Will a Korean Student benefit from UK law? What career?

[JoelKim]

Hello, this is Joel from Korea. I am currently studying at Singapore.

I am considering many majors for colleges, but I am most interested in studying law in UK.

But I am doubtful because I am a Korean student and I am not a british citizen.

What can I do with UK law degree as a Korean Citizen? What careers can I pursue?

 

Thank you.

[Arrowhead]

Hey!

Bit late on a reply for this, but in the event you're still considering UK law, it greatly depends on where you ultimately see yourself setting down/ practising law?

If you want to practise law in the UK, then attending a UK uni is a no-brainer.

If you want to practise internationally, but eventually (maybe 5/10 years after graduating) go back to Korea, the UK might ber a good starting point because UK and US legal backgrounds are highly respected and useful for travelling and working around the world. But you would have to be very careful about the practice area you pick to specialise in, but that's a different discussion.

If you want to practise in Singapore, then you have to go to one of the select UK universities approved by the Singapore Ministry of Law, otherwise your law degree won't be recognised.

If you want to practise in and live in Korea itself, then you're better off studying at a top Korean law school and preparing for the Korean Bar.

I am a practising English-qualified lawyer who was an international student and studied law in the UK (and then ultimately worked in the UK, Singapore and sometimes with Korea on some cases) - so if you have any questions, feel free to drop me a private message and I'd be happy to advise you.

 

[chandssp]

On 4/23/2020 at 12:53 AM, Arrowhead said:

Hey!

Bit late on a reply for this, but in the event you're still considering UK law, it greatly depends on where you ultimately see yourself setting down/ practising law?

If you want to practise law in the UK, then attending a UK uni is a no-brainer.

If you want to practise internationally, but eventually (maybe 5/10 years after graduating) go back to Korea, the UK might ber a good starting point because UK and US legal backgrounds are highly respected and useful for travelling and working around the world. But you would have to be very careful about the practice area you pick to specialise in, but that's a different discussion.

If you want to practise in Singapore, then you have to go to one of the select UK universities approved by the Singapore Ministry of Law, otherwise your law degree won't be recognised.

If you want to practise in and live in Korea itself, then you're better off studying at a top Korean law school and preparing for the Korean Bar.

I am a practising English-qualified lawyer who was an international student and studied law in the UK (and then ultimately worked in the UK, Singapore and sometimes with Korea on some cases) - so if you have any questions, feel free to drop me a private message and I'd be happy to advise you.

 

Hey I am a student from India and I want to be a practicing solicitor in the UK. I just had a question that what will I have to do in terms of my visa after I complete my 3-4 years in a uni there because, from my research on google I have found that sometimes students aren't allowed to continue living in the UK after their course is complete but I suppose the case would be different for law students. Thank you for your help

[Arrowhead]

15 minutes ago, chandssp said:

Hey I am a student from India and I want to be a practicing solicitor in the UK. I just had a question that what will I have to do in terms of my visa after I complete my 3-4 years in a uni there because, from my research on google I have found that sometimes students aren't allowed to continue living in the UK after their course is complete but I suppose the case would be different for law students. Thank you for your help

Hello fellow Indian!

Okay, so this is a complicated response.

Q1: Are you an Indian national?

If you are an Indian national and will be studying as a foreign/international student in the UK, it is much more complicated.

1. There are no special rules for international students studying Law in the UK. Pre-2010, the immigration law was that if you finished your degree and were unable to secure employment while still in university, you had one extra year to bum around the UK doing job applications before your visa ended.

2. Post-2010, that law was gone, so now: you have to secure a job at a law firm willing to sponsor your work visa before you graduate from university (this usually happens in second-year of law school). I was one of the few lucky international students who managed to do that. In my cohort at my law firm, I was one of 5 international students (out of a total of 43 trainees), the rest of them were locals (UK citizens). Majority of my fellow international law students had to return to their home countries because they were unable to secure Training Contracts.

3. The problem that comes up for international students is that you have to work at one of the top 40 (approx.) big international law firms because none of the remaining law firms (high street and city firms) have the infrastructure in place or the desire to go through the visa process and pay the required dues to hire international students. So it's either top 40 or you're out.

4. The second option is that if you don't manage to secure a training contract before graduating, you can buy yourself an extra year by studying and paying for the LPC yourself, which allows you to stay on a student visa for an extra year. However, with the new Legal "Super Exam", there are serious doubts as to how long the LPC will continue to be available as a viable option.

5. If you don't manage to secure employment at a UK law firm and have to return to India, you will then be unable to come back to the UK for a training contract for a couple of reasons:

(a) After your student visa elapses, there is a 12-month 'cooling off' period before you can successfully apply for and get a Tier 2 Work Visa.

(b) Even if, after the 'cooling off' period, you manage to get a Training Contract, the visa requirements for you are different. Your recruiting law firm has to comply with strict immigration requirements where they have to show that they advertised the position they are offering you (a Training Contract) for a month and were unable to find anybody within the UK with the required qualifications to hire and so they have to hire an international. This is impossible to prove given how many UK citizens who are law grads are hunting for Training Contracts and because a Trainee position is so junior, they cannot justify that there is not enough local talent to fill the spot. So essentially, it becomes next to impossible to go back to the UK.

6. The other problem back home: Say you have to go back to India and have not completed your Training Contract in the UK, you are not eligible to sit the Indian Bar. While UK law degrees from some universities are recognised (you can see a full list on the Indian Bar Council's website), the Indian Bar Council will only admit Indian nationals with UK law degrees to the Indian Bar if (a) they have completed a recognised UK law degree and (b) completed their Training Contracts (for solicitors) or Pupillage (for Barristers). Therefore, if you then want to practise law in India, you will have to do the three-year Law conversion course in India (which only about 3 universities offer from last I checked 5 years ago) and then sit and clear the Bar exam in India.

7. You can look for alternatives, for e.g., Clyde & Co, a pretty big UK law firm offers a Middle Eastern Training Contract, so you do one year in a Middle Eastern office and one year in the UK and ultimately qualify in the Middle East as a English law solicitor. But those are very highly sought after contracts and the competition is intense. Other options also include going for a non-law career. One of my closest friends at law school (also a fellow international student) ultimately decided she didn't want to practise law by our second-year of law school and became a consultant at a big company and is still living and working in the UK. So there are always other options, if it comes to that.

Bottom Line: You have to secure a Training Contract with a law firm willing to sponsor international students while still in university if you want to practise law in the UK. If you don't, the options are few and far in-between. The best way to do this is to (a) go to a top law school (ideally top 7-8) (b) smash your courses and get very high grades overall (an average of 68+ is desirable) (c) have a few really good extracurricular activities (but remember it all comes back to high grades) (d) and do all the work to nail law firm recruitment applications. It's difficult, but not at all impossible.

Q2: Are you a UK/EU citizen?

If so, all of the aforementioned concerns don't apply to you. You can bum around and keep doing applications until you land on something.

If you're an EU citizen though, it might be more complicated since nobody really knows what's happening with Brexit.

--

I know that's a lot to digest and can seem very confusing. Trust me, I was very confused and I was living through all of this! Feel free to drop me a PM if you have any follow up questions, which I'm sure you probably will. Not trying to discourage you in the slightest, but I went through hell during recruitment season because I had no idea how difficult my position was at the time, I just went to study Law and didn't think about anything else. I got really really lucky when I managed to get my Training Contract. I know a lot of people who were not similarly fortunate.