British Expats - Advice from solicitors in Oz please!

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Re: Advice from solicitors in Oz please!

Quote:

Originally Posted by roman_candle (Post 4603704)

Yep, I think that's right. It was always kind of that way, but it's got worse in the past few years as the system now is that the big firms will make offers directly to people in their internship program, so most of the places get taken that way. There ARE firms that will recruit you without doing a clerkship, but they tend to be very small ones and even they generally recruit a year in advance. I guess my advice is that it'd be v. easy to get into a firm here if you had even one year's experience in the UK, but pretty hard to get in at graduate level.

The ease with which UK qualified solicitors will find employment with a law firm in Oz probably depends on where they want to work. As a 4 year qualified English solicitor (I specialised in corporate/commercial with some commercial property in a mid-size London firm) I have been told that my employment prospects on the Sunshine Coast are extremely limited without legal experience in Australia, preferably Queensland. I was advised that the situation would probably be different in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne etc, so I was rather interested to see that there appears to be a shortage of lawyers in Melbourne. Perhaps I need to think about moving!

Re: Advice from solicitors in Oz please!

I get the impression (in Sydney anyway) that UK qualified experience is only really helpful if it is in a corporate/finance type field and with a London magic circle firm.

I have 3 years qualified experience with the 4th largest firm in the UK but not in a corporate related field. I am finding that firms both large and small are not interested in me because I do not have local experience. There must be no shortage of candidates available who do.

I was told the other day by a friend who is an accountant, that he has also heard there is a shortage of solicitors in Sydney, but that does not appear to be helping me.

Not trying to put anyone off, but I wish I had realised before getting here how hard it would be to find work despite having converted my qualifications.

Hope you all have better luck than me!

Re: Advice from solicitors in Oz please!

Quote:

Originally Posted by LCT (Post 4603856)

I think that all you can do is keep applying (however depressing that might be) and keep networking - so many people have told me that most jobs go on recommendation or word of mouth. You just never know when a chance conversation could lead to something.

Best of luck with the job hunting.

Re: Advice from solicitors in Oz please!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Famous 5 (Post 4603830)

Sounds like I was lucky then:)

We live just south of Toowoomba and I got offered a job in Toowoomba when we were out on our reccie visit in 2005. The firm I work for was happy to wait for me for 7 months until we arrived permanently. I worked in Personal Injury in the UK (17 years qualified) and initially I was doing that too over here. Got a bit bored however and had a change of career as a financial planner for 6 months. Decided that wasn't for me and am now back working at the same firm of solicitors doing a mixture of wills/estates, commercial and PI. Never done commercial and wills but it doesn't seem to bother them!! I'm working 3 days a week which is wonderful - OH and I are both off work together on Thursdays :)

Haven't decided whether I will re-qualify but think that I probably will as, to be honest, the money is pretty crap :ohmy:
If you fancy a move, I don't think you'd have any problems getting a job here :eek: The agency I got my job through said that a lot of newly qualified solicitors want the bright lights of Brissie. (Can keep them as well as all their traffic thanks very much!!)