So I'm thinking of becoming a Solicitor

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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I realize I’m new enough here that no one knows my background, so I’ll elaborate a bit first (I hope this is the appropriate forum for all this, anyway). I just graduated from university in Canada last summer with my two brand-spanking new useless degrees, a Bachelor’s of Arts in English Literature, and a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in Printmaking.

Since then, I’ve been rather at a loss in regards to what to do with myself. I’m very lucky in that I married a wonderful woman who I met at university, and even luckier that she:

a) Found out what she wanted to do with her art degree a year before I graduated,
b) Worked her butt off at it during said year, and
c) Thus paid our way back to Ireland, where she also happens to be a citizen.

Dang, that really is lucky. Thanks, love! :smiley:

But anyway, since we’ve been in Ireland, I’ve been working at a pretty low-end job in a Patent Agent’s to contribute my share of things. The thing is, I kind of hate that job. It might not be so bad if it weren’t for the fact that my boss is a miserable so-and-so, but the work itself is pretty blah too. The salary is ok, but I can’t help but feel I’m paying for it with my immortal soul. You know, that kind of job. I know that I could be doing so much more… but what, but what?

My parents always jibed me as a kid that I would make a great lawyer, because I had an annoying habit of pointing out finer points of things, like pointing out that a vague promise of a treat ‘if I was good’ was a verbal contract from my perspective, and that if my behaviour could not be classified as ‘bad’ per se, therefore, by definition, I should be rewarded appropriately. Yes, I was an odd kid.

I’d always dismissed the idea of actually practising law, though, and moved on to other things. Now, having worked in a legal office and having seen it all in action, I realized that heck yes I would make a great lawyer!

So I looked into the requirements for Ireland, which I’ll outline briefly here, since I’m not sure if there are any Irish legal dopers about. Basically, the legal profession is broadly divided into barristers and solicitors, much like the UK, Canada, etc. Barristers are the ones that represent clients before a court. That’s not for me though. It might be fun for a while going up and presenting a case, but long-term it would be stress city for me. But now Solicitor, that sounds interesting. Give considered legal advice for a modest fee? Sounds like fun, where do I sign up?

Apparently, that would be here.

It looks pretty do-able, too. First you take a preliminary test on English ability, general knowledge and the Irish political system. Then, a test on the Irish language and another on Irish law. After that you take an apprenticeship for a year with an Irish law firm, a few more various courses and tests, and voilá! Solicitor.

Obviously it’s not going to be easy, but I’ve got a few advantages, too. First, I have two degrees, one in literature. And they are willing to waive the first round of tests for such degree holders (subject to scrutiny for a foreign degree, though). Second, learning Irish. The thing is, I really love languages. I used to bore all my friends with linguistics-speak, and the past two summers I threw myself into learning French and Spanish just so I could read some books without worrying about crummy translations (ok, so my composition skills are still not great, but my comprehension is good enough for Proust and Borges).

Third, I have to learn the law. That’s a lot, but I have a good head for trivia, and legalese doesn’t really faze me. So that just leaves finding a place to apprentice.

Now, I have no idea how this works. Do I just call up some law firms and ask them? Do I wait until I get my scores for the tests and shop those around? I would ask my boss, but she’s not likely to be much help. She’d be really peeved to see me go, and she’s not really a solicitor or anything anyway (Patent Agent is a totally separate legal qualification in Ireland, mostly concerned with the filing of applications and such).

So I know that things are totally different in the U.S., but the U.K. has a similar system, doesn’t it? But yeah, if anyone has any advice it would be most welcome. I really think I can do this, and I think it’s something I would enjoy and be good at. And I’d finally be able to pay back my wonderful wife for all she’s done with a vacation home in Nice!

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:smack: Dang. Wrong forum. Could a mod please move this to MPSIMS, or wherever appropriate? Thanks.

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I wouldn’t do it. Door to door salesmen are really unpopular these days. That is why they put up those little signs at the door.

