I have finally finished my exams! No more staying up the entire day before the exam nervously panicing, having to take pro plus, drink coke by the gallon! I'm an not entirely sure how I have done this year, infact I have no idea at all, ah well at least a suprise is waiting for me on June 23 when I get my results then! I'll probably be having nightmares over the next few weeks of walking into an exam room and complaining that I've finished my exams then waking up in a sweat!
The exams in general went ok, did all the major ones such as Admin, Eu, Equity, Tort and my optional subject the dreaded criminology! Extenuating circumstances for tort.. pretty much a shame it can't be transferred to all my exams though!
Work experience
So now I find myself trying to get some more work experience for a workexperience block. I have left it too late to get any more mini pupillages, and to be honest the people I am ringing round here a local barristers chambers down the road seem completly thick, well at least their receptionist did "Hi I am a really friendly law student from a decent univeristy, sorry I couldn't find out what area of law you practice because you aren't listed in Chambers&Partners so I am just ringing to see why you are so shit and do you have any work experience?"
"umm no". The reply received was equal enough to make sure that I wouldn't be trying there again.
I also rang a criminal soliticor whose receptionist stated that they had no work experience until I kept asking if she was sure, so I'm pretty sure she just diverted me to leave a voicemail to someone who won't ring me back. Ah balls!
Which Inn is in?
I have no idea which Inn to apply for student membership for... it appears that lots of students and bloggers seem to prefer middle temple. The information on the web is useless, and gives little difference between them apart from telling me which ones are more boozier than the others...
5 comments:
Hiya LLLS,
Glad to see that you've crossed the finishing line with your marbles intact!! It must be such a lovely feeling!!
I am not entirely sure its too late to apply for mini's; have a butchers at delia venables website -you may be pleasantly surprised. Otherwise do the rounds of your local solicitors with a couple of speculative visits bearing your cv- it has been known to work!
With respect to choice of inn, have you not been to their websites? All four have good student sections and tell you what you can expect when you join.
I would urge you to join Middle Temple ( if for no other good reason than the fact that they automatically offer ALL their students a scholarship interview and the resulting monies may come in damned handy) but then again I am, of course, NATURALLY, COMPLETELY and UTTERLY Biased......
Congrats with the end of exams!
You can leave joining an Inn until the summer before the start of your BVC, if you wanted to.
The things I've heard about different inns: Grey's is apparently good for out of London and mature students, but is sexist. Inner Temple is big on Mooting, while Middle is big on debating. The only thing I know about the Lincoln's is that they serve dodgy food!
Middle is also the wealthiest and the most generous Inn, with the best food and entertainment. :) Oh, and the most important bit - only when you get called at Middle, you get to wear wig AND gown for the duration of the ceremony. At other Inns you only wear a wig for a photo. :)
Ahh the middle temple bias! I'll try and dig for more information on each ones, but thanks for your opinions!
I thought I would try and get it over a done with so I can at least do some student dining and have a good time :)
Minx - i have a look at venables.. most applications for mini-pupillages ended March 30, so I'll just have to hopefully have better grades from this year and apply early in September!! I'll do the rounds at the local solicitors, CAB offices etc too.
I really do need to get some mooting practice in, I'm not bad at it, its more the case of not preparing for the moot, half an hour before the moot commences! Something else I have to work on next year (as well as getting a 1st do drag up my poor grades)
Andro - Sexist? really? in this day and age? I've never debated properly either! So wouldn't be much use in middle! But then inner temple would probably not be very good for me either!
:)
They do have moots at Middle too, which take place at the RCJ apparently! :)
I don't really like debating.
Hey LLLS,
I'm totally biased but here are my opinions:
Grays - totally boozy with good (but slightly scary) debating in hall some nights and a debating competition... There is also a mooting competition I think?
A good laugh but not of substance from what I have heard...
Inner: They let you do all your Qualifying Sessions in one term which gets it out of the way, and are quite generous with scholarships/ entrance exhibitions. Their Hall is nice, but nothing like Middle's (in my humble opinion) and apparently lots of practitioners are lovely to talk to and help you out. They also do a fair bit of debating and mooting, I think. They do some random RADA lessons on public speaking and have a drama society, if that floats your boat...
Lincolns: Possibly received the worst feedback from my circle of friends - all their extra-curricular activities take place early on in the year so you have to be organised to get in, but their advocacy weekend is very good. Oh and summer call is a total nightmare to get into because there are a lot of overseas students that need to get called before they go home.
Middle: Good for debating - even at novice level. I hadn't done any before I started the BVC and managed to get quite far in their novice competition. On a random point, debating is very good for your olpas form and is great experience of preparing arguments quickly and getting practice at public speaking. Good social life too! Well, at least at Middle...
They have a mooting competition that doesn't start until Jan, which is nice - though can be a bit hairy over assessments...
A few good nights when you can meet practitioners but not as much as other Inns, I felt.
Oh and they interview all scholarship applicants - invaluable on your CV.
Hope that helps...
It seems to be a total luck thing - sometimes I think you should just go with your instincts. I chose Middle randomly, though partially based on scholarship interviews, and I am happier there then I would have been at the others - but that goes for my friends at Inner and Grays... My friends at Lincolns aren't that impressed but they might just be whingier than the rest of us?!
LL
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