There has something annoying about the last few days. I can't put my finger on it, but I'm sure that part of it is the frustration of feeling held back.
I attended a free seminar yesterday on employment relationships and dismissals. As I sat there, I realised that I was learning nothing new and my frustration continued to rise. Why aren't I out there doing my job? I can do this and do it well.
As I walked back towards Liverpool Street Station, I turned into St Mary Moorfields on Eldon Street...just as the priest was closing the doors. "No no, its ok, you don't need to open up again". I can pray anywhere but I like popping in, its peaceful, and the understated alter and backdrop never fails to take my breath away.
After a short train journey I reach my destination in suburbia. My heel gets stuck in the ground at the station, and I fall arse over tit. Ouch (and more ouching today).
Today, I've been trying to get things sorted out. The poor mobile phone service I receive from T-Mobile, the non-service I received from Soliman travel, my father's work issues, nothing has been resolved. I have to write to all of these people, but I'm sick of complaining.
Rather than crack on, I update myself on what has been going on on others' blogs, and catch up with Charon QC's the Blawg, which leads me to his piece for the ABA journal - Legal Rebels. In it Charon explains how the odds are against most BVC students (I hadn't realised that there were so few pupilages out there - nor that a tenancy was required to market oneself as a barrister) and that there are so many unemployed solicitors out there because they just don't have the intellectual capacity to do the job. If I thought that those unemployed solicitors out there were the thicko's amongst us, I may have been inclined to agree with him, and if this was 2007 and we were still riding the tide of a booming economy fair enough, but this time, I think he is wrong.
There is no doubt that the economy has led to a reduction in the number of training contracts being offered - evident from the number of training contracts being deferred for a year - this is surely going to have a knock on effect on the number of "new" training contracts being offered in 2010. And I have no doubt that had I qualified in 2007 (which I'd have been able to do had I had a trust fund/rich family/some decent career advice behind me when it mattered) that I would be hugely successful in my field and be 2years PQE without feeling that my job was at risk. But I have been unlucky. I am not stupid and I know my stuff. I want to learn and I want to excel at what I do. And some day soon, those barriers preventing me from moving on will come down, and there will be no stoppping me. In the mean time, I just have to hope that those recruiters out there realise that there is more to me than my period of unemployment, and have as much faith in me as I have in myself.
Rant over.
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Hi.... I am part in agreement with you - but there is little doubt in my mind, having taught students for many years, that the quality of students in the lowest quartile of achievement - as measured by A level results, degree results, and personal assessment has gone down.
ReplyDeleteI t is difficult to put a figure on it - but 10% of law students stand little chance of being employed - because they do not have the qualities employers are looking for. This does not mean that the students are thick, per se, it just means that compared to other very talented students available in the job ,market they don't meet the requirement and, if the law schools are being honest, they never were and shouldn't have been parted with their money for the fees.
If a student is told that they have little prospect of succeeding in law and is warned about the conbsequences, the realities of the job market and still persists - good for them. They have done so knowing the facts and having been given an objective assessment. Some will, of course, prove everyone wrong - and I would like nothing better than to be proved wrong by cases like that.
It is a harsh world out there when the time comes to actually pay someone to do a job and employers are looking for the best value their money can buy.
I understand what you are saying, and I probably would have agreed with you 100% if this was written a couple of years ago - but we can ignore what has happened over the last year. I would be interested to know whether the number of unemployed NQs equals your guestimate 10% of students who don't have the qualities to make it. I've googled but to no avail.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that an entry test for the BVC and LPC would be a good starting point to help prospective lawyers to make an informed decision as to whether they are capable of making it, but ultimately, its for the student to decide whether they can afford to part with their hard earned.
I very much doubt that any training establishments' priority is their students' future career, as opposed to the £000's they can make from them. Having been through BPP I truely believe that (and will be avoiding putting any more of my savings their way). Its business after all. Caveat emptor yada yada...
Is there anything in the UK like simply hanging out your own shingle in the U.S.? Or are you required to "apprentice" yourself? Even if you are, can you take this blog and make it about some area of the law you are passionate about to expertize yourself while looking? There's so much you can do for yourself in this down market to get ahead of the crowd because there is nothing standing between you and publication.
ReplyDeleteIf you get down-hearted, read http://gapingvoid.com for inspiration and GOOD LUCK!
Not as a newly qualified I'm afraid Vickie, but to be honest, I have no problem with starting at the bottom and learning my way up and would value working alongside some experienced solicitors too - I think there is value in that.
ReplyDeleteAs far as I am concerned, I know where my expertise will lie, and am looking at what I can do to build on my existing skills - the purpose of this blog is to enable me to think freely in public, and if I'm trying to sell me I'm not sure I'd be able to speak so truthfully - I will certainly consider ways in which that may be possible though.
Thanks for the link to gapingvoid - fantastic site - added to my blog roll!