Not totally O/T - is anyone here a lawyer?

[CurlyWurlyRach]

I think i want to be a lawyer working for the jockey club.
Im doing all the wrong AS levels at college now but can i get into university without an A level in law?
I will be taking a year out after college to go to racing school to get first hand experience of the industry that i love :) Which will help with getting into the legal side of the jockey club.

can anyone tell me what A levels i need? im doing English, history and archaeology atm but cn change next year and do another 3 AS levels.
What unis are good?

[horseygal90]

I know that Birmingham (I think) is very good for law, as well as the obvious Cambridge and Oxford. Rach, I'd definatly recommend surfing UCAS - Just stick 'Law' into the course search box and then go through what everyone wants. It takes a little while but it really helps. Another thing is to order every prospectus you think you may be interested even remotly in (and then recycle them, of course!) 'cos you can just browse at your leisure when you have a spare half an hour. Mind you, the postman will hate you for life. (As he hates me right now - I had 8 prospectuses arrive on Wednesday :p Poor lad!)

[CurlyWurlyRach]

thanks :)
i might go into student services on monday and have a chat with somone at college.

I love racing. i have to be involved with it but im not cut out to be a jockey (i love my wurly horse and my showjumping) and if im not 10000% dedicated i dont want to waste a trainers time but i will go to the racing school - its a dream.
then i want to make loadsa dosh and retire at 30 ;) and buy me a farm with loads of hairy horsies.

[svenja]

thanks :)
i might go into student services on monday and have a chat with somone at college.

I love racing. i have to be involved with it but im not cut out to be a jockey (i love my wurly horse and my showjumping) and if im not 10000% dedicated i dont want to waste a trainers time but i will go to the racing school - its a dream.
then i want to make loadsa dosh and retire at 30 ;) and buy me a farm with loads of hairy horsies.

Lots of people also do a law conversion after a first degree- am not a lawyer mysef but lots of people I know took that route. As long as you get good A levels, what you did them in doesn't really matter.

[Horsesarelife]

I would imagin you can, as we can't do law at A level at my school, and I'm sure people do go on to do Law, but its still worth checking :)

[Exmoorlover]

Hi Rach,

I got into law school with English, History and Business Studies A levels. You dont need to have studied law at A level and i was told that this can actually be a negative if you have, as they like you to be a 'clean slate' when you start your degree.

I imagine that archeology wouldnt be a problem to apply with but that said it depends what uni you are aiming to apply for. The 'red brick' unis such as Birmingham and certainly Oxford etc will have 100's of people applying for law which is always very competitive, therefore may be a bit more picky about the subjects you have studied.
Obviously you will need good grades but the best way to give yourself an edge over other applicants is to get as much work experience as you can, with both law itself and with the racing industry, you need to show drive and passion for the subject you are interested in.

Seeing student services would definately be a good idea - it was a few years ago i done this! Good luck:)

[CurlyWurlyRach]

thanks :)
exmoorelover - thats really helpful cheers :D college will faint with shock when i actually arrive on monday...lol.

[Exmoorlover]

You're welcome :D

[eml]

I don't want to put you down but its a very long shot!

Only do law because you want to be a lawyer not because you hope to work in the racing world. There are all sorts of jobs related to racing from secretarial (needs a good knowledge of the industry and racerules as well as obvious organisational skills), stewards, racecourse staff, trainers, riders, grooms, jockeys, transporters etc. etc.

I became an Accountant/Auditor and was lucky for two weeks for a couple of years to be assigned to a racecourse. If I had applied for one of their rare vacancies I suspect I would have been one of hundreds of applicants but fortunately I enjoyed the rest of my job even when horses weren't involved.

[Wally]

My son wants to do law....only because he likes to argue that black is white.....and often proves it is, much to the annoyance of his school teachers!
Only do law if you like a ruddy good argument!...with anyone, ....about anything, and are a flippin' pedant.

[CurlyWurlyRach]

that wally, is an exellant description of me :D i can argue that the sky is green all day ;)

my mum has a few lawyer friends - shes going to try and fix me up to chat to one of them.

[chasingracers]

Try emailing Rachel Flynn..she is a top bloodstock lawyer and is married to Rae Guest the trainer this is her details http://www.taylorvinters.com/default.asp?MIS=344

There are no real racing lawyers, they tend to pay big bucks for the best lawyers and QC in the country..Rory Mac Neice is the main one all the jockeys and trainers use...

You will only get into the racing school if you go to work in a racing yard, and if you feel like you are going to waste a trainers time, then you are not cut out to work in a racing yard...trainers need commitment and 100% hardwork.....there are other jobs in racing which do not require working in a yard....pm me for details...

