[Lilly]

Hi

I will be travelling to the UK in late June as an Australian-qualified lawyer hoping to get legal work in London. Does anyone know whether it is essential to do the Qualified Lawyers Transfer Test (QLTT) or can one get by without it, particularly for contract work with the government?

Thanks

[legal eagle]

Hi Lilly,

I qualified in NSW in 2002 and have been in London for the last year. Although work at first was difficult to come by (litigation) and I had to do 2 months as a paralegal on measly hourly rates, I have had plenty for the past 9 months.

I considered completing the QLTT but recruiters here and the HR managers that I spoke to in the bigger firms said that it was not necessary. If there was a need to qualify they would be willing to pay. I have never worked in any of the various governmental departments but friends of mine have, at both Central government and local borough level, and they have not had any problems either.

Whether you are qualified here or not they will automatically take 1-2 years experience off when considering your resume and you have to be very convincing for this not to be the case.

Let me know if you want to know anything further.

All the best

[Lilly]

Thanks for your reply. I'd prefer not to do the QLTT if I don't have to cos it's not cheap, and I'm pretty over studying (think 5 years plus legal workshop is enough!).

Can you recommend any good legal recruiters that I can get in touch with? There seems to be loads of them and it's hard to know where to start. I know Hays Legal are supposed to be quite good. I think my best shot is with government because most of my experience has been with the Cth Attorney-General's Dept here in Oz.

Thanks again

[legal eagle]

Law Absolute and Badenoch and Clark have quite good public sector practices at both levels (Central and local). Depending on your experience you should be able to pick up contract work (generally 3-9 months but always with the teaser "likely to extend") at around £15-25 per hour.

I have worked the private sector with Michael Page, Hays and Hudson and the rates for qualified work ranges between £20-35 per hour.

At the bottom end and most (but not all) tend to start there in order to obtain the necessary "London experience" is Paralegal work and most of the big recruiters will all have placements around the £9-15 per hour mark.

As far as recruiters go they are all friendly and cheerful and appear only too happy to help you but their agenda is to place someone... at all costs. You really need to be in contact with them every couple of days to the point where you are annoying.

Cheers

[Lilly]

Thanks again for your helpful advice. It's good to have a benchmark in terms of what I can expect to be paid.