I’m too old to consider a career in law aren’t I?

[zippyswife]

I’m 43. I should have studied law 20 odd years ago but I opted for an easier life at university and did a geography degree.

I’m now a police officer with 3 primary age dcs. I feel entirely underwhelmed in my current career and need a new challenge. I worry that my brain isn’t nearly as sharp as it was years ago but I was previously very academic and found studying breeze. As I say this was years ago now- and sadly may not be the case now.

Is 43 too old to be considering such a career change? And 20 years to long out of studying to get back into it?

And if so does anyone have an other career ideas?

Being a police officer should help you get onto a law degree. 3 years of study then qualify and work at a firm. Another 15 odd years working no your not too old. If you were 100 maybe. Even then a 100 year old can still study and train.

I wouldn’t say you’re too old at all, but definitely research it first. You’ll need to do a conversion course and secure a training contract. Hours are long and loads of firms have put a freeze on hiring at the moment.

High pressured and lots of paperwork - big money only really in city corporate law. It depends what you want out of it - doable but make sure you want to do it :)

You’ll be doing the studying and the long hours all the rest of the time your kids are at home. Is that what you want? Loads more law graduates than training contracts. On the plus side you’d only need to do the one year conversion probably, not the full degree.

No. My aunt retrained at a similar age and had spent her life working in marketing and had her own consultancy which her husband still runs. She’s now a barrister in criminal law.

I'm 38 and have 2 kids one only 2 and I've just finished 1st year of my law degree. Not too old at all!

I used to work with someone who I met when she was age 42, and she was 3 years into retraining in medicine.

You're going to age regardless of what you do in the meantime. Go for it!

I am doing a graduate law degree (so 3 years) at 47.
I enjoy it but no desire now to try and get a training contract as it's so completive and the hours would be mad and I'd be back to bottom of a pile after rising to senior job elsewhere. Do will combine law with current role, could you do that in some way?
I do enjoy the degree though.

Someone at my firm retrained at about that age after a serious injury put an end to her previous career. If you already have a degree you will need to do a conversion year, then a years LPC. The LPC isn't funded by student loans, so you would need a bank loan or to personally fund it at around £10,000. You would then need to get a training contract with a firm to train, this is around 2 - 3 years depending on different training contracts etc. If you dont already have a degree, you would need a 3 year law degree, then an LPC and then a training contract. Training contracts are extremely highly sort after, people do try for years to get one. One way to help boost your chances of getting one is to work as a paralegal before hand. Several people at my firm work as a paralegal and do their LPC part time over 2 years and some have been able to secure training contracts with the firm after this. Its competitive. There are people who paralegal for years waiting on a training contract with first class law degrees and excellent LPC results. Another, quicker, cheaper route is CILEx which there are several people who I know have done. This makes you a legal executive rather than a lawyer but ultimately there are minor differences. Magic circle firms wouldnt be so keen on chartered legal execs but we are a top 50 national law firm and have plenty who have progressed to partnership with no trouble and I would recommend that over the pricey LPC and conversion/degree. You also cut out the training contract by working alongside doing your CILEx

Could you get your work to sponsor a distance learning or part time degree? It seems quite closely related to your job and then when you finished you could look at different job options. There might even be something within the police force you could move into.
You are definitely not too old. I refrained at a similar age. But what you do has to be very directional as you don’t have time to waste faffing. Is it going to lead to a better job and not just pay (although this is important, no point doing all that work and being less well off) but autonomy and mental stimulation. Basically plan very carefully what comes next.

Can you stay within the police but look for a more challenging or academic role? Generally police work is so diverse there is something somewhere...

There are legal based roles requiring some legal training if law is the direction you want. Or intelligence, or research, or working with sources which requires an enormous knowledge of legislation. Get on your intranet, look at all the different departments and ask to go visit.

I thought about law a few years ago- i’m a similar age. The conversion would be easy, it’s the competitive post grad contracts and I didn’t have the flexibility to move for a job, or do the long hours on the bottom of the ladder. I looked into the police too as an alternative but again it’s starting at the bottom in competition with the 20 year olds.

Depends on A level grades etc you might be able to find a law firm which will pay your law conversion course and LPC fees and an allowance. One london firm paid for my daughter in that way.

The system is that you apply 2 years in advance. The next application cycle starts this summer /Autumn for solicitor training contracts where you finish your LPC and start as a paid trainee on about £40k a year in 2022. For example this firm where I used to work (so long ago it is not identifying....) you can apply now for a 2022 start as a trainee www.slaughterandmay.com/careers/trainee-solicitors/apply/ and this Autumn for 2023.

I know someone who was in the police and they were seconded to do a law degree. They may have been a sergeant at the time and did get promoted after their degree, is that an option?

3 years of study then qualify and work at a firm

It’s not really that simple. Three years of study, then you do your lpc (it’s changing but I’m not knowledgeable ) . The lpc you do one year full time or two years part time. Normally it comes with a training contract, if not you can pay to do it. It’s about 12k.

Then you have to get a training contract, you do two years then you qualify, so it’s a min of six or seven years to qualification.

There are other routes in, but that’s the standard route.

You’re not too old op, but yes training contracts are like hens teeth and very competitive, it’s best to be realistic on how long it takes. It’s not “three years then qualify and work at a law firm“ at all.,

You're not too old, but have you considered other options that would use your experience as a police officer? Perhaps start a private investigation firm?

You’re not. We have lots of people come in later in life!

One of my closest friends is a police officer and she is in her 3rd year of her law degree. She is in her late 30's and is really enjoying the challenge. She's not sure what she is going to do with the degree yet.

And if you have a degree, wouldn’t it be the gdl (so 1 year or eqv) before the lpc or bptc? Depending on route, bet cps would love you!

I think this poster has a degree already so it is a bit under 4 years to qualify - GDL year then LPC which for the big firms I believe is a 7 months crammed in LPC and then 2 years TC.

The SQE new system starts soon but those starting the GDL this Autumn or who have a TC or an offer of a GDL place before something like Sept 2021 can still use the current system to qualify (some may prefer the new system although the new one involves more exams, probably more cost in my view although that is not its aim and more uncertainty).

Definitely not too old but firms at the moment have been impacted by covid-19. Training contracts are very competitive and no one knows what the long term impact that covid-19 on hiring will be. 6/7 years studying and training will require long hours that will take you away from your family.

You’re not too old but think carefully.

The criminal justice system has been systematically dismantled over the past twenty years and criminal law is now little more than a minimum wage job or hobby career for all but the most fortunate.

Of course that’s an assumption as to the area of law you wish to pursue. If you’d rather do tax then go for it.

Nope. My friend is just finishing her degree at 44.

You’re not too old to get back into studying. But...

When I did my law degree (in the early 1700s) there was a group of police officers who did just the criminal law module. Anyhoo you're definitely not too old for a career change but, unless you have money to burn, I wouldn't bother with law (wildly oversubscribed). And googlepoodle speaks much sense (I say that as a middleaged career-changer who's royally fucked things up and is now earning a fraction of my former salary in an entry-level job).

You aren't too old. I qualified at 42 but think very hard. 4 years of part time study and £22k (GDL and LPC) only for me to never work in law as it's just too competitive.

My first degree (from 1997) let me down as I got a 2:2. I was auto rejected from every TC application... I gave up after 2 years of trying. Like you I also had 15 years of very very relevant work experience that no one was interested in.

Unless you have stellar academics already I really wouldn't bother.