Property Law: Unlock Your Understanding & Gain Hands-on Experience

Sep 14, 2023

Written By Helena Kudiabor

Property law is one of the most important legal practice areas. Those working in the field manage transactions relating to both residential and commercial properties, dealing with situations like land transfer, land ownership disputes, mortgages and tenancy agreements. Property law is so important because of how key property is to the smooth running of society: from ensuring people have a safe place to live, to keeping venues like cinemas and banks running, and even helping us check into hotels and Airbnbs on holiday.

If you’re someone who’s interested in a career in property law, the best way to learn more about the sector is to gain hands-on experience. This will allow you to successfully navigate different scenarios property lawyers face, and grow in confidence as a result.

Diving Deeper into Property Law

Before we discuss how you can gain property law experience, it’s a good idea to understand the fundamentals of this practice area.

Firstly, we should understand the different types of property. You’re probably aware that personal property is for recreational purposes, whereas commercial property is for business purposes. However, the difference between real and personal property is a bit more complex.

Essentially, real property is the land on the ground and anything permanently attached to it. For example, a house is real property, and so is a treehouse.

Personal property refers to everything that doesn’t fall into the above category. Returning to the treehouse example, if you bought equipment to build a treehouse, that equipment would be considered personal property. However, once the treehouse is built, it’s considered real property.

Property law covers a number of different transactions. It includes: finalising the terms of mortgages, navigating tenancy agreements, dealing with commercial transactions, negotiating easements (certain rights someone can have over another person’s land) and restrictive covenants (contracts between two landowners that stipulate what they can and cannot do on the land). Property lawyers have to work to solve any disputes that arise through these transactions, such as boundary disputes, breach of contract (for example if a tenant is unfairly evicted), disagreements between co-owners and real estate fraud (when a property is falsely represented).

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Gaining Theoretical Knowledge in Property Law

Given how crucial property law is to the smooth running of society, it’s an essential part of the law syllabus. Whether you’re taking the LLB or the PGDL, you’ll be required to take a property law module (sometimes referred to as land law).

Whether you want to learn more about property law, or found the module challenging, there are a range of online resources to help you.

Property Law UK is a great resource for staying up to date with new developments in the sector, given how much it continues to evolve. Not only will this help you contextualise the theory you’re learning, but being asked about new developments in the field is a very common interview question. The Law Society also provides a range of resources, from practice notes on different aspects of property law to webinars and training courses.

Textbooks are also a good source of information, offering in-depth knowledge, case studies and sometimes even practise questions to consolidate your understanding. LexisNexis sells a number of property law textbooks, including Butterworths Property Law Handbook and Standard Conditions of Sale: A Conveyancer’s Guide. However, given how expensive textbooks tend to be, you may wish to purchase a smaller guide. In this case, you may wish to purchase something like The University of Law’s Property Practice manual, which costs £39.99 and covers SQE1.

Importance of Practical Experience

Once you understand the precedents and theories that shaped property law, it’s a good idea to put your understanding into practice. Hands-on work experience (vacation schemes, placements, volunteering) are a great way for you to gain some experience within the property law sector, and work out if it’s something you’d like to pursue as a career.

No matter what type of work experience you do, you’ll gain a number of skills from the experience. You’ll be able to witness client interactions and legal procedures first-hand, and gain a number of skills that successful lawyers need, like critical thinking, problem solving, document drafting and customer service. Furthermore, you’ll be able to gain an insight into the working world, and work out what sort of place you’d like to work at.

How to Gain Hands-On Experience in Property Law

We’ve highlighted the benefits of gaining work experience in property law, but how do you actually obtain this experience? Firstly, it’s important to be flexible about the type of work experience you’re interested in. Many students want to secure vacation schemes, and these are an excellent way of gaining experience, but are incredibly competitive. If you don’t manage to secure a vacation scheme (or even if you do) there are so many other ways to gain legal work experience. These include: shadowing property lawyers, volunteering for legal charities, working for your university’s legal clinic and joining a mooting or debating society,

It’s a good idea to start looking as early as possible for work experience opportunities. For example, if you’re looking for work over the summer, start looking the Autumn before.

You can use online job portals like Indeed, make a list of law firms you’re interested in and apply directly, or contact property lawyers whose work you find interesting.

When applying for different opportunities, be sure to emphasise a) what makes you unique b) why you’re interested in the role. Think about the experiences you have that make you stand out from the crowd, and the unique attributes you bring to the table. It doesn’t matter if they’re not related to law, law firms are looking for well-rounded individuals. It’s also worth doing some research into what each organisation values and what sort of work they do. Then, in your applications, you can cite specific examples of why the organisation interests you.

Once you’ve secured work experience (congratulations!), here are some tips to make the most of it. Practise basic business etiquette (being on time, sticking to a dress code), ask lots of questions about property law and current lawyers career journeys, request feedback, and take some time to reflect after each experience (what went well and what could be improved).

Successful Careers in Property Law

There are so many different career opportunities within property law. You could qualify as a barrister, and specialise in representing clients dealing with property law disputes. The UK government also employs property lawyers as advisors. Other property lawyers find themselves working for in-house legal teams, helping retailers and other corporations expand their business legally. There are also opportunities with private practice at a law firm, where you could find yourself handling property transactions worth over £150,000.

No matter what sort of career you’re interested in, there’s a few skills that property lawyers should have. These include: communication, analytical thinking, attention to detail and commercial awareness. You can develop these skills through work experience and staying up to date with recent developments in property law.

Concluding Thoughts: Unlocking Your Potential in Property Law

A career in property law is a career in one of the most important fields of law, one that’s essential for the smooth running of our society. Completing any sort of work experience is a great way to learn more about the field, network with current property lawyers and decide if property law is right for you. After reading this article, why not message a property lawyer on LinkedIn to ask if they’d be willing to chat to you about their career journey, or read up about a new development in the sector?

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