Tonight, Matthew I'm going to be....
Things are starting to shift a bit now. The last week has shot by. I'd like to think that I'm getting on top and have got myself into a routine. In truth I have a few reservations that I'm not quite there. At the moment my sleep patterns are shot. I get off to sleep quickly enough but awaken between Midnight and 4 am, from then on I drowse at best but usually toss 'n' turn for an hour or so. I'm trying to shift around possible causes for this to see if I can eradicate the problem but nothing has worked so far...
Monday
The week started with the 2nd of our three sessions on 'practical legal research'-although we didn't use computers or books this time! Our work was centred on the presentation of our researches-the threat of our first assessment is now very real. We will get our practice assessment for 'legal writing' next week and then in early October we receive the real thing.
Tomorrow I will have to hit the library again to get some serious book time in. Hmm, 'tomorrow' again-I'm sensing a pattern here.....
(I did (I promise!) go in early to use the library last Monday but was singularly useless in finding out the majority of the facts I had been set to find out)
We also had a short session on using your study time effectively-including being given blank timetables to fill in with our projected study hours. Slightly bizarre that; on the one hand the CofL treats us like adults doing a working week then 'out of the blue' it treats us like spotty 11 year olds at boarding school, complete with work timetable and homework diary.
Not that I know what a boarding school is like (outside of Harry Potter and from a bygone time Jennings). I was slightly perturbed to see that the timetable didn't actually start until 8 Am-seems like the CofL is actually encouraging it's students to be idle stop-in-beds.... **cough**
Tuesday
Today (for those who wanted it) there were a couple of talks scheduled before the workshop about the Public Legal Services (PLS) route and working pro bono. The two are closely linked-if you want to do the PLS you must be involved in pro bono. The PLS is for those who want to help in the public sector working with those members of society who are disadvantaged but still need legal assistance. (e.g. employment help, criminal defence, mental health, housing, marriage breakdown) The PLS consists of 5 EXTRA workshops and a project based on experience gained this year with pro bono projects. Now obviously this won't be to everyone's tastes-extra study /time won't sit well in what is already a packed year.
But it has a lot to recommend it for a 40+ year old who has to make himself saleable to an employer. I knew for certain even before I had set foot on campus that I would be throwing myself into as much pro bono as possible and taking the PLS route. In truth I have no major desire to work in a legal centre/CAB when I leave here but if my career dream (working for the CPS) does turn around and knee me in the vulnerables then I would be happy to turn to the 'Dark Side' and work in criminal defence. (For the record I am attracted to much of the law that I've studied but my true love is criminal law-and you never forget your one true love. Right?)
The good news is that I heard nothing in these talks to distract me from my projected course.
Unfortunately, the one project that I would actually give my vulnerables for is closed to me. I would have dearly loved to have done the 'Police station accreditation' choice. What could be better than to be woken in the middle of the night and have to travel to the local nick to be present when some old scroat was being interogated? Amazingly, this is the most oversubscribed choice on the books!!! People watch too much police station related tv...I would have loved to have done it though, but don't drive so the option is not available to me. (in truth, I'm not too keen on the idea of the middle of the night bit-especially before an exam.
We had another workshop on legal writing. This time we concentrated on the drafting of legal documents. It had the same format-you get some prose relating to a 'real time' conversation between a male trainee solicitor (they are always male-that way you can show them to be very stupid and no one gets upset **harumph**) and some clients. You then get the projected first draft and have to study it and find at least 10 faults (there are at least 30). Once you have analysed it to death you get the chance to redraft it.
This is no easy task even when you;
Wednesday
No classes. Hurrah! But still plenty of work to do. I finished off the draft from yesterday and a follow up draft about a vintage car rental agreement. Plus I felt like a bucket of kack for most of the day-sleep is not over-rated. I put a link to the blog on a couple of the OU's pages. Many thanks to those people to have mailed me in the past week-that was really kind and has helped invigorate my knackered body.
Thursday
A long day-up early as usual. Prepped for this afternoons workshop on professional conduct. I am now increasingly aware that I need to be taking some notes. Reading the books is all well and good but I'm doing it passively (like my drafting-legal joke, **cough-hears sound like tumbleweed blowing across the prairie).
The words are sweeping over me and I'm taking in very little. If it doesn't lodge in the brain then I'm going to struggle to remember when and where the various points came up for the conduct assessment and having all the text books in the world won't help me.
Anyhow we concentrated today on the financial side of being a solicitor-especially advising clients about investments or selling shares as part of a will and of course money laundering. One week ago I found out that if I knew that a client was about to steal the Crown Jewels or abduct the Queen (without using violence) then I could do nothing. Now I find out that if I suspect my client is wants me to handle about £15k of what I suspect are the proceeds from crime then I can shop them to a senior partner who passes on the info to the Old Bill in the guise of SOCA (serious organised crime agency).
And if the solicitor doesn't? How about a gaol term for up to 24 years!
