Studying Law?

I've been thinking quite a lot lately about studying Law at university (when I get my education back on track). I've always had an interest in it, particularly in the areas of mental health and criminal law, but here in the UK it's a very competitive degree course to get onto at a half decent university and I've always been put off by the "money hungry lawyer" image and my mum put me off it when I was talking about it saying that I don't have the personality to be any kind of solicitor/barrister, which is true, I'm definitely not assertive and my grades throughout school including my GCSEs were just average, Bs and Cs mostly (school was a tough time for me), though I left school three years ago.

I don't think I want/know if I want to be in the mainstream legal profession, but I want to study the degree course, if that makes sense. Afterwards I could possibly join the police and go into CID after the 2 year probationary period (as a frontline/beat copper), although I'm not sure i'd be accepted into the police with my mental health record, or perhaps go into mental health advocacy, someone suggested this before though I seriously need to do more research, and if not then I would just really like to study the degree, I do find most areas of law interesting.

Does anyone have any advice for me? About getting in the door at least if not any career suggestions. I've been thinking of maybe resitting my GCSEs privately and then doing a Social Sciences Access to HE course and maybe try to get some voluntary work along the way. Or should I just stick to my original plan of going into the biological sciences since it's a long shot?

I'm 19 atm and I'm at that stage of life where I am not fully sure what the hell I want lol, I'm unemployed as well, relying on my family for support and moving soon. Thanks.

I'd work on becoming a paralegal and then you could get into all sorts of stuff more easily?

http://nalptraining.co.uk/training_pathways.htm

The pay is quite good but it's not as "rigorous"/cut-throat a profession (at least, not in the United States :-)

I forgot all about paralegals actually. It's a good alternative route which I'll research more. Thanks for the suggestion.

*waves* I know we've spoken before, but I don't know if you knew that I've just become qualified as a barrister here in the UK? Well, yep! I get my call in July and . . . so I have a lot to say and feel free to PM me if you want to ask more, or if you want to ask any more questions.

OK, so first things first:
The name on your degree will matter less if you want to be a solicitor and you don't want to go to the Magic Circle (the top commercial firms in the UK -- Slaughers, Freshfields, Linklaters, Allen and Overy, and Clifford Chance). Outside the top commercial firms, it matters more that you get good grades and good recommendations from your professors, and that you've done things other than study for your degree (volunteering, societies, etc.)
It's (mostly) true that if you want to go to the Bar, you'll need an Oxbridge degree (and probably a master's from an Ivy League uni). Next best degrees are from the LSE, King's and UCL. I've decided to become a commercial barrister, though, so I'm probably very biassed on the whole thing.

If you want to work in criminal or mental health law, however, the Bar is much more open to you -- they'd rather see good grades and community involvement from a decent uni than see just the name on your degree. Also, if you want to work in mental health law after you train, then don't discount your experiences with mental illness as a means of getting to uni even if your A-level grades weren't so good -- and especially if they were a long time ago.

And don't worry about the money hungry lawyer image! It's only like that if you go into commercial law; rest assured that you'll live a life of near-penury if you decided to do the kind of work -- criminal, family and mental health -- that is financed mostly through legal aid.

Law is a good degree to have even if you don't want to be a lawyer! Conversely, you can study ANY degree at uni, and then convert your degree to law afterwards on the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL). Sometimes it's possible to get hired by a firm of solicitors or selected for pupillage by a barrister's chambers and they will pay for the GDL and your LPC (Legal practice course -- for solicitors) or BPC (Bar Professional Course).

The law is kind of an obscure profession I can explain more the routes into becoming a solicitor or a barrister, if you're interested. Just remember that people with law degrees do almost any job you can imagine; I have former classmates who did everything from becoming magicians (seriously) to investment banking to journalism to organising the occupy protests.

Definitely do voluntary work; it'll be good on your CV no matter what degree and career you want and it looks fabulous on your UCAS statements. It may be possible (depending on where you are in the country -- most lawyers are in London) to observe barristers or solicitors at work for a day or two; you can check on their websites for more information. Also, MIND run legal advice and advocacy services that are always looking for volunteers and that would look fabulous on the CV of an aspiring lawyer.

PS: The whole idea that "you have to be super aggressive" if you're a lawyer is a load of tosh. Confident, yes . . . but not assertive or aggressive. I'm quiet, I hate confrontation and anger to the point where I start to cry, and because English is my second language I often get a funny accent that makes me nearly incomprehensible . . . I'm still a lawyer

PPS: Another legal career you might want to look at is becoming a barrister's clerk.
http://www.prospects.ac.uk/barrister...escription.htm

Studying law its always something i wanted to do (.. but none supported me to go for it , instead cause of them now im studying something i hated my entire life .. i get good scores but i still hate it .. the only thing that keeps me going is thinking at the money i will get ( 5 000 euro / month )

But after im done with this ... i will get my master in naval law .. its related to my current university profile and it involves studying law so i have hopes

Thank you so much for your response, it's been incredibly helpful and just the information I was looking for when I posted this thread, it's given me a bit to think about. Although I'm well aware from speaking to others that the top firms are near enough an impossibility to get into, since they also even filter you out based on GCSEs and UCAS points.

Cheers. + Hugged / Thanked (and sorry for the late'ish response)

Yes, the top firms will indeed investigate every aspect of your life from the time you turned 12 Surprisingly, they'll select people with **** grades from top unis, though . . . . I think it's an arrogance thing. I have a classmate who got a 2:2 on his degree who is going to Clifford Chance, which I'm sure is on the power of the university name alone (unless he knows somebody who knows somebody!).