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To become a solicitor or barrister, engineering graduates must spend two years at law school. The first year is spent completing the postgraduate diploma in law. During the second, intending solicitors take the Legal Practice Course and barristers the Bar Vocational Course.
Emerging with these qualifications you then take a period of training known as a training contract for solicitors and a pupillage for barristers.
If you have excellent A-levels and expect a good degree it may be possible to offset the costs of law school through sponsorship.
The attraction for some engineers is that you can specialise in construction, technology, IT and areas of law that are directly relevant to engineers but this is not essential.
Key skills
To be successful you will need good writing skills, excellent interpersonal and communication abilities plus meticulous attention to detail.
Graduate salaries
Starting salaries vary from £14,500 in small provincial firms of solicitors, up to £32,000 in some leading city firms. Trainee barristers used not to be paid but now earn a minimum of £10,000 in their first year.
Professional bodies
Related jobs
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