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Shamima Begum joined IS with eyes open, UK lawyers says
Main Post: Shamima Begum joined IS with eyes open, UK lawyers says
Top Comment:
Before this thread turns into another 2000 comment repetition of the last Begum thread, maybe lets look at things from a slightly different angle.
We've heard a million comments about poor lil' Shamima, groomed into a complete loss of conscience, agency or will into a life of sexual abuse. A poor innocent victim of a sophisticated grooming operation.
We've seen a million retorts about how she's a vicious, psycho obsessed with a death cult, who remains a danger to Britain.
Perhaps we should take a little step back from these narratives, and remember that she's currently a prisoner in a Kurdish controlled region of Syria, and that perhaps the people who have her imprisoned would like to see justice done for the crimes against humanity that ISIS committed in the region.
Every time someone says 'She needs to be brought back to Britain' I want to scream.
Britons who commit crimes abroad do not have a divine right to return home. You'll find plenty of Brits 'banged up abroad' around the world.
Whatever desire we may have to see her in a UK facility does not override the fact that she must answer for the crimes she committed as an ISIS member, in Syria.
It's sickening that people who play the 'decency, empathy, respect' line appear to have no respect for the first hand victims of ISIS and their right to serve justice. It reeks of xenophobia and British exceptionalism.
Why the heck do UK lawyers get paid so little compared to US?
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I'm a US attorney (a litigator - I suppose that's equivalent to a barrister?) trying to find a UK job to sponsor my visa and I'm absolutely floored by how low the salaries are. I currently make about $90k - which for my current position, is NOT considered anything extraordinary - and all the salaries I'm seeing posted are like, £25k. With the exchange rate, that's like $33k in USD!!!
I make a decent living right now, and I'm able to save some, but not a lot; I have friends making $120k, so I'm by no means living large. I keep to a budget, for sure. How the heck are UK lawyers surviving on such abysmally low salaries? I don't understand how you can pay rent with that. That's basically poverty level in most US cities, particularly if you have a family (I don't yet, but want to eventually).
Am I missing something here? I've browsed flats in the area and they aren't significantly cheaper than in my area, so I feel like I've got to be missing something... how much money do you make as a UK lawyer? Are you struggling? Are these normal salaries I'm seeing?
Top Comment:
You cannot blindly compare UK to US. Apples and oranges. You can compare London to New York - both major world financial centres - and they’re comparable.
That being said, I have no idea where you’re finding these jobs. Your newly qualified solicitor salary tends to double or thereabouts on qualification. I’m pretty sure the Law Society minimum trainee salary is like £18k. So double that is £36k - far higher than £25k and still comparably low for lawyers in the UK. I don’t think you’re looking at the right job adverts.
Let's join together and contact UK lawyers against Nebra Ltd.
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Nebra had agreed over three months ago that I was eligible for a refund. After many back-and-forth emails, they stopped listening. Now they are trying to send me my miner instead of issue me a refund. I'm sending it right back. I've tried to reason with them, am in talks with UK ICC and seeing what legal rights I can take. But if we all put together our cases, that will turn a small claims case into a bigger one, potentially. So if Nebra has not issued you a refund, please contact me. You must have at least email evidence of their unwillingness.
Top Comment:
My miner doesn't work....I just have a solid yellow light when powered on and plugged in with ethernet cord....
I have no idea what to do....they won't reply
UK visa lawyers?
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Hey guys.
I posted a while ago about getting another visa after my youth mobility visa. I'm from Ontario, Canada. I'm looking for a lawyer/immigration lawyer and I am having a hard time finding one. Does anyone have any advice on how to find one or websites to help find one? Thank you in advance.
Top Comment:
Careful with regards to scams when searching online.
UK Lawyers of /r/law: Would you recommend law as a profession? What do you enjoy and what do you hate about the job?
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Hello, I am a 15 year old interested in pursuing law as a career. I would like to at least study it at university and hopefully get called to the bar. It seems like a career that I would enjoy very much and hopefully be good at. Specifically, I would be interested in criminal law, but that failed I think that commercial law, human rights law and maybe even family law could be very fulfilling.
But reading through some threads on r/law made the profession sound, quite frankly, awful and unenjoyable. It's made me reconsider my options and I would just like to ask you what it is like to do a law degree and practice law, what do you enjoy about it, but also what do you dislike about it?
Thank you very much.
