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Law
“The maxims of the law are these: to live honestly, to hurt no one, to give everyone his due”. (Justinian, 6th century Roman emperor)
 The legal system in Scotland is different from England and Wales, and from Northern Ireland. But in each country, you would deal with laws concerning criminal, family, civil, company and employment matters and with property conveyancing.
Some staff are professional lawyers – solicitors or advocates. Others do legal support work – they do administration, interview clients, draw up legal documents and report what goes on in court. The patent office protects the rights of inventors, so that new ideas cannot be copied for 20 years.
It's not always easy to get a job in law, even with the right qualifications. Many law graduates go into other areas of work such as business, administration and various types of management.
- In the whole of Scotland there are only 460 advocates and 10,000 practising solicitors.
- Most advocates, about 75%, are men.
- About 40% of solicitors are women, although this is predicted to rise to about 50% by 2011.
- Most solicitors work with private firms, but around 33% work in-house in local or central government or with large companies.
- 70% of the legal employees at the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service are women.
- Only 5 of the 34 judges in Scotland are women.
For any legal job, you need to be careful, logical and accurate. You should have a good memory and be able to think quickly.
The jobs in this career area are divided into 3 sectors:
- Law (professional)
- Legal support services
- Patent work.
The qualifications you need depend on the job you want to do.
To be a professional lawyer, you have to do a lot of studying. First you take a 4-year course for the degree of LLB (Bachelor of Laws). To get in, you need 5 good Highers, at one sitting. Then you do the Diploma in Legal Practice, which allows you to work in Scotland. To work in England and Wales, you have to pass another exam.
For some legal support jobs – such as administrative assistant, court reporter or sheriff officer, you can start with Standard grades. Paralegals and advocates clerks often have a Higher National Certificate (HNC), Higher National Diploma (HND) or degree in Legal Studies. However, you might get a job with your school qualifications, perhaps as a legal secretary, and take part time courses to work your way up.
Patent agents and patent examiners usually have a degree in science or engineering.
Sources
Prospects (UK’s official graduate careers) website, job sector Legal Services (http://www.prospects.ac.uk/)
Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (2010)
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