The last two weeks have left a lot of my colleagues paranoid about working in practice. Make a mistake and get struck off, miss dodgy doings and be locked up! Fortunately, I've been working for half my life and know that a hundred things go wrong every day-you just don't let it show...
That evening was a large scale talk for those interested in the PLS route (here I go again). There was a buffet and the usual wine/orange juice choice. Someone at the CofL must have a relative who supplies this stuff in bulk. How can you have a buffet without sandwiches? Half a dozen types of samosa but not one cheese sarnie...or a cocktail stick with pineapple and cheese on it.
Mind you, whoever thought up that combo must have been stoned that night. You can imagine their thinking, 'cheese, well that goes well with bread/crackers/ham/onion...I know, I've got a spare pineapple over here, I'll try that. And if that goes well, I'll see how it goes with loganberry or formica'
Sorry, got distracted. Ho hum.
Anyhow, the talk was good. There was a bit of political friction between the reps from the Legal Services Commission (who decide which services the Government allocated money is spent on) and the people who actually work (or aim to work) in these services. If I hear the words 'Carter Report' once more...A great night all round but I didn't get home to twenty to nine.
Friday
It's no good, I tried to put it off but like death and taxes it's inevitable. Today is the first 'role playing' exercise day (**spit**).
(yes, that's what the title relates to!)
I considered pulling a sickie but the CofL is very keen on good attendence (and promises to fail bad attenders). I prep as well as I can but the sinking feel in my stomach has little to do with last nights cooking. It's the first of out interviewing workshops and after a bit of background reading we have to throw ourselves into it.
I start off by playing a middle aged forgetful shoplifter seeking help from a solicitor-that goes well except my partner forgets to go through one of the major set sections of the interview (which would be an automatic fail if it were the assessment).
Within a short space of time, I'm preparing to be the solicitor about to have a meeting with a woman who's showroom display model of cooker has 'blown up'. (in the tradition of exploding kitchen appliances beloved by question setters country wide). I'm ashamed to admit that I quite enjoyed it-if I didn't have to advise her of the law I would have been even happier.
End result: interviewing good-lawyering bad
Saturday
I did a little consolidating work and then nearly 5 hours trying to understand 'double entry book keeping' What is this? I want to be a bloody solicitor! No, it's true-we do have to have an understanding of all aspects of running a business and accounts is all part of it. Looking at the timetable that I don't keep, I've only got Tuesday morning to try to sort this out. I am not holding my breath.
What other joys in store for this week? Quite a lot really. In addition to beginning business accounts we are also starting civil litigation and business law and practice.
Monday
The week started with the 2nd of our three sessions on 'practical legal research'-although we didn't use computers or books this time! Our work was centred on the presentation of our researches-the threat of our first assessment is now very real. We will get our practice assessment for 'legal writing' next week and then in early October we receive the real thing.
Tomorrow I will have to hit the library again to get some serious book time in. Hmm, 'tomorrow' again-I'm sensing a pattern here.....
(I did (I promise!) go in early to use the library last Monday but was singularly useless in finding out the majority of the facts I had been set to find out)
We also had a short session on using your study time effectively-including being given blank timetables to fill in with our projected study hours. Slightly bizarre that; on the one hand the CofL treats us like adults doing a working week then 'out of the blue' it treats us like spotty 11 year olds at boarding school, complete with work timetable and homework diary.
Not that I know what a boarding school is like (outside of Harry Potter and from a bygone time Jennings). I was slightly perturbed to see that the timetable didn't actually start until 8 Am-seems like the CofL is actually encouraging it's students to be idle stop-in-beds.... **cough**
Tuesday
Today (for those who wanted it) there were a couple of talks scheduled before the workshop about the Public Legal Services (PLS) route and working pro bono. The two are closely linked-if you want to do the PLS you must be involved in pro bono. The PLS is for those who want to help in the public sector working with those members of society who are disadvantaged but still need legal assistance. (e.g. employment help, criminal defence, mental health, housing, marriage breakdown) The PLS consists of 5 EXTRA workshops and a project based on experience gained this year with pro bono projects. Now obviously this won't be to everyone's tastes-extra study /time won't sit well in what is already a packed year.
But it has a lot to recommend it for a 40+ year old who has to make himself saleable to an employer. I knew for certain even before I had set foot on campus that I would be throwing myself into as much pro bono as possible and taking the PLS route. In truth I have no major desire to work in a legal centre/CAB when I leave here but if my career dream (working for the CPS) does turn around and knee me in the vulnerables then I would be happy to turn to the 'Dark Side' and work in criminal defence. (For the record I am attracted to much of the law that I've studied but my true love is criminal law-and you never forget your one true love. Right?)
The good news is that I heard nothing in these talks to distract me from my projected course.