Top Comment: Hi! I want to give you advice because no one ever gave any to me, and it is really really hard to find good advice until you are at university. I am a trainee at a 'magic circle' law firm in London. That means that I am training to be a solicitor, working on big commercial and corporate law, mostly for huge international companies and banks. I came to this via a very roundabout route - a law degree, then a gap yea, then a master's degree overseas, a few internships, and finally got offered the job after applying. I started off in exactly the position you are in - thinking that law might be for me, vaguely thinking I might enjoy being a criminal barrister, and went to do law because there was no other degree I wanted to do. Firstly, the other poster here is right. It pains me to say it but do not aspire to the criminal bar. It is unfortunately dying a death thanks to enormous cuts in legal aid by the last couple of governments, and has also not really managed itself well through those cuts. There are no jobs and no money. By 'no money' I don't mean that you cannot afford a nice house, I mean that you will be earning considerably less than your friends working as waiters for two or three years at the start of your career, after having paid £18,000 for the 'BPTC' - the course you have to do to be called to the bar and become a barrister. After the BPTC, the next step is to get 'pupillage', which is a sort of one year apprenticeship. Without this you cannot practice as a barrister. There are fewer than 400 pupillages per year in the UK. Of those, many will not lead to a place as a practicing barrister (or 'tenancy'), so let's say 300 with a job at the end. Of those, many will not be able to provide enough properly paid work for you to live off, so let's narrow it down to 200. Now, for those 200 places, there are literally thousands of applicants each year. Each chambers receives hundreds and hundreds of applications per place. All of this sounds awful, I know, and it is why I simply gave up on thinking of becoming a barrister. There are downsides to it: Very solitary, as you are self employed and your work is almost always done alone. Extremely high pressure - get the law wrong once and your reputation will be ruined. Depressing, especially in criminal law where you have to deal with exceptionally difficult people every day for your entire life. Little opportunity to work abroad as your expertise is confined almost entirely to the UK court system unless you are one of an exceptional minority of people. Unstable income - you get paid per case and do not have a salary. The upsides of becoming a barrister are: Flexibility - you have no boss so can work however you like, and take on as much work as you want to. Advocacy - standing up in court and arguing a case is a huge mental challenge, and very interesting, though not remotely 'exciting'. Frequency of cases - you don't work on cases for ever. You are brought in to write an opinion or argue the case and then move on. Many people like being paid directly for the cases they do. Barristers tend to be legal 'experts'. So why did I choose to become a City solicitor? A few reasons: Teamwork - you work with teams of people who are usually very outgoing, motivated and clever. You deal with clients daily and directly and often strike up great working relationships with them. Piles of overseas opportunities. The big law firms have offices in 30+ countries, and there are always opportunities to go and work in them. Exciting and big work that hits the headlines. It is incredibly cool to see a case or deal you are working on reported in the press. Very nice salaries, bonuses, and benefits. If you dislike the life, you can move out of a law firm and work as an 'in house' lawyer at a company or some other organisation, which gives you a lot of career options. The process for becoming a City solicitor is much easier, and there are literally hundreds of highly paid traineeships available every year in central London alone, let alone outside of London. I think there are about 2,200 every year nationwide, with probably 600-800 in London. Disadvantages: You can sometimes get stuck with a bad boss, which will make your life hell. Hours can be obscene, though this depends on departments. During busy times you can be doing 70+ hours per week. It is less 'legal' than being a barrister - if you do something like corporate mergers and acquisitions, you can go weeks or months on end without ever even referring to the law (some think this is an advantage). The chances of becoming a partner at a top end law firm are utterly ridiculous, something like 1 in 50 trainees eventually become partners, though this is also largely self-selecting. What can you do to help make up your mind? Try a few of the following: Attend your closest Court. Most hearings are open so you can turn up and ask an official about any open hearings. Go and have a watch and see if you find it interesting. Ask your school if there are any former students or parents who are lawyers who you can have a conversation with, or meet up for a chat. Research the profession and see what you think. There are a couple of good sites for this: lawyer2b Legal Cheek (mostly humour and articles for law students. Very much a tabloid so take with a pinch of salt. AllAboutLaw (probably my highest recommendation). Check out a book called 'What About Law?' by Catherine Barnard and Graham Virgo - it is a really great little book that gives you a small taster of the main courses studied during a law degree to see if it is for you. Ask me any more questions you want. Three final points to make: GO TO THE BEST UNIVERSITY YOU CAN. This means Oxford or Cambridge if you can get in (and it is much more accessible than people think), Durham, LSE, UCL, Kings, Nottingham, Bristol, and if not those then another Russell Group. Many prospective lawyers shoot themselves in the foot by choosing a less good university to be with their friends, be closer to home, or some other reason. Work fucking hard on your GCSEs, A Levels, and UCAS form. Realise your potential and go to the best university you can You do not have to do a law degree to become a lawyer. There is a 1 year postgraduate course called the Graduate Diploma in Law that you can convert through. If you are unsure about a legal career, then feel free to do any other subject (and I mean any other - even maths and sciences can be excellent bases for a legal career). But if, like I was, you are sure you want to do law, then there is no reason not to pick it at university. Any questions, please feel free to ask. I had no support from my school so I know what it is like to be struggling for information when you don't have lawyers in the family.
[UK] To the solicitors on here, what educational path did you take to become a qualified solicitor?
Main Post:
Probably not the usual type of question asked on this subreddit but I thought this would be the best place to ask. I will be taking my GCSEs next June and then I will be hopefully going into Sixth Form in my current school.
I wanted to know what path other people took to become a qualified solicitor (A-Levels, college courses, university degree etc.) so I have a more vivid idea of the path I should take next year.
Thanks.
Top Comment:
Shameless plug for uklaw where we have law students and people asking about the profession!
I did A levels in English language, sociology, economics, general studies. I went on to do law degree, then the lpc, then I paralegaled for a bit, got my training contract. As for which a levels it doesn't really matter. Just do what you enjoy most, I did. Get good results and go from there! I think most good law schools will ask for A grades. Mine did but this was a while ago. Good luck in your gcse's!
Corporate lawyer salaries = INSANE
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Was it just me or did anyone here just realise the INSANE salaries that you can make 2 years into your career as a lawyer. There are over 25 law firms in London which pay newly qualified solicitors over £100,000 a year, some pay up to £140,000 a year. See : https://www.thelawyer.com/trainee-newly-qualified-salaries-uk-law-firms/
This is a really insane amount of money - more than banking, tech, for 2 years into your career. Wonder why finance and tech always are assumed to be the really high paying jobs on here, rather than law.
Does anyone know how fast salary progresses as a corporate lawyer on this sort of wedge?
Top Comment:
Only the top graduates will land these jobs. Many will start of far lower. Same in finance, top traders, investment banker, fund manager comp will eclipse many others in the field.