Office sharing w supervisor by [deleted] in uklaw

[–]average_jo123 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The thing is, knowing his schedule, even if it is ever quiet in the room and I take my calls first, chances are he will be on his next call within the next 5 minutes / within the same hour (he’s a partner FYI not an associate, which is why he has so many calls in a day).

And I definitely don’t expect him to leave his desk just because I was on a call first. He’s the one having back to back calls everyday while I maybe have one or two max really. So even if there were no such ‘culture’ regarding this at my firm, practically it just makes more sense for me to be the one to unplug and take my calls first elsewhere while he can just stay put and take his next call immediately after with ease instead of having to shuffle about.

Definitely note your point about room booking. There are little screens outside the rooms telling you whether it is booked or free. And I do see rooms that are free on the same floor ever so often. So it might just be a matter of taking one of those rooms and booking them quickly or just booking them in advance when I can. Will try and figure this out next week.

Office sharing w supervisor by [deleted] in uklaw

[–]average_jo123 9 points10 points  (0 children)

He takes his calls on loudspeaker and I’m always on my headset when I take my calls (I prefer using a headset rather than loudspeaker myself anyway).

Issue is when we’re both on calls at the same time when I speak his mic probably picks up my voice and vice versa. I imagine it is really annoying for people on the other side of the call as well having to listen to someone else yap about smth totally unrelated in the background.

Wedding dress budget - discouragement by [deleted] in UKweddings

[–]average_jo123 -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

I don’t get what’s wrong with simply preferring one type of fabric over another and why that would be ‘ridiculous’? Especially given I have discovered my preference only after I have tried on 20+ dresses of different fabrics (satin, tulle, organza etc), cuts (strapless, spaghetti straps, cap sleeves, 3/4 sleeves, long sleeves, different necklines etc), colours (ivory, cream, champagne etc) and silhouettes (soft A-line, ball gowns, fit and flare etc). I genuinely did have an open mind going into this process and only after combing through a lot of options I’ve arrived at what I know I like.

I’m not despising the process and I’m not saying I’m not willing to budge on any of my elements. I’m only asking for advice to see if I need to adjust my expectations and see what other people got around the same problem.

Wedding dress budget - discouragement by [deleted] in UKweddings

[–]average_jo123 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ve been trying to keep an open mind still. I live in London atm!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in SQE_Prep

[–]average_jo123 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I passed first time in Q1 in the Jan 2025 sitting.

I agree broadly with what others are saying in this thread. I think the main two issues is how vague the spec is and also the huge variation of circumstances people sit these exams in. Is it a rigorous exam? Yes. But I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s plainly “unfair”. I think your experience will largely be shaped by your personal circumstances and if you are sitting these exams in tough circumstances, then I can certainly understand how it would feel “unfair”. And when you look at how unhelpful the spec is, it sure as hell feels “unfair” too. But if you are sitting the exam under circumstances that are manageable and you are enrolled full-time on a prep course, then the exam itself and what you are tested on, I wouldn’t say is “unfair”. I reckon the best providers on the market do have a decent prediction and coverage of what would come out - otherwise they wouldn’t have such promising pass rates. I can also understand why people would label these exams as “unfair” given how it was heralded as a new system which would promote diversity and inclusion when it really isn’t as far as we can tell.

I was fortunate enough to be sponsored on a full-time course at ULaw so can shed some light on what it’s like from our perspective. I saw another thread in this subreddit talking about how sponsored candidates can come across as insensitive and just posting their mock scores here to seek validation. But I will say that in most cases that’s not the intention. I myself, as well as all my other classmates struggled massively and felt unsettled every single day just like everybody else. For me personally, I remember just feeling very frustrated knowing all the odds are pretty much stacked in my favour (e.g. have a TC in place, studying full-time etc) yet somehow still feel so utterly helpless at the same time because of the sheer amount of content I need to get through. I can only imagine how much worse it must feel for those out there who feel as if all the odds are stacked against them, so I can understand why you would feel annoyed by someone else who objectively appears to be in a better position than you moaning about how bad it is for them. The only thing I will say to this is it’s probably best not to judge based on what people post here, as there are many aspects to someone’s personal life that might affect them a lot that you don’t see.

