Your third year is crucial in your legal studies. If you did not achieve your desired grades in the second year, then the third year gives you the opportunity to improve your grades. If you got good grades in the second year, then the third year is when you need to push yourself and try to achieve even better grades.
Typically, in your third year of law school, you will have a wider choice of optional modules. Optional modules allow you to learn about different areas of law and explore your interests in law. Make sure to pick modules that interest you in one way or another.
Training Contract and Pupillage Applications
During your third year, you can still apply for vacation schemes or mini-pupillages, however, you are also eligible to apply for training contracts and pupillages.
Plan your application writing process around deadlines. Most deadlines for applications are in winter. Allow yourself enough time to develop quality applications. Use the contacts that you made throughout the year to help you write quality tailored applications. Do not try to submit as many applications as possible; quantity never wins over quality.
LPC and BPTC Applications
If you did not receive a training contract offer during your third year of law school, you could continue your legal education by undertaking the LPC or a Bar Vocational Course. However, the costs of LPC and Bar Vocational Course are quite high, and you should have finances available to undertake those courses.
There are several providers of LPC and Bar Vocational Course, and those courses are offered at several universities. Research each one of them and make sure you are satisfied with the course layout and the range of optional courses.
Completing an LPC or a Bar Vocational Course doesn’t necessarily mean that you will be offered a training contract or a pupillage right away, but it means that you are one step closer to your dream career in law. An LPC or a Bar Vocational Course graduate can be an attractive option for firms that do not offer to fund these courses and thus only recruit LPC or Bar Vocational Course graduates. Also, after completing these courses you can land other jobs in the legal sector like a paralegal, legal assistant etc.
Non-Legal Jobs
It is also worth considering securing non-legal jobs if you are not planning on starting an LPC or a Bar Vocational Course at the moment.
A law degree can help you secure many non-legal jobs in various employment sectors. You can seek employment as an analyst, manager, consultant, or even as an investment banker and many other roles. Although these roles are not in the legal sector, you will gain plenty of transferrable skills and unique work experience that will help you secure a training contract or a pupillage.