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After one long year, hundreds of meetings, and thousands of pages views the new website is ready going.

The new site went live two weeks ago now and we decided to stick with the green. For our generation and I suppose it was the same for any other generation really, keeping up with technology and fashion is a way of life. Everybody wants the latest phone or the latest cut of cloth that’s adourning the high street.

I think the same goes for the information we receive and the way we receive it. Online is everything and mobile online will be the new something… so we have to keep changing. I like this quest to find new ways of doing things, faster, easier and with greater specificity.

We haven’t reinvented the wheel it’s more that we have just popped an alloy on it and put on some nice tight treads. The website has good information set out in an easily navigable way but once this wheel is moving we’re planning on scrapping it for the hoverboard…

And the best news of all is that we are now the most popular law careers website in the UK! Alexa.com the industry standard for web traffic put us streets ahead. So thanks guys.

http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/allaboutlaw.co.uk

Jack

 

 

The new site is finally here!

Drum roll please! Ladies and gents, our new site is finally up and running and waiting for you to pop over!

It also means though that Jack and I will be emigrating our various rants and odd bits of wisdom to our new homes as follows:

My Blog (Paul):

http://www.allaboutlaw.co.uk/index.php/blogs/pauls-blog/

Jack’s Blog:

http://www.allaboutlaw.co.uk/index.php/blogs/jacks-blog/

See you over there later on!

Live Court Action at the Supreme Court

The new Supreme Court is here as I am sure everyone is aware. For the first time in UK some cases will be televised…

Good. I’m glad we live in the modern world.

Anybody can attend court and watch cases; it is of course an essential part of the democratic society we live in and in fact any democratic society. So I say all cases should be televised or rather streamed on the internet… so everyone where ever they are can tune in, download or listen in on the democratic process.

What a tool that would be watching the democratic process in action, listening to the Judges, hearing the Barristers argue amongst themselves all from the comfortable of your living room or the library.

Focusing on the narrow point of legal careers education, I think it would give such a good understanding to any aspiring lawyer. I know I would have it on all the time. I spent some time working at a Court in Bosnia and there the cases were streamed internally, it was such a good way to learn to much, listening to the Prosecution and the defence and watching how the Judges dealt with particular issues as well as letting me see the procedures of the court unfold.

So I am all in favour and I think it should be expanded to every case in every court in the land.

Jack

The LL.B – theory is always different to practice. But that’s the point isn’t it?

In my fourth year I spent a lot of time thinking about what I wanted to do. I became enthralled in my dissertation topic and briefly considered an academic route. It got me thinking about the purpose of the law degree and what it prepares the undergraduate for once they have graduated.

Before I went to university I had the intention of becoming a lawyer. I think my interest really started with Ally McBeal and a Kudos test aged fourteen that told me, according to the thirty questions it asked, that I was pre-disposed to become a lawyer (not exactly the best sources to use for deciding how to spend the largest part of your life after sleep!). I didn’t even know there were different types of lawyers something I only discovered in the sixth form. I knew lawyers were respected and most importantly they were well paid.

So safe in the ignorance that I would be well paid and respected I headed off to university to study law and human rights. I can’t help but think that the current system is a little flawed as most law students, at least at the beginning of their degree, want to be lawyers, but a law degree does not train you to be a lawyer, rather, it teaches law as an academic pursuit. Perhaps some would disagree but learning to become a lawyer really starts at the LPC/BVC and the subsequent vocational training, so I am told. Having spoken to a large number of young lawyers and well established lawyers they have all told me that they learnt to ply their trade in the working environment and not in the classroom.

It would seem to me that a new approach could be adopted. The academic law degree could remain whilst a more practical based course could be adopted to combine the GDL with the LPC. This lawyers degree could be conducted over the same period as the LL.B to allow for students to mature and develop in the same way as other undergraduates. I think the latter would suit those that wish to solely become lawyers whilst the LL.B could remain for people that want to study law as a purely academic subject. I would propose that the graduates of the lawyers degree could go straight into a training contract, avoiding further graduate education and more debt.

For employers the advantage would be that such a graduate that has been able to hone the practical skills of the LPC over a longer period in greater depth progress more speedily into the working world, thus being more productive, given greater responsibility and potential bring in greater revene at an earlier stage. In terms of the educational providers, there role would remain the same. Both universities and graduates training providers could diversify using their expertise to produce a different class of young lawyers.

However, these are just musing whilst I’m sitting here on the train. I suppose theory is always different to practice. But that’s the point isn’t it?

“If you do what you have always done, you’ll get what you’ve always got!”

I spent the first half hour of this morning looking through some law forums posting a few, hopefully useful comments. I came across one lady… this is her situation:

Thirty, 2.2, LPC and five years paralegalling experience  – 100 applications for training contracts and just one interview.