[Nik-n-Kia]

my dad used to be an exercise boy and then worked his way up to training on a small yard. he said it was hard wrok but I know rach has said that she has a lot of trainer/racing pals and I'm sure they will help her out.

I wanted to be associated with the racing world but sadly didn't work out so go for it rach and let us know how it pans out!!!

Nikki xxxx

[CurlyWurlyRach]

chasingracers - you can get into teh BES without the backing of a trainer for the 9 week initial course. then you go to a trainer and if they think you can do it they put you through your liscence. (the BRS is my internet homepage :p)
ill need some experience in racing to be able to specialise and work for the jockey club - i want to be the first employee that knows what they're talking about :p (sorry lol thats a wee bit unfair - im still bitter at them for refusing a friend whos an amazing rider...)
Im taking a year out before uni aswell to go do 'the horse thing' and then make stacks of dosh and retire when im 30 to a farm in the middle of nowhere :D

[horseygal90]

Im taking a year out before uni aswell to go do 'the horse thing' and then make stacks of dosh and retire when im 30 to a farm in the middle of nowhere :D

Wanna take me with you? We could have neighbouring farms :D

[chasingracers]

They must have changed it within the last year, it was you had to be in a yard for a certain time riding or non riding, I know a few people that work at BRS, and I used to part own a horse there (sadly died a few years back)..Contact the Jockey Club and get there advice, http://www.thejockeyclub.co.uk/doc.php they will be the best bet on giving you advice...Also try the BHB http://www.britishhorseracing.com/ see what advice they can give you too...
It takes years to qualify has a lawyer, and more so if you specialise...I would put that retirement date on hold at the moment....lol!

I have worked in racing and bloodstock for over 20 yrs and there is no money in racing unless your Frankie or AP!

[CurlyWurlyRach]

i forgot to say chasingracers - thanks for that link to the bloodstock lawyer :) I have emailed her and asked nicely how she became what she is (i want her job!!).
only problem now is my total lack of application to college. if im really serious about this (which i think i am - got some prospectus' ordered) im going to have to TOTALLY pull the stops out and get all A grades (which i know i wont get) so do another 2 years at college :(
i might have to put curly on loan...which will break my heart but this is my whole future...i hate being 16 :p scary time!

[chasingracers]

I would forget the gap year, and study hard, to get what you want, you need top grades. I have 9cse and 5 o levels...but racing took over, so did not finish my studies...(can you tell i am oldish lol!)

[Soupdragon]

I'm a lawyer and actually trained at the same firm as Rachel Flynn (but long before she started there!!).

I don't know if the Jockey Club has its own lawyers - like somebody else said, they're more likely to go out and employ lawyers in private firms. Taylor Vinters is based in Cambridge and at the time I was there they had a Newmarket office - it was actually next door to the Jockey Club and we had the office summer party at Tattersalls!! I used to see horses being ridden down the road at times! Unfortunately, none of my training involved Jockey Club or bloodstock work. Just the usual general grounding in litigation, company law, conveyancing etc. You have to get the boring groundwork in before you can do what you want!

My info is a bit out of date I suspect but you certainly didn't need A level law to do a law degree. Just three good A levels - when I did my degree about 20 years ago (eek! was it that long ago!!) they were asking for 3 grade Bs, but I suspect they want more now due to increased competition!!

If you have a law degree, you go on to do a one year legal practice course, then 2 years training contract. If you want to specialise in bloodstock work or with the racing industry, find out which firms specialise and try and do some work experience, and apply for your training contract with those firms! Working for the Jockey Club could mean all aspects - contracts, litigation, employment, as well as more specific "racing" issues - so you need to start like every lawyer anyway and get a good basic grounding!

I live in Leeds so if you want a chat PM me!

[chasingracers]

Take a look at this http://www.withyking.co.uk/services/racing-and-bloodstock/services_jockeys.cfm it might help you a bit more...I live not far from one of there offices...

[Soupdragon]

CWR - I got your PM and will reply properly tomorrow if ok with you? Got that Friday night feeling at the moment :)

One of my friends from uni is a partner at Withy King :)

[CurlyWurlyRach]

thats totally fine SD :)

great link chasingracers :D that looks like my sort of thing. I'll email someone to ask how they specialisd in racing.

[Roxy Sew]

I think you can doing anything if you put your mind to it! Is this your 1st or 2nd year at college? I finished my A levels last year and am currently on a gap year working at a riding school. Its nice to do the horsey thing, I'm also doing my stages so hopefully I'll be able to use them in the future. Ucas is quite handy for finding out what you need for certain courses and uni's. A lot of uni's just state a certain amount of points that you need to have, to do that course. It is so difficult trying to decide what to do after college, I still havn't really decided:rolleyes: Good luck in whatever you decide to do!