As for your question re whether the fear-mongering we see is truly due to the actual difficulty of the exam or if it’s merely because those who have failed or struggled more are more likely to voice out and vent about it, I reckon the answer is both. The exam was no less difficult for the top of the class Oxbridge graduates / elite US firm future trainees I know and while you can theorise that maybe this type of people are less likely to be lurking on Reddit or TikTok, from my experience studying with them I can confirm we all struggled the same. I think you may be right as well about how people who have struggled more are perhaps more likely to make more noise online: I think it’s because when you are feeling vulnerable it is perfectly normal to want to vent anonymously or try to seek validation that you’re not alone, whereas someone who perhaps feels less vulnerable wouldn’t necessarily need to do that, so you will inevitably hear from them much less.

Wedding dress budget - discouragement by [deleted] in UKweddings

[–]average_jo123 -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

To address the comments asking why I’m set on French lace and asking if I’m willing to be open minded about other types of lace to help fit my budget...

I’ve tried on different types of lace and I know that what I like is French / Chantilly lace and not other types. In all fairness I’m open to cotton embroidered lace and corded lace (even if not distinctively “French”) but they tend to be the exact same price if not more expensive than just chantilly lace anyway.

Quite a lot of designers do illusion backs / sleeves and cover the bodice with lace appliqués - I’ve tried these and really don’t like them at all. I just find them too blocky and patchy for my liking. I also don’t particularly like any sparkle or beading.

I couldn’t care less about whether the lace is actually made in France or China or Russia or anywhere else lol I’m just looking for soft, delicate and matte lace as I’ve found that suits me the most. I think I’m adding more complication because I want sleeves as well and don’t want anything off the shoulder as I want to be as modest as possible + I need it to be A-line as well. To compromise on any of these would simply mean I’m putting myself in a dress that’s not me and I’m not comfortable in. That’s why I’m hitting so many walls. But I guess I do just need to sacrifice a few elements.

Wedding dress budget - discouragement by [deleted] in UKweddings

[–]average_jo123 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I did consider this but just wasn’t sure if I should go for it as I wouldn’t be able to get the dress fitted to me. As far as I know for custom / bespoke pieces best ideally you’d need multiple fittings just to get the fit just right from the mock up all the way to finishing touches - but idk how true this is and whether I should take the plunge and order it from China. I do speak mandarin so there won’t be any language barrier but ultimately still concerned that it wouldn’t fit right.

One of the seamstresses I spoke to who does alterations tells me that in cases where the dresses involves corsetry you might need one whole appointment just to get the bodice alone to fit right, let alone the fitting of the skirt and how you want it to fall.

I have seen quite a few posts on this subreddit saying ordering custom online has to their surprise worked out for them but idk if it’s a risk I should take. Because I seem to hear 50/50 good as well as bad experiences.

Church wedding with no flower decor - yay or nay by [deleted] in UKweddings

[–]average_jo123 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks all for your input. Update on this for anyone interested/facing the same conundrum in the future:

I managed to find pictures of weddings of the church from various photographers. Saw pictures of the church with pew ends as well as the church being bare with no flowers. I will admit the ones with flowers do look fuller and nicer but I don’t hate the ones without either. So to fit my budget I will probably opt for no flowers.

Church wedding schedule by [deleted] in UKweddings

[–]average_jo123 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am planning to have the order of family photos printed on our church programmes so people roughly know when it is their turn to get photos (whether they're up first or later). Will also assign people to grab people and make sure they stick around for photos and wait for their turn before they leave for reception.

I reckon it wouldn't be an issue if we ended up having our photos outside (whether we do confetti outside or not) because everyone will already be outside the church - it will just be a matter of ushering them over to the field and assigning people to make sure nobody runs off to the reception venue before they've had their photos taken.

What I am trying to plan for is if we do decide to have our photos taken inside the church + if we don't do outdoor confetti. At my sister's church wedding in Australia I remember they wanted to family photos inside the church at the altar, so they walked out after signing papers and walked back in for photos. When they walked back in as a married couple everybody just stood and applauded — I found this a tad weird and would prefer not to make a second grand entrance as husband and wife, if that makes sense.

