You thought that you’d be a solicitor — be a Legal Exec instead

OK, it’s time to get the gloves off. If someone told you that the LPC was a high-priced course with no certainty of a training contract and hence of qualification and a job at the end of it, would you really want to take the risk? Well, would you? Then imagine that someone comes along and says with a smooth and enticing voice, why not come to us and become a Legal Executive? It’ll cost you a fraction of the LPC and there’s a shortage of Legal Execs. So, you’ll save money and be assured of a result.    

You got a first from Oxford? Fine, go ahead and do the LPC — sure, you’ll get a training contract, no doubt in the Magic Circle. Uh, huh, you’re heading for a 2.2 for somewhere a little less than Russell Group status. Well, perhaps the LPC isn’t really for you … I know some people with Desmonds get training contracts but do ya feel lucky? All right, you’re no fool and you’ve just been unfortunate with exams and you’ve got a winning personality so, just perhaps you’ll take the chance — you’re no punk, after all.

 But why not do the ILEX course, become a Member and then you become a fully qualified lawyer, well a Legal Exec in perhaps a couple of years? And did you know that now, post Clementi, you can become a partner in a firm of solicitors — no hassle about having to do a tedious LPC later and re-qualifying? And you’ll have got bags of experience. But then Legal Exec Silver-Tongue’s words rise in your gullet. You’re not really being snobbish. The Bar’s not for you and, with Higher Rights Advocates, it’s had its day anyway. But you’re a wannabe solicitor and somehow the thought of being a Legal Executive after those years at university and all your hopes, well, it kinda sticks in your throat.

 So, c’mon and tell me I got it wrong. Legal Execs are where it’s really at; they’re the sexy part of the legal profession. Just you’all watch. Is that right? It makes sense to take that route if you’re not sure that the LPC isn’t going to be a dead end. If you’ve seen that great film, Dirty Harry, you’ll know his gun was empty when he challenged the bank robber at the beginning of the story. I’m not going to tell what happens when he poses the same question to Scorpio at the end.

 But let’s hear it from the rank and file, not the glittering stars of the university machine. Is the ILEX route for you as a genuine possibility, and, LPC providers, are you conning the poorer quality law grads who come to you with hopeless and unrealistic goals? In a legal world where those with HCA rights can now wear wigs if they want to — might have been easier to make or just let the barristers take theirs off (God forbid!!) — come clean and tell us the truth about career routes and their respective desirability.

 

Richard