Well kind of!
I heard at the end of this week that I have a place at Charles Darwin University to begin the courses I need to study to qualify as a solicitor in Australia! I had heard last week that I would most likely be offered a place but would not hear until early in the New Year when the Law Department is back after the Christmas break, so it was a pleasant surprise to hear back from them with confirmation that I was in!
I remember when I applied to Universities during College to study my law degree in the UK when I was 17/18 years old (faaaaar to many years ago now it turns out!), and having to fill in the forms and personal statements as well as just trying to work out where I actually wanted to go to uni. Then there was the waiting for the envelope to drop through the postbox offering or not offering you a place. This was before even getting your exam results. Luckily I was offered a place at the University of the West of England in Bristol, where I wanted to go and got good results so I could go where I had planned.
I always wanted to be a solicitor from a young age, no idea where I got that idea from but my Mum tells me I was always convinced that’s what I wanted to do. Everyone in the family learnt all about the law during those 2 years at College I think.
The process to become a solicitor is long in the UK because if you chose the university route you have to spend 3 years studying the law degree followed by one year studying the post graduate legal practice course and then up to two years working on a training contract.
This is often a difficult process because there are just so many people to compete with and so it took me several years to start my training contract after finishing the academic studies but I qualified on the 1st February 2010 and I was so over the moon to be admitted as a Solicitor. It’s a bit crazy I have to go through this process again but the way I look at it, I’ll be dual qualified which will be useful in the future, plus I will be able to call myself a solicitor here at last.
Some of my friends in the UK are still going through the process and I think they will probably qualify around the time that I complete all of the academic studies so we will have lots to celebrate then.
Van (@snowintromso) says
Congrats!! 🙂
Vicky E says
Thank you