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I believe that in Ireland, as in similar jurisdictions such as England and Australia, solicitors are a kind of lawyer. They don’t do what would be called “soliciting” in the US. (And presumably solicitors on holidays in the US just ignore those “NO SOLICITORS” signs that you see in some shops and malls.)

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I remember those signs everywhere in Canada too, even though it’s a recognised legal title there. Maybe businesses in North America just don’t like foreign lawyers foulin’ up the joint?

Wow, hijacking my own thread. Go me!

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Good for you, dawvee! I wish you the best of luck. I’ve been a lawyer since '92, and a municipal court magistrate since '01. I’ve found it a very rewarding, interesting career, with great potential to help others and society as you do your best to see that justice is done.

For advice to an aspiring solicitor, I refer you to Abraham Lincoln, a noted lawyer before his election to the Presidency: http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/law.htm

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Hee. When I was kid I had only seen the word “solicitor” in British fiction so I wondered about those signs; what kind of lawyers go door to door?!?

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Perhaps you could get in contact with the Law Society. It probably has a list of law firms that are willing to take on trainees.

Good luck dawvee. I’m in the last semester of my law degree so I know how rewarding it can be.

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I have two thoughts, for what they’re worth. IANAL but I know some. The first is to phone up HR at the big firms (Goodbody’s, MOP, Cox’s, McCann’s, Mason Hayes and Fry’s and maybe some of the middle-sized firms. Get some feedback from them about how to apply to them, how they’d view your background and whether they would prefer you to do the FE-1s before applying. The second would be to go ahead and send off a cv to a fairly large selection of firms, follow it up, and see who’s interested. Think about whether you want to work for a large (generally commercial) firm or a smaller one which specialises in something that interests you. Apprenticeships with the larger firms are sought after because they pay better, especially during training, and offer experience in different departments. Each year they do a milk round where they invite applications from final year university students, and there is a high level of competition for these places. Think about how to sell your non-law background coupled with your experience as an advantage. Good luck.

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Thanks for the encouragement everyone. Thanks Ardrine especially, that’s some very useful info. I’ve been looking into it more, and it looks like I’ve just missed the first round of exams for this year (I would have had to sign up to sit the exams in February).

On the other hand, they seem fairly clear that an undergraduate degree will merit an exemption from the preliminary exams. It’s an automatic thing for UK and Irish graduates, but I think a degree from Canada should warrant consideration as well, being Commonwealth; I’ll have to contact them and see.

I’m going to shoot for the first Irish exam in June. I should be able to learn enough of the language to have a shot by then. The site says they run the FE-1 in the summer as well, but they don’t have any dates up yet. In the next few weeks I’ll definitely get into contact with the firms you listed, Ardrine. They actually have fairly thorough information on their trainee programs on their sites as well, which will help me get an idea before contacting them.

I have a pretty clear idea what sort of field I’d like to be in already: I’ve had a keen interest in developments in copyright law over the past few years. I was actually sorely disappointed when I learned that, though the place I got on with was an intellectual property office, copyright was the one area under that heading that they didn’t cover at all. I would definitely be interested in gaining experience there.

Aie, and then there’s the selling my background part. On the plus side, my academics are solid, and I do have some legal experience now with the work I’ve been doing since I got here. I’m a published author, too, though that’s only a few elementary school textbooks. Hm… I’ll have to think a lot more about this.

Again, thank you everyone for the encouragement!

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good luck with this, dawvee - I’ve found the law a very rewarding career - mentally challenging, meet interesting people, good pay. I enjoy doing the solicitor side of stuff, but don’t discount the barrister side - it’s not for everyone, but a good court argument is one of the things I enjoy the most about the profession. (minor nitpick to your OP - in the common law provinces, we’re both barristers and solicitors, not either/or).

and if you get enrolled in the next few years, remember that the Canadian Bar Association is planning on having its annual meeting in Dublin in a few years’ time - maybe 2009 or 2010. Should be fun - several hundred Canadian lawyers and spouses descending on the [del]pubs of Dublin[/del] convention centre. see you there?