A-Level results day: 6 tips if you’re heading to law school

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By Emily Hinkley on

10

Our best advice for a smooth transition to uni life

With A-Level results released today, we understand that students preparing to pack their bags for university this autumn may be feeling a mix of excitement and nerves.

To help you sail smoothly into life at law school, we have compiled a list of six practical tips to get you ready to embark on the next stage of your legal journey.

Second-hand textbooks are a money-saving essential

Seeing as you will soon be a broke student you had better start cutting costs. The first place you should look is those pricey textbooks that will inevitably appear on your reading list. Libraries are great but you may end up fighting everyone else on your course for that one sought-after tome. Instead, check out second-hand textbook sales and grab yourself a (admittedly dog-eared) bargain.

Check out Legal Cheek’s virtual and in-person events and fairs

You’re already in the right place to find out more about the legal profession and the commercial awareness issues currently affecting it. Why not sign-up for one of our many events or check out our virtual law fairs?

Learn how to pronounce the ‘v’ between case names

Avoid looking like a novice by learning to correctly pronouncing the v separating parties in a case title as ‘and’, rather than ‘versus’.

Get networking

Go join clubs, get involved with extracurricular activities and generally get out
there and make the connections you will need in years to come.

Learn how to spell ‘judgment’ correctly

Side-stepping this classic spelling mistake will get you off to a good start, just remember it’s ‘judgment’ and not ‘judgement’

Make the first year count

Despite what you’ve heard first year does count, and sometimes future employers may want to see an overview of your first year grades. Also, it’s never too early to get to work on that CV you should use this time to seek out some great experiences to impress future employers.

Good luck!

10 Comments

Sensible chap

Get a decent printer. Drum is better than ink jet.

Take outline notes only and don’t work or revise from them. Work from books.

Do every essay and problem question. And then do more of them than are set.

You will have at least library access to the main legal databases. Use them. A lot.

anon1

If you’re doing Contract law in 1st year then spend alot of time revising that module. You can get a 2:2 in EU/Criminal/Public and it’ll be ok-ish, but not in Contract.

mc trainee

agree this matters if you’re looking to secure a tc in 2nd year but in the majority of cases this is utter drivel–anecdotally, i got 48 (yes… 48) in first year contract, did well for the rest of uni and now am at a mc firm. If you’re good, you’re good–first year grades do not in the slightest define you

A* for turning up

A level results have returned to closer to 2019 Mickey Mouse standards form the last few years of fantasy rubbish. The left wing press are moaning, what a surprise.

LondonBarrister

Law students!

Love everybody, trust a few and paddle your own canoe.

PLC and Lexis PSL are your friend.

Build a life outside law (non law clubs and socs, as recommended in this useful article).

Put your blinkers on, and don’t compare yourself to other people – almost everyone is as clueless as you may feel about what on earth is going on.

Oh – and be kind and respectful to others. Always.

Well done on getting through your A Levels! They aren’t easy! And if you didn’t get through them as well as you thought you would, learning to fail is an absolutely invaluable lesson. Those who haven’t failed in anything end up with problems further down the road. Also…if you do flop, it makesfor great answers to adversity questions in applications 😅😅 turn it around. As Mariah Carey once said “Imma do the best I can with what I GOT!”

Durham Not-Yet Law Grad

Tip #1: Don’t call it Law School.

Reginald

Don’t bother doing any work as it’s not like they’ll mark it #strikes.

Associate

Don’t forget to enjoy yourself! Have fun, make friends (or “network” if that sounds too enjoyable…). Work hard and try to get a good grade, but don’t sweat the occasional blunder. I got 33% in a first year module – eesh – and it worked out ok.

Also “v” = “and” in civil cases but “against” in criminal cases. For a court judgment always just the one E, but I tend to go for judgement every other context.

Engineer

Become a reverse engineer (NOW!):

Step 1: take a look at your CV and ask yourself what are the competencies/skills you want to improve;

Step 2: join sports clubs or societies that would allow you to: 1) develop these competencies/skills, and 2) get positions of responsibility in those clubs/societies in your 2nd/3rd year (e.g. getting a role in an exec committee);

Step 3: go strong into your 2nd/3rd year interviews explaining what you’ve done in the last 12 months and what you’ve been entrusted to do, and what cool stuff you’ll do going forward.

A few tips:
1) no, whatever you decide to do doesn’t need to be law-related. If anything, extra points are awarded for being different to others (P.S. being a member of the law society on its own won’t land you a job);

2) think about zero-to-hero stories you want interviewers to hear about in your 2nd/3rd year and work on them asap;

3) look for areas where you can make an INDIVIDUAL impact;

4) have fun and do something you enjoy while you’re at it.

YOU CAN DO IT!

Aspiring barrister... anywhere

I imagine I should follow these tips but steroids (plus win a nobel prize), if aspiring to be a barrister :/

In all seriousness, mooting is a must too!

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