Becoming a lawyer

The City Law School offers an extensive range of support for students at every stage of your legal training on their Law in real life page.

We have a selection of pupillage books at the library, which you can find by searching Library Search.

The City Law School have a barrister training webpage which includes guidance on how to become a barrister. Their Pupillage Advisory Service provides advice, information and assistance, both to those looking for and those who have already obtained pupillage.

Here is a selection of useful websites:

The Inns of Court play a central role in the recruitment, training and professional life of barristers, holding the exclusive rights to call candidates to the bar of England and Wales. Their libraries include a wealth of resources not readily available elsewhere.

Every BVS student must be a member of one of the four Inns; admission costs approx. £130, and gives access to the Inn's library as well as the other Inns of Court libraries. See below for information on each Inn library:

• Gray's Inn Library
  Specialist Law Collections: Foreign Law, International Law, Northern Ireland, amongst others. The Library is open to all students that are members of any of the four Inns of Court. Discounted document supply for students.
• Lincoln's Inn Library
  Specialist Law Collections: Parliamentary Materials, Commonwealth, Channel Islands, Isle of Man, amongst others. The Library is open to all members and student members of Lincoln's Inn only. However, they will admit student members of other Inns to use the Library for material not held by their own Inn; for reference purposes only.
• Inner Temple Library
  Specialist Law Collections: Commonwealth, Scotland, amongst others. The Library is open to all students that are members of any of the four Inns of Court.
• Middle Temple Library
  Specialist Law Collections: EU & Member States, Ireland, United States, amongst others. The Library is open to all students that are members of any of the four Inns of Court.

For more details of each of the Inn Libraries specialisations visit the Inn Libraries Specialisations section of their website.

Please check their websites for opening times.

Usually one of the four Inn Libraries will be open from 10.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. on each Saturday during the legal terms. The Inner Temple Library Saturday Opening Hours page provides a Saturday opening timetable for the four Inn Libraries.

We have a selection of books on training contracts at the library, which you can find by searching Library Search. 

The City Law School career support website has a lot of useful information about applying for a training contract. The Future Solicitor Advisory Service provides guidance through the process of finding employment both within the legal profession, and in the public and commercial sectors of the economy. You can start using the service as soon as you accept your place on the Solicitors' Practice Programme (SPP) at The City Law School.

Here are some other useful websites:

The Law Society is the independent professional body for solicitors in England and Wales. Their website contains a lot of useful information, such as news, practice areas, support services and career advice.

The Law Society Library, located in the Law Society's Hall, 113 Chancery Lane, London WC2A 1PL, is available free of charge for SPP students to use. You must bring your City card (or a letter from your tutor) to prove you are currently enrolled on an SPP or a SPP LLM course. Please check their website for opening times.

It has practitioner texts, law reports and journals. Complete runs of local, public & private acts. Hansard from 1804. House of Commons papers from 1801.