What can you do with a law degree?

Euan Lawrence didn’t set out to study law. In 2003, he donned his black cap and graduated with a degree in History and Ancient History from Nottingham University.  “I loved History, but I got to the end of my degree and thought, what am I going to do now?”

His Plan B, to study law, worked. Euan is now a partner in the employment team at one of Yorkshire’s leading law firms, Blacks Solicitors, providing a wide range of legal advice to commercial and private clients across Yorkshire and throughout the UK, with 27 partners and over 180 staff operating from its Leeds Head Office.

Euan talks us through his journey from law degree to law firm partner.

"Leeds Beckett is a great place to study law"

With an undergraduate degree in History and Ancient History, I wanted the next thing I studied to be as intellectually stimulating. I had family members who worked in law, and with a love of critical thinking and an analytical approach to problem-solving, it seemed like a natural fit. 

I came to Leeds Beckett to do a year-long law conversion course in 2004, before the LPC in 2005-6. My experience at Leeds Law School was entirely positive – I was extremely well taught by practical, knowledgeable, down-to-earth academics. I’m now a mentor for students at the School.

“I made use of the work placement and mentoring schemes at Leeds Law School”

Midway through my LPC, I secured a training contract at Blacks after doing lots of work placements during my time at university and making use of the brilliant mentoring scheme that Leeds Beckett offers. I trained at Blacks before qualifying as a solicitor in 2008. I’ve been here over 15 years now, the highlight being my promotion to partner in 2020.

I started out in employment and corporate commercial law, but then, as the 2008 recession kicked off, I found myself doing a lot more employment work and this led to me focussing exclusively on this area. Perhaps unsurprisingly, employment solicitors like me have also been particularly busy since the pandemic began.

“A law degree sets you up for virtually any career you want in business”

A law degree (whether undergraduate or post-graduate) teaches you how to think analytically. To my mind, it’s a very positive feather in your cap, and helps in a wide variety of business positions and indeed the third sector – as a trustee for a charity, for example. The fact you have a law degree is very helpful.

Studying law naturally leads you down the line of becoming a solicitor or barrister, a paralegal, a legal executive. But there are offshoots or related industries to law that open up wider opportunities for employment after university – for example, in legal tech firms who will provide and update the online guides that most lawyers turn to in the first instance (e.g. Lexis Nexus and Practical Law); in academia; and as a potential route into journalism or legal recruitment.

“You need legal acumen to succeed, but that’s only one element”

Being able to provide practical legal advice to clients is clearly vital for a solicitor, but it is not the only skill required to do the job. As a law firm partner I also need management skills and networking skills amongst others. Solicitors (and solicitor partners even more so) are expected to bring in work as well as do the work, so I do a lot of public speaking, presenting seminars, webinars, and being a talking head on employment law for the media to raise our profile.

A day in my life at Blacks is hugely varied. I may in any given day meet and speak on the phone with clients (new and existing), represent claimants and respondents in Preliminary Hearings at the Employment Tribunal, instruct barristers to provide representation at merits hearings, attend networking events (most currently via Zoom), attend as well as deliver training and join team meetings ensuring that we all know what we’re each doing (never more important than in the current world of hybrid working).

“I now mentor young talent at Leeds Law School”

In my role as a mentor, I’m assigned a mentee each academic year. We meet up, and I offer advice on tightening up their CV, coach them about what’s it’s like to have a career in law and help them consider what they want to do with their law degree. They have a whole range of aspirations, but most want to work in a law firm. I always endeavour to arrange work experience for them at Blacks.

I have found my student mentees to be very enthusiastic, committed and dedicated.

“My advice to law students is to take advantage of every opportunity you get”

Meet and network with people in the profession locally, through mentoring and other routes.

Ensure that you sharpen up your attention to detail. Make sure your training contract application is tailored to the specific organisation you are applying for and your CV is error-free - most training partners hunt through hundreds if not thousands of applications each year. If there’s a typo in your application, unfortunately that means it’s likely to be instantly put on the ‘no’ pile.

Try to get a good breadth of work experience with different laws firms and an understanding of what different areas of law look like in practice. There is a vast difference between legally aided housing work, criminal law work, and corporate work for a global firm for example. What is it that you love? Do the work to find out.

And finally, look out for your own interests. Paralegalling at firms is a useful way to get a foot in the door – however, some firms will take advantage of that, and keep you in that role indefinitely, by dangling the carrot of a training contract in front of you without ever seriously considering giving it to you. Be savvy.

“Thinking about innovation will help you stand out in interviews”

Most law firms are trying to encourage staff to innovate where possible and find different ways of doing things. You may well be asked at interview to give an example of an innovation you might like to see introduced in the legal sector and it would be hugely impressive to a law firm if you have a credible answer.

“The legal sector is booming in Leeds”

As the second biggest legal hub in the UK (after London), Leeds is a fantastic city in which to study law.  There’s a whole range of law firms, from the so-called “big six” firms (most of whom operate internationally), to national, mid-size regional and small companies doing really interesting, innovative work. Students can stay here and get great jobs. We’re seeing many firms from London ‘north shoring’ (i.e. moving offices to the northern regions) and many aspiring solicitors electing to stay in Leeds or return to Leeds and with good reason. There is a lot of opportunity in and around Leeds for people studying and working in law.