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?

Obviously the GLS and CPS pay public sector wages, so may not be so appealing, especially as you would be starting at the bottom. That said, wages aren’t appalling - GLS rises to over 40K upon qualification in London - but the pension isn’t as great as it used to be. GLS and CPS are competitive to get into, with thousands of applicants, but they are a great option for a mature entrant.

I went down the GDL and LPC route - everyone is right in saying this is the easy bit. I don't think you'll struggle with the study itself, although you'll either be fitting it in part-time around work and family or earning nothing for two years.

The hard bit was finding the TC, and I didn't for a few years after the LPC.

I've never worked in a law firm - I trained in a company. I believe your best chance is to try and get some experience with your force's legal department. If you can get in there somehow (secondment? Work shadowing?) this may open up some opportunities, either in terms of roles there or experience you can use for applications. The usual strict entry requirements don't apply to the same extent in-house - being willing, a known quantity and knowledgeable about the operations of the organisation are more highly valued.

@RumpoleoftheBaileys

Very few criminal barristers are earning good salaries these days. Most criminal silks I know are reliant on privately paying work (footballers who need rep for a driving offence or corporate white collar) and there’s only so much of that to go around.

Perhaps you’re one of them? In which case genuinely good for you. But it’s not like that for many.

For those starting out (1-5 years) a turnover of £50-60k might on the face of it sound good but by the time you’ve paid chambers rent; clerks fees; train tickets to far flung courts and all the rest whilst working 80 hours plus per week you’d, take home more working in McDonalds.

If you love the work and don’t need the income then it’s a great choice - I loved my time at the Bar but I don’t regret leaving one bit.

Oh and I’m Middle

I don't know anything about law, but I'm your age and I'd have two questions:

1. Do you have the energy to work and study (if you're planning on combining them). I did the OU and it was fine in my twenties and thirties, but now in my forties, I find I need to rest after work and couldn't do a second shift of studying in the evenings.
   This might not be a problem if you can afford to study fully time.

2. Do you have the energy to do long hours in your 40s as I presume lawyers do. Can people confirm?
   I personally find the 9-5 taxing enough. I wonder if I have less energy than others of the same age though...

OP, if I were you, I really wouldn’t. It’s not to do with your age, more to do with your stage of life. The vast majority of graduates on training contracts are in their early 20s, no commitments, can work all the hours god sends. They are beasted, and that’s what’s expected.

I worked in the City and it was not unusual to come into work at 8pm, and work until 2am, then back in at 8am (and repeat...). My colleagues struggled to hold down relationships, struggled to move house, struggled (by the state of some of them) to keep themselves clean enough.

We actually calculated that the working hours : pay (even as well paid associates/senior associates) sometimes had us working at under minimum wage.

Now, imagine doing that with a husband/children/other family commitments.

You will have your mobile/laptop on holidays, at home, during any days off. You will spend 3 weeks preparing for a week off and 3 weeks paying for that week off once you come back. It actually starts sometimes to feel like taking time off isn’t worth it.

The stress in general is extreme.

Finally, it’s worth nothing that after the 2008 recession things were SHIT, and I mean SHIT. Redundancies, zero job security, clients had firms over a barrel. It will be like that again.

Personally my DH and I (both solicitors) have never really mentally recovered from it in terms of our extreme caution regarding our jobs.

*worth noting

Apologies, bloody phone!

I used to be a lawyer and would not recommend it to anybody now. Threads like this come up pretty often, and you’ll see that the majority of lawyers who post don’t recommend it.

For the time and expense of training, and then the hours and stress of the work, it’s very badly paid.

The only way you make serious money is finance/corporate law, doing insane hours.

Criminal law is horribly underpaid, and still very competitive to get into.

I am obviously the loan voice..... was at a big firm and set up on my own from home and both were good. My daughters are lawyers too and at least one son is ilkely to be - he starts the pGDL (if he gets a 2/1 this summer) in September. You can earn hundreds of thousands. I agree however that as with most jobs you have to work very hard to establish yourself.

@Xenia I love the law too. Do does my dad. But I have come across a lot of solicitors who don't love their job so I feel very lucky.

I am glad someone else does. If people don't like it and could do something else they should try something else. It is certainly also a good start in life for all kinds of other careers as law is so important if you start a business or run a business. Eg founder of Weatherspoons qualified as a barrister first, and was it coffee republic founders which included a lady who was a solicitor... anyway loads of examples.

..Wetherspoon....

@Xenia You are not a lone voice.

I'm perturbed by those who both work in and hate the legal profession. It can at the very least be the stepping stone to something else.

Worth highlighting that there are also some of us who enjoy it and wouldn't change things if we had our time again are still advising OP to tread carefully. It's possible to be happy in a career but still think it's not a great bet for someone else.

This isn't necessarily law specific either, I'd advise anyone who's established in a career and thus has access to various benefits not to jack it in for something else very competitive unless they really feel it's what they must do. The same would be true if she were eg a barrister who wanted to retrain as a psychologist. And if she wanted it to be a stepping stone to something else, it might be a better idea to retrain in that thing instead.

Yes I agree, the reality of starting again at the bottom, being bottom of the ladder would be very odd when much older. Having to account for every 6 mins of your time (I had that as a trainee accountant) and have emails and letters rewritten by others.
I think I could go the work but I probably would find myself rolling my eyes at a lot of aspects.

@Xenia you’re not a lone voice, many people agree that law is a rewarding and lucrative career. However for the vast majority, criminal law is not.

I still love the law and I’m still practising, just not doing crime. Which in my view is an extremely sensible choice.

@pegasusreturns - it’s actually probably below minimum wage when all the hours are added in. Spent about 70 on a case summary which I won’t get a penny for. But, then the brief fee itself (leading junior) compensates for it.

When I was junior junior we were constantly protesting the shit rates. Nothing ever really changes. I am hugely aware that people are really struggling at the mo - with only a tiny number of trials happening. Peoples diaries are also going to be screwed, longer term. Then you have to trust that chambers are allocating the mentions, sentences etc fairly.

Def not a hobby career though! Silk work the usual murders etc. Haven’t seen too much private bits.

But, I wouldn’t do anything else. I have no regrets with a career in crime!

I'm wondering if you would be interested in studying computer science or cyber security or similar at university and then going on to specialise in cyber security within the police? As a police officer you have so many years of experience, it would be a shame not to capitalise on it and this could pave the way forwards for progression into a different but related area.

OP is criminal law what you would want to do? People have sort of assumed because of being in the police, and I think it's the area you're most likely to do well, but you've not actually said. Solicitor or barrister?

Law is so vast, encompassing more than one profession and vastly different areas of practice, that it's really hard for people who already work in law to give you much of an idea beyond the basics like routes to qualify.

A barrister specialising in complex planning law can tell you all about their career, but that information won't get you very far if what you really want is to be a legal officer for a trade union. There are areas of law and roles it's possible to begin working in without having academic legal qualifications, but if your goal is to be a family law barrister then you're going to have to retrain.

I'm thinking of this sort of thing:
www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/careers/how-to-join-the-nca/experienced-professionals

With a software background you could go into other areas as well, not just NCA.

Most lawyers I know have had their pay cut by at least 20% recently due to COVID19. These are people at "big" firms. Goodness knows what people are smaller ones are having to deal with...

I am reading The Secret Barrister at the moment. Well worth a read if you are considering remaining in criminal law. