Vacation scheme facts: you don't have to be a law student to apply

Jan 09, 2020

Written By Becky Kells, Editor, AllAboutLaw

If you're a non-law student who is considering a career as a solicitor, you might be wondering what options are available to you at law firms. The good news is, you'll likely be in a position to apply for a vacation scheme at some point over the course of your degree.

The legal sector thrives on having a variety of people with different academic and professional backgrounds. It boosts relationships with clients, makes teams more robust and ultimately leads to a more representative legal profession.

For this reason, most firms do open their vacation schemes to both law and non-law students.

One thing to bear in mind, though, is the year in which you apply for vacation schemes. For law students, vacation schemes are open from second year onwards. For non-law students, this might differ. The reason for this is because many firms recruit trainees, two years in advance, from their vacation scheme intakes—so if you're a law student who completed a vacation scheme in your second year, you'd have a year left of your LLB and then a year to do the LPC before starting a training contract.

Non-law students will need to do the GDL as well as the LPC, so it might be that you can only apply for vacation schemes in the final year of your degree. However, every firm is different—make sure you research the criteria for each vacation scheme before you set your heart on applying.

Apply for vacation schemes | Find out more about them

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