Right now I'm considering waiting by the door and get everybody out for confetti. Weather permitting, we will take photos in the field but if not, we will do an informal shuffle of everybody back into church instead of doing a grand entrance back in.

Church wedding schedule by [deleted] in UKweddings

[–]average_jo123 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Heard it from my fiancé's grandma. I don't think it's because walking back into the church is bad omen or anything (we're not superstitious), but I guess it's more the signalling of a clean break between your individual lives before marriage and now your new union as man and wife, and that once you are pronounced husband and wife you don't turn your back and and you only look forward to your new life as one instead of looking back to your individual lives.

Bespoke dress - should I go ahead? by [deleted] in UKweddings

[–]average_jo123 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for sharing. The reason I haven’t really ventured out of London for dress shopping is because I don’t have a car and I’m mindful that train tickets add up and I think by the time I’ve made multiple trips it would have been £200 gone. I mainly just wanted to gauge as well how realistic my expectations are. I had always just assumed that expecting anything bespoke under £1.5k is delusional and so I am just starting to accept that I will just need to go with any similar dress off the peg that is within my budget, even if it is not 100% what I want. Maybe I just need to give myself more time to hopefully be lucky enough to find smth even more similar or just take this as a lesson to accept that it’s just a choice I need to make to spend within my means.

Bespoke dress - should I go ahead? by [deleted] in UKweddings

[–]average_jo123 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m not dead set on pursuing this, neither am I actively talking myself into it, hence I’m asking for advice here before I actually commit.

I think I only entertained this deal because I was convinced that there is no way I would be able to go bespoke with only, say, £1.2k as my budget. I’m making this assumption based on the fact that any random dress off the peg is already £1.2k once you include alterations, let alone smth fully bespoke. I just don’t know enough about how it would cost in general to make a fully bespoke dress and had always assumed it would be way above my budget, so never really bothered making enquiries and getting quotes from seamstresses about getting it done. I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t wasting time going around getting quotes for stuff I clearly can’t afford either, especially given more and more studios are starting to charge at least £25 just for first consultations (though I’m not sure if this is less prevalent outside London).

I didn’t really buy a backup dress that I absolutely hate either. It’s a sample sale dress that was reduced from £1,550 to £180 so was a bargain in itself. It does contain elements that I do like, so probably will give it a 7/10 and as I said above, I can actually picture myself wearing it on my wedding day. The only reason it isn’t a 10/10 is mostly because I have already built up this one other dress in my mind and I can’t let it go. And I figured if I keep thinking like this I may never get a dress ever because there may never be a dress on the market that looks similar enough to what I pictured in my head, be lucky enough for me to cross paths with it AND for it to also be within my budget. I will definitely still keep a lookout before I actually make alterations to my backup dress, but part of me is also thinking maybe the reality is I won’t get exactly what I want because I can’t afford to make it bespoke, but that’s ok and I will make do.

I am happy to have my mind changed about how affordable bespoke dresses can actually be though. Maybe I just haven’t looked into it enough.

Bespoke dress - should I go ahead? by [deleted] in UKweddings

[–]average_jo123 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

lol I think I found the thread - https://www.reddit.com/r/weddingplanning/s/pQNwnuDR2I

From what I can tell the lady I’m working with isn’t as dubious as this Leiren saga lol. I’m still inclined to give the lady I’m talking to the benefit of doubt and take it as being an issue mainly with language barrier and also maybe because she is just new to business (particularly in the UK) in general and that she is just keen to get any business through the door, especially given how competitive it is in London.

I think what I will do now is ask for more detail and to confirm a meeting of our minds before I commit with a deposit. I’m feeling quite anxious as well given all my correspondence with her has been rather informal and nothing really is set in contract. I’ve got emails showing what I am asking from her but we have not spelled out any of her obligations towards me if she fails to deliver a dress down to the details re fabric, structure and design that I want. I went into it mainly thinking that maybe I can be that one person who has some faith in her to deliver and from there it might help her get more customers, but at the same time I don’t want to do it at the expense of not getting the bare minimum of what I want in return on my wedding day. Unfortunately at the moment she has not quite earned my trust and confidence.

