First Year LLB Guide

Readings, Seminars, and Lectures

It is easy to get caught up in freshers week and lose track of your studies. Do not forget to do your weekly readings for your modules, attend your seminars, and go to your lectures. The knowledge that you will gain in the first couple of months of law school will serve as a foundation for understanding other concepts later in the year.

Activities

Join sports teams and university societies of your interests. Although it is crucial to prioritise your studies during law school, it is also important to take part in activities that will let you relax mentally and make the most of your time at university.

Join Your University’s Law Society

Every law school usually has a law society. It is always a good idea to join your law society because it will keep you updated on legal events that are happening at your university. More than that, law societies put forward many workshops and seminars that can significantly help you with the job application process, commercial awareness, and mentoring. If you want, you can also get involved in the law society by running for positions on the committee, which would always look good on your CV.

Legal Networking

Many law students omit this crucial point during the first year. There are several ways in which you can network. Attend your university’s law fair and get to know people that work for various firms.

Sign up and apply for events that law firms host at your university. Many firms usually host either networking events, presentations, or even lectures. Some even host dinners and lunches. At all these events, you will have an opportunity to network with lawyers and trainees and get to know law firms better, which can help you during your application process.

Advocacy – Mooting and Debating

Advocacy is one of the key skills for any barrister or a solicitor. Many universities have societies or even modules, dedicated to helping their law students in developing advocacy skills. You can develop advocacy skills by mooting or debating, and both of them will help you become a confident public speaker, develop your arguments better, and advance your critical reasoning.

Legal Work Experience

During your first year in law school, you are eligible to apply for a range of work experience such as Insight Days/Open Days, Campus Ambassador Programs, Vacation Scheme, Court Visits.

Insight/Open Days

During an insight/open day, students can expect to visit a law firm’s office, attend presentations, or talks by partners, network with trainees and partners, as well as network during lunch or dinner. Some firms put on practical activities for students like mock contract negotiation, collective presentation opportunities, or debating.

Court Visits

If you are interested in pursuing a career as a barrister, visiting the Inns of Court is a great opportunity to see barristers in action. It can also be a great opportunity to mingle with some barristers, ask questions, and familiarise yourself with life at the Bar.

Vacation Scheme and Mini Pupillages (limited in choice)

Vacation schemes and mini-pupillages are usually open to second-year and third-year law students. However, a limited number of law firms allow first-year law students to also apply for them. During a vacation scheme or a mini-pupillage, students will usually shadow a solicitor or a barrister and partake in various events for students. Vacation schemes and mini-pupillages are very important because some solicitor or barrister firms only hire for training contracts or pupillages through those schemes.

Campus Ambassador Programs

Many firms offer campus ambassador programs during which you would advertise a law firm on campus. These programs are very useful because they allow you to get to know a law firm in-depth, make some connections with solicitors and the recruitment team, as well as a great way for developing organisational and planning skills. Campus ambassador programs are usually open to first-year law students.

Merged from: Surely First Year Doesn’t Count!

⚠️ Folded in at migration (triage: merge). Weave into the guide above, then delete this divider.

You at least heard this a million times from your housemates, that “first year doesn’t count”. We are sorry to inform you, but first-year counts.

Hi, it’s me, your first year of law school! You may want to fully immerse yourself in freshers week, drink till’ the morning, and worry about making new friends rather than attending lectures. It’s cool, but then you can also fully immerse yourself into being behind other law students that actually did their work and got decent grades. Unless, of course, you are a superstar that can party non-stop and still get amazing grades.

Sure, first-year grades often are not taken into account of your final grade…but…SURPRISE…your future employers will still look at them! Almost all law firms look at your first-year grades. So, by not trying during your first year, you are really making your future self a tidy bit less employable.

Your crappy first-year grades will in particular set you back when you are trying to gain your first legal work experience. Whether you are applying for vacation schemes, open days, or other law work experience your first-year grades are the only thing that you have to show! They are the most recent representative of your academic abilities. Unless you have stellar A-levels, your first-year law school grades are very important!

Of course, grades are not everything and you can always offset bad first-year grades with some work experience, useful extracurricular activities, or valuable transferrable skills. However, law careers are extremely competitive and if you are aiming to work for big international or national law firms, more often than not, you have to be a complete package. Also, hey, if you ace your second year, you’ll have that to showcase instead!