This Rise Self-Study Pack introduces students to the two main legal career paths: solicitor and barrister. It explains the key differences between the roles and offers guidance on choosing between them. The pack covers education and training routes, how to find legal work experience, the main areas of legal practice, and the types of law firms, chambers, and organisations where trainee solicitors and pupil barristers can begin their careers.

Author Biography

Nick Touati is a careers consultant at Manchester Metropolitan University. He leads on careers & employability work with Manchester Law School and has many years’ experience of advising both undergraduate and postgraduate law students about legal careers. He runs careers workshops to students on becoming a barrister, and becoming a solicitor, and progression to the Bar Training Course and preparation courses for the Solicitors Qualifying Examination, as well as a range of LLM programmes. He has gained much experience and knowledge of preparing students for training contract, pupillage, and paralegal job applications, and helping to prepare students for assessment centres and interviews. He is a former chair of the AGCAS Legal Profession Task Group, a national group for higher education careers professionals working with law students, and is also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.