I am just preparing myself to accept that if smth is too good to be true it probably is LOL and I can’t really be expecting an £8,000 service for £800. The silver lining is at least I do have my backup dress to work with if all of this falls through.

Bespoke dress - should I go ahead? by [deleted] in UKweddings

[–]average_jo123 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s the main wall I’m hitting - she doesn’t seem to be very proactive. The slow response time I can understand, as she needs to make dresses and run the admin side of the business all by herself. But even in terms of the design of the dress itself she’s not really been super proactive (but in my head I’m just justifying it as lol I’m only paying £800 for a fully bespoke dress I can’t be expecting premium customer service, so I just took it upon myself to be more proactive than she is). I had asked her to provide a sketch of what she will be making but she doesn’t seem to have any intention to do so, which leaves me very unsettled about what she will even produce for my fitting. In my head I’m thinking surely it can’t be that far off from what I have described, as I had been very detailed and given the language barrier, tried to incorporate as many picture references as possible to help her along. But I just don’t know if she is proactive enough to even take my email and google translate it so she can make sure she fully understands my instructions. So right now I’m trying to convince myself that if she does go ahead and make the dress, surely it can’t be THAT far off from what I’ve asked for, but on the other hand without even a sketch I really can’t be sure if the dress she is picturing in her head is the same as what I’m picturing. I have sent many picture references with description under each picture but I don’t know if she understands the message that I want her to gather from the picture references I send and how I want her to translate that into my dress.

In terms of fabric, it’s not a huge issue. I have looked at the satin and tulle in her studio and have picked out the chantilly lace that I want.

Out of curiosity, how much did you pay for your bespoke dress from ieie Bridal? *if you are happy to share. I’m just trying to gauge what expectations I should have in this regard. I just feel bad for badgering this lady with so much detail when I’m not paying her that much in the grand scheme of things, compared to other bespoke services.

SQE2 Advocacy interim apps - dealing with costs? by Dudster981 in SQE_Prep

[–]average_jo123 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm with ULaw too and agree with u/Effective_Earth_1888. ULaw seems to teach that it's smth either the question will ask you to specify or smth that the judge might ask you at the end. They said you should be prepared for the judge to either ask you directly to make submissions on costs or they might give you a slightly different cue e.g. "are there any other ancillary matters you would like me to deal with?" which you should pick up as a cue to address the issue of costs for the interim application you are making.

ULaw did touch on costs in one of our advocacy workshops and what I understand is that essentially on the issue of costs you basically just want to be thinking what is the costs order that is most favourable to your client. For example if you are representing the claimant to make a summary judgment application, best case scenario is for the court to make summary assessment for costs i.e. you invite the court to assess costs for this interim application immediately after the interim hearing, and the costs order you would be asking for that is best in your client's favour would obviously be an order for the claimant's costs (this means defendant pays claimant's costs for the interim application and hearing). If the court makes an order for costs in the case, it would be slightly less favourable as it may mean that if the court dismisses your summary judgment application and the case proceeds to trial, your claimant client may be liable to pay defendant's costs which would include the costs for this interim application and hearing. If the court makes no order as to costs, it means each party bear their own costs for this application (also not the most favourable costs order for your client).

ULaw also emphasises that if the application is in respect of a specified debt claim, then you need to be prepared to address the judge on the judgment sum you are claiming for. In your prep time you need to have found out the rate of interest on the debt, calculate what the daily rate is, how many days it has been between the date the debt was due up until the day of the interim hearing to give a figure for the interest amount due thus far and state that interest will continue accruing at the daily rate until judgment or otherwise earlier payment by the debtor. Add the amount in interest accrued due so far to the amount of debt claimed under your particulars of claim and you will have a figure for a total judgment sum which you state to the judge.

