Trainee lawyers are increasingly turning to social media to sell paid "advice" and "mentorship" to aspiring candidates chasing training contracts and apprenticeships, drawing a backlash from industry veterans who describe the practice as exploitative.

Paul Leamy, a solicitor at Temple Bright and a former Winston Taylor partner of ten years, told City AM there is "a growing trend" of candidates who have successfully landed competitive training contracts at law firms offering guidance on how to succeed in the process in exchange for fees.

Those monetising their advice are "exploiting" aspiring candidates, Leamy said. "It's creating another barrier to access into a profession which historically has had enough barriers which many of us within the profession have spent years trying to break down," he added.

He also pointed to how competitive the market has become, with not enough roles for the number of applicants. "I see this as a cottage industry chasing people who are desperate for that break and preying on them, saying, 'I can share my magic formula with you' for a fee," Leamy said.

The figures underline the mismatch. According to UCAS, the number of students accepted onto law courses in the UK hit 27,150 last year, a record high. Yet fewer than 3,000 training contracts were offered to applicants across 67 City law firms this year, according to data from Legal Cheek.

Many hurdles remain before aspiring lawyers can even qualify. Only 53 per cent of the 8,000 aspiring solicitors who sat the first part of the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) in January passed. The opening stage of the SQE is a ten-hour test of the foundational legal knowledge required to become a solicitor in England and Wales. Introduced in 2021 as the central route to qualification, the SQE also carries assessment fees set by the Solicitors Regulation Authority that run into thousands of pounds before the cost of any preparation course.

Students forking out money for advice

Leamy, who left Winston Taylor last year partly to spend more time helping young people get into the legal industry, said passing on knowledge and experience to the next generation is "an unwritten duty."

"To try and start monetising that doesn't sit well with me," Leamy said. Free support is already on offer elsewhere, from firms' own open days and vacation schemes to mentoring provided by social mobility charities.

Those offering these courses typically post content predominantly on Instagram and TikTok about applications, which "is the hook" that leads viewers to their website link, "enticing people in to pay for services," he explained.

Law firms are "starting to frown upon this," Leamy said, adding that he hopes firms "start saying to incoming trainees they would not look well upon it if one of their offer holders did this." Whether that disapproval hardens into formal expectations spelled out to offer holders remains to be seen.

Finn Sprakes, a solicitor apprentice at a large City law firm, told City AM he "was flabbergasted" when he noticed the trend and said it "feels manipulative."

"People are almost panic-buying and wondering what they're doing wrong and thinking they need to fix that so will pay," Sprakes said.

The complaints come as aspiring lawyers have shared their woes about legal advice being monetised online on platforms such as Reddit. Users have claimed they were tricked on social media into spending thousands of pounds on advice and mentorship after assuming the person was a senior lawyer when they were not — instead, they received "AI slop." Career coaching is not a regulated profession in the UK, so unlike the lawyers these candidates aspire to become, those who pay have no professional body or regulator to turn to over the quality of what they have bought.

A problem at the Bar too

The issue is not confined to those eager to land a place at a law firm.

Ben Keith, a barrister at 5 St Andrews Hill, told City AM it is a growing problem at the Bar too, and he has seen a number of posts cropping up on social media from "people who don't have pupillage themselves but are claiming they can help with pupillage applications."

Approximately only 500 places are offered each year to barristers to qualify for pupillage, the 12-month training required to become a qualified barrister in England and Wales. Keith said the interest in paying for advice online is due to the training course being "hugely oversubscribed" and so "people are slightly desperate." Bar training courses themselves typically come with five-figure fees before candidates even reach that stage.

He said he has seen "people trying to exploit" others, particularly around the time of the year when aspiring barristers are chosen to undertake pupillage training. For those seeking free help, the Bar Council publishes guidance on pupillage applications, and the Inns of Court award scholarships and run outreach programmes.

For those who have already secured their pupillage, Keith said monetising their advice is "a social media hubris." "It's a false sense of achievement. You think you suddenly know everything just because you've done a bar course," he added.