she had met some solicitor advocates in court and had only just realised that she and I could come up against each other one day. My bill, of course, will be much lower. Although, I have found out her pupillage is at £12k salary so for now at least I am a paper pusher earning much more than a barrister. 

Electives: International Commercial Law (ICL) and Private Client

So I have been doing electives for a good three weeks now and although the initial feeling post exams was "I CAN'T GO ON!!" I am now happily settled into the new modules. The countdown is on for the end of the LPC with only nine teaching weeks in total for the electives and we have now completed three of them. 

ICL so far has been a real go over of contract law and a smidge of EU law too. I'm finding it very interesting. We have largely been covering commercial contracts for the sale of goods between businesses including express/implied terms and remedies - all the things you would expect from a module basing itself on contract law! In terms of amounts of work - ICL is fairly tough going with a lot of prep for each module and unfortunately it is not prep that I feel you can get away with not doing. 

I was always going to love private client because it is the area that I am involved in at work. For that reason alone most weeks I feel quite familiar and comfortable. On top of that, the module has a real focus on tax - mainly Inheritance Tax so far - and if you can remember from my tax blog waaaayyyy back during BLP, I LOVE TAX! So you can consider me a very happy bunny.

Speaking of bunnies, the Easter break is here. I can't quite believe that I am saying this but (and yes I know we are only three mere weeks in) I have managed to remain extremely organised with my work so far. I have completed all the prep for each week AND I have typed my notes after each class for consolidation. And you know what that means? I actually get to have a break this Easter! Hoorah! We get two golden weeks off and I have lots of lovely things planned including redeeming the spa voucher my fantastic best friend bought me for my birthday wayyy back before Christmas, plenty of running sessions in preparation for my upcoming half marathon (crazy I know), a Great British Bake Off night with my favourite gang of girls and all things I like to call "life admin" - dentist, doctors, haircut etc. And then the second week I'm off to Center Parcs for an action packed week of adventures. 

Yay for Easter!