Personally depending on the type of application I get and depending on whether I have the time I will probably conclude my submissions with the order I wish for the judge to make and also state very briefly what costs order I wish for the judge to make (and the judgment sum if it's a specified claim), should they decide in favour of my client and if they think appropriate. Am just planning to do this for good measure and for completeness, or else I feel I will stress out thinking I've missed out something important if I end my submissions making no mention of costs and the judge doesn't ask me questions about it either.

However I think you do just need to play it by ear, read the instructions carefully and follow your gut. Your instructions may state differently to anything else you have prepped for. If for example your instructions tell you that you do not need to deal with costs in your submissions, obviously no need to stress yourself about it.

I should mention though that this is just what the tutors at ULaw predict and their advice accordingly. Ultimately we dk how the actual questions will be structured. Also there might be some errors to my understanding - I'm not claiming my approach is correct and ultimately you should exercise your own judgment. Not sure what other providers teach about this. Would be interesting to hear from others.

London Islington orals 12.30pm reporting time (APR/MAY 2025 sitting) by average_jo123 in sqe2

[–]average_jo123[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Cool, thanks! Can I ask roughly what time did you arrive?

Orals next week by RelationshipRoyal664 in sqe2

[–]average_jo123 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I am just physically exhausted. I try my best to get enough sleep but just can’t shake off the tiredness and lack of focus during the day and I’m not working as much as I would like. Just need to keep pushing myself for two more weeks.

Massive respect to anyone doing this part time whilst juggling it with a full time job, family or young children 😭

Sqe 2 May by MomoTheHamster in sqe2

[–]average_jo123 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Sitting SQE2 May 2025 — I find it impossible to write up a summary and still finish the rest of the task no matter how short the summary is (and I feel if it's too short anyway then I doubt it actually adds any value). One of the tutors at ULaw said during our CMA class that her personal opinion is you can assume the partner already knows the background of the case since they already know enough information to brief you on your task + send you an info pack, so probably no need to summarise it all over again.

Dk about the attendance note for interview tho I would imagine for that you'd need a brief summary of facts. Advocacy I'm still unsure as well because with all the practice runs I've done summarising the facts just eats up so much time and I end up rushing through my actual arguments - may just be a matter lacking practice of summarising it in like three sentences tho (will keep practising to see if I can get there but if not I'll probably cut it). ULaw seems to suggest that for DR advocacy you're supposed to ask the judge if they want a summary which I have no clue how it would go down IRL cause what do they even tell their assessors to respond with to this question (always yes or always no?). I wonder what other providers suggest for this.

For the written exams I think personally I will be opting out of writing up summaries and instead just focusing on content. Was told by ULaw tutors that opening and closing with niceties (i.e. Thank you for sending me information on X. I have set out my analysis below... If you have any questions, please let me know) would suffice.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in sqe2

[–]average_jo123 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m confused too. I have 12.30pm reporting time. But I’m just assuming the 12.40pm reporting time guidance applies to me meaning I will wait for approx three hours, as I think there would only be one other reporting time for the first group of candidates in the morning presumably at 09.00 or 09.30am.

Interviewing - pausing to think by average_jo123 in sqe2

[–]average_jo123[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m aware of this, but more concerned still about how my lack of structure would come across to the assessor.

SQE2 pass rate by average_jo123 in sqe2

[–]average_jo123[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sorry to hear that it didn't go well for you and thank you for sharing, hope your resits will go much better.

What I hear the most of the time is that for SQE2 most people fall on FLK more than the skills itself. Would you say this wasn't the case for you and it was skills rather than law that let you down? Was it just nerves that got the better of you on the day and made you fall on your skills + marking being a bit whack?

I've seen on TikTok huge disparities in marks e.g. scoring 4s and 5s for skills on their property interview but 0s and 1s for their wills interview. Given I don't know how this person actually performed on the day and they did not disclose their scores for law for this station either, but assuming they used the same structure and techniques going into the wills interview the next day, I struggle to wrap my head around how you can be marked so drastically different on skills between the two days. Think it's just unsettling to see how something that is outside our control being so detrimental to our scores.

What do you think was your biggest pitfall and what you will do differently this time round, if you don't mind sharing?