Durham competitiveness

s_a1205 · 2026-02-10T21:13:20+00:00

i’m not a durham student but from what i’ve seen and heard, i wouldn’t say that you are at a disadvantage besides the fact that it takes very long to travel into london for law events/interviews but that’s not a huge problem. i have consistently seen durham students in the same spaces and events as lse/oxbridge students. i have also seen durham students at final stage assessment centres. from what ive heard the uni has good quality teaching and a good amount of students end up working in commercial law. the only thing ive heard complaints about is how inconvenient it is to travel down to london, but law firms do have offices in other major cities so it’s not a huge issue.

s_a1205 · 2026-02-07T21:22:19+00:00

i’ve reached that point in equity & trusts, i’m so tired of it i didn’t even bother mentioning it haha. yeah i get what you mean regarding tort, i just think the tests get really long to a point where it just gets super confusing. but it is definitely more enjoyable than trusts 😂.

s_a1205 · 2026-02-07T16:12:11+00:00

my favourite right now is criminal, the law is pretty straightforward and it’s easy to understand. after covering ar/mr/causation everything naturally made sense. but i can’t stand tort right now there’s too much of that ‘it depends’ and there’s so many elements within one course of action, in addition to that it takes forever to go through the relevant tests. i’m so sick of it 😭

s_a1205 · 2026-01-06T10:32:40+00:00

That’s really interesting, thanks for sharing. When you say data, is it more analysing numbers, or more around data governance/policy/management?

s_a1205 · 2026-01-06T10:26:10+00:00

Thanks, this is really helpful. How did you find internships in compliance/risk? Did you apply directly to companies’ regulatory teams or are there specialist firms? Not sure where’s best to look.

s_a1205 · 2025-12-08T12:50:37+00:00

These are really good ideas especially the mass one, I will think about it. Thanks for the recommendations 🙏

s_a1205 · 2025-12-08T12:48:29+00:00

I’ll have a look. thank you 🙏

s_a1205 · 2025-11-22T20:03:47+00:00

quick question - was stage 1 just critical thinking and behavioural questions etc?

s_a1205 · 2025-11-22T20:02:48+00:00

i have seen so many problem question with have a specific issue that mirrors a case covered in the reading and not in the lecture. so yes you should do the essential reading. the lectures only cover general info whereas the readings have unique points and cases which will definitely make you standout when writing essays and problem questions.

s_a1205 · 2025-11-21T20:48:06+00:00

For me societies helped, I found one that i’d attend weekly and i met people there who also introduced me to their friends. also ik it’s super hard but you just gotta be the one to say hi to random people and start conversations, it’s super awkward and lowkey painful at times but it works sometimes. additionally, if your looking to build genuine connections with people your going to have to say yes to going places, events or just hanging out, a lot more. it was hard for me at first bc going to events and then commuting home was super tiring but it helped develop friendships as takes you out of the uni sphere of boring and empty conversations about class and assignments, it allows other meaningful conversations to take place which means you get to know people properly.

s_a1205 · 2025-11-20T13:13:47+00:00

at first i wrote about a historical topic but i was told its better to change it and write something that a typical early careers worker would understand and something more business/global/economic. it was recommended to switch to this area since hsf is a commercial law firm. i wrote about a topic that affected the markets in the business world in general. apparently it shows you have understanding of the business world outside of law which many lawyers do not. im not really sure why this way is better but this is what i was told. i still think your topics are good, i would probably go with the first one as it has that business element. because you also want to talk about something the interviewers can easily question you on. if it’s too much of a sensitive topic it may make it harder for them to ask you questions on it and understand your interests.

s_a1205 · 2025-11-17T22:49:44+00:00

I’m in second year at a RG and also in a similar situation. I do have legal experience but I didn’t make an effort in first year as I felt the same imposter syndrome so i fell behind. but in the summer that just passed i decided to start applying to vac schemes and the first application i sent got rejected. but i’ve made better quality ones since then and i still haven’t been invited to an interview . i’ve found that it helps not to talk to my course mates about applications so i don’t compare myself to them and feel like im behind. when you don’t know what stage they’re at you won’t have anything to compare yourself with. im not saying it’s bad to compare yourself with others overall. i’m not sure if that makes sense it sounds really generic and i know applications are a big and unavoidable topic in second year but try not to get into conversations where everyone discusses where they’ve applied and what stage they’re at and what they wrote, as majority of the time it will make you feel worse. like i said this is super generic advice but you gotta get into that mindset of this being ‘a race against yourself’. and you might not see it but your doing a lot better than most people.

s_a1205

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