"I am a newly-qualified South African lawyer; I have just done the QLTT exam and I am awaiting my results. My certificate of eligibility states that I need to do a 10-month work experience placement at a UK law firm - however, no-one is willing to give me an opportunity. I am on a two-year working holiday visa, which allows me to work for a period of one year - but this is expiring soon. What should I do? How can I get permission to stay to complete this required working experience so that I can be dual-qualified?"
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First, check the terms of your visa. A working holiday visa used to allow work "incidental" to a holiday - e.g. a bit of temping to top up your funds. Its purpose was not to allow the holder to further a professional career. If this is still the case, it would be very unlikely that any law firm would take you on as a lawyer, which presumably is the experience you need.
Applying for a training contract may be an option. If you are successful they can apply for a work permit for you, although not all firms will do this. You also cannot transfer from a working holiday visa to a work permit in the UK, so you will need to fly home in order to transfer from visa to permit. It sounds like you have no UK experience so you will actually benefit, and so will your career in the UK, from a training contract. The downside is you probably cannot start for two years since most firms recruit well in advance! Hate to say it but you should have worked this out before you arrived.
Legal departments of local councils often employ solicitors from other jurisdictions who are yet to qualify here, and they offer a wide range of experience from litigation to contract to property and planning law which will 'count'. If you are at a junior level you are also more likely to get hands-on work in a council. But they almost always use a recruitment agency. Keep talking to large reputable legal recruitment agents until you find a consultant who is willing to work with you to find the right placement. And while you're job-hunting you could also be hunting for a British 'Miss Right' - if after two years of de facto bliss you are still together, she may be willing for you to apply for a further visa as her de facto - though I wouldn't ever suggest tying the knot for visa reasons. (I'm not sure what the deal is for visas for gay de facto partners by the way.)
Why not try to the litigation section of the Treasury Solicitors Department (part of the Government Legal Service)? They take on temps sometimes.
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