She believed the main issues to be her age and the fact that she had a child, which she considers to be a mitigating circumstance. I do not have any children but I am aware they do take up a lot of time and effort and must be very draining but then a lot of people have children and I am sure even some lawyers have reproduced. She continues,

“I wish people in my situation i.e. studied and worked at the same time, older, but very hard working were given more of a chance – they should make firms give TC to all law graduates mandatory – like medical doctors!! at least £20k has gone on my law studies!!! i know it was my choice and i was aware of the risk but hey i deserve it “

I imagine there are a number of other people who would disagree, most of all law firms. Law firms, I reminded her, are businesses with the aim of making money. Therefore, she will not secure a training contract just by making them feel that she deserves it. Lots of people deserve lots of things but that’s not real life. If she wants a job she needs to show she is good enough and furthermore that she is better than the other candidates. That is the step I think she has to take, she needs to stop using her circumstances as a handicap and yes she will probably struggle more than other people and will have to work harder but then life isn’t fair and we don’t all have an equal grounding.

That said, she does need some help and I think that there must be a flaw in her applications and she needs some guidence. I am happy to point in the direction of good guidence – everyone should have the opportunity to help and advice – but it’s what you do with it that counts.

So my point is this, as we make our own way in the world – take all help and advice you can but in the end its what you with that that will determine how well you do and not the situation you are in. Most situations can be changed, not all but most.

As Paul always says, “If you do what you have always done, you’ll get what you’ve always got!”

Jack

Law and a language

When I was at high school I never really had much of an interest in languages and really, I couldn’t see the point. Why bother learning French or German? I mean all that time wasted for a week in France or a weekend trip to Germany. How short sighted.

In my fourth year at univeristy I took Spanish as an outside extra, it was great. I enjoyed every minute and would love to have started in my first year. I like the challenge of trying to get an idea from inside my head and trying to convey that to another person without using English. When you acheive it, it feels good and you would be suprised how often you can use without being in Spain or S. America.

It can open a bunch of doors too – friendships, travel, relationships, work and great experiences. In fact why not combine it with an Erasmus year/term at a European university? I know I wish I had.

Law and a language might not be for everyone, but it’s worth a thought.

Jack

Is it ever professionally acceptable to tell someone to ‘p#@s off’?!

Long story short, a long while ago I called up a law firm to enquire about whether they might be able to write a profile of themselves for our site. Very straightforward and no money involved. All that happens is we send the template, an example profile and we give them a good few weeks to complete it.

Bearing all that in mind, is it acceptable for me to be told to ‘p@#s off’ and be hung up on within 10 seconds?! Fair enough, if it’s another caller hassling for money you’re going to be a little on edge, perhaps stern and possibly quite short, however I really can’t see an instance where someone is justified (as long as the other person is completely polite – and I was, honest!) to tell you to ‘p@#s off!’.

Answers on a post card on how to deal with this firm, however over at AAL we’ve decided to never include them in anything that we do, despite focusing a lot on city firms! Feel free to guess!

Paul

Calm before the storm…

Having spent the last two months going through the finer details of the site, I’m glad to say that we are finally starting to see something tangible. As with everything requiring a lot of forward planning and general ‘graft’, you tend to spend forever struggling and struggling until one day it all finally clicks.

We’re not quite there yet, however let’s just say it’s looking pretty tasty! We’ve decided to stay bold and keep the green (ekk!) however even if people struggle with the colour at least the info around it will be top notch!

Toxic green

We have recently been having some design work done for the site and we have been looking at different colour schemes. Green is the chosen colour. We took at look at some of the designs – impressive I thought – after a little sleep and the seeking the opinions our nearest and dearest we revisited Mike.

“Too dark we said, we need something lighter.”

“Ok, sure. He said.” – [He gave us his professional opinion and justified his first choice] “select some colours you like and then let me know”

After, looking at 1000 shades of green we decided on one. Bright and vibrant more what we were looking for we agreed. Well… it appeared we weren’t exactly right. Once it was on the page we immediately regretted our decision.  “Oh God it’s TOXIC GREEN!” We donned sunglasses for a second look. It hadn’t improved.

Isn’t it funny how sometimes you can be so sure something is right, but then when you see it, see what it it really is it manifests itself into something you find repulsive. Evoking feelings you didn’t expect when you first made your choice.

I think choosing a career in law can be the same. I also, think its ok to change your mind. Law can open the door to a bunch of different careers – and the legal world is so diverse there will always be something for everyone. You can be a specialist in the law of Superyachts (contract law I suppose ?) or you could be a legal journalist in court or you could even have you own law careers website!  So my advice would be try out a load of things, experience what you want to be doing  - otherwise you will have no idea if it’s right for you. Also listen to advice; it’s not always right and sometimes you might need to tweek it a bit but it’s true, “If you want to know what’s on the road ahead, ask someone coming back the other way!”

On that note, I had better email Mike and see if we can sort out this toxic mess.

Jack

Could Legal Education take a leaf out of the PGCE route?

I was speaking to a chap last Friday who is responsible for organising admissions for the PGCE at a top UK institution. He explained to me that in order to become a teacher students must first complete the PGCE (much the same as law students obviously having to take the LPC or BVC) following their degree, however there was one key and frankly huge differencel.

The number of places available per year on the PGCE are determined by the number of jobs available within the profession…

I’ll give you a second with that.

Considering that students are now being charged upwards of £12k per pear on fees (and of which CharonQC recently highlighted will surely increase with the arrival of the Americans at BPP) not only without the guarantee of a job but also with the governing body actively dissuading people from taking such a path, something seemed a little wrong!

I understand obviously that the majority of teachers will fall under a publicly funded system and that the institutions (supposedly) are not a commercial venture, however surely something can be taken from this model for the legal profession?

Paul