Unfortunately, the one project that I would actually give my vulnerables for is closed to me. I would have dearly loved to have done the 'Police station accreditation' choice. What could be better than to be woken in the middle of the night and have to travel to the local nick to be present when some old scroat was being interogated? Amazingly, this is the most oversubscribed choice on the books!!! People watch too much police station related tv...I would have loved to have done it though, but don't drive so the option is not available to me. (in truth, I'm not too keen on the idea of the middle of the night bit-especially before an exam.
We had another workshop on legal writing. This time we concentrated on the drafting of legal documents. It had the same format-you get some prose relating to a 'real time' conversation between a male trainee solicitor (they are always male-that way you can show them to be very stupid and no one gets upset **harumph**) and some clients. You then get the projected first draft and have to study it and find at least 10 faults (there are at least 30). Once you have analysed it to death you get the chance to redraft it.
This is no easy task even when you;
- can see, and
- have been told
Wednesday
No classes. Hurrah! But still plenty of work to do. I finished off the draft from yesterday and a follow up draft about a vintage car rental agreement. Plus I felt like a bucket of kack for most of the day-sleep is not over-rated. I put a link to the blog on a couple of the OU's pages. Many thanks to those people to have mailed me in the past week-that was really kind and has helped invigorate my knackered body.
Thursday
A long day-up early as usual. Prepped for this afternoons workshop on professional conduct. I am now increasingly aware that I need to be taking some notes. Reading the books is all well and good but I'm doing it passively (like my drafting-legal joke, **cough-hears sound like tumbleweed blowing across the prairie).
The words are sweeping over me and I'm taking in very little. If it doesn't lodge in the brain then I'm going to struggle to remember when and where the various points came up for the conduct assessment and having all the text books in the world won't help me.
Anyhow we concentrated today on the financial side of being a solicitor-especially advising clients about investments or selling shares as part of a will and of course money laundering. One week ago I found out that if I knew that a client was about to steal the Crown Jewels or abduct the Queen (without using violence) then I could do nothing. Now I find out that if I suspect my client is wants me to handle about £15k of what I suspect are the proceeds from crime then I can shop them to a senior partner who passes on the info to the Old Bill in the guise of SOCA (serious organised crime agency).
And if the solicitor doesn't? How about a gaol term for up to 24 years!
The last two weeks have left a lot of my colleagues paranoid about working in practice. Make a mistake and get struck off, miss dodgy doings and be locked up! Fortunately, I've been working for half my life and know that a hundred things go wrong every day-you just don't let it show...
That evening was a large scale talk for those interested in the PLS route (here I go again). There was a buffet and the usual wine/orange juice choice. Someone at the CofL must have a relative who supplies this stuff in bulk. How can you have a buffet without sandwiches? Half a dozen types of samosa but not one cheese sarnie...or a cocktail stick with pineapple and cheese on it.
Mind you, whoever thought up that combo must have been stoned that night. You can imagine their thinking, 'cheese, well that goes well with bread/crackers/ham/onion...I know, I've got a spare pineapple over here, I'll try that. And if that goes well, I'll see how it goes with loganberry or formica'
Sorry, got distracted. Ho hum.
Anyhow, the talk was good. There was a bit of political friction between the reps from the Legal Services Commission (who decide which services the Government allocated money is spent on) and the people who actually work (or aim to work) in these services. If I hear the words 'Carter Report' once more...A great night all round but I didn't get home to twenty to nine.
Friday
It's no good, I tried to put it off but like death and taxes it's inevitable. Today is the first 'role playing' exercise day (**spit**).
(yes, that's what the title relates to!)
I considered pulling a sickie but the CofL is very keen on good attendence (and promises to fail bad attenders). I prep as well as I can but the sinking feel in my stomach has little to do with last nights cooking. It's the first of out interviewing workshops and after a bit of background reading we have to throw ourselves into it.
I start off by playing a middle aged forgetful shoplifter seeking help from a solicitor-that goes well except my partner forgets to go through one of the major set sections of the interview (which would be an automatic fail if it were the assessment).
Within a short space of time, I'm preparing to be the solicitor about to have a meeting with a woman who's showroom display model of cooker has 'blown up'. (in the tradition of exploding kitchen appliances beloved by question setters country wide). I'm ashamed to admit that I quite enjoyed it-if I didn't have to advise her of the law I would have been even happier.
End result: interviewing good-lawyering bad
Saturday
I did a little consolidating work and then nearly 5 hours trying to understand 'double entry book keeping' What is this? I want to be a bloody solicitor! No, it's true-we do have to have an understanding of all aspects of running a business and accounts is all part of it. Looking at the timetable that I don't keep, I've only got Tuesday morning to try to sort this out. I am not holding my breath.
What other joys in store for this week? Quite a lot really. In addition to beginning business accounts we are also starting civil litigation and business law and practice.
The LPC proper begins here.
posted by Paul Salmon at
12:57 pm
1 Comments:
Stoned?! Lol, I hope that's not you or you won't be getting much done ;-)
By
Anonymous, at 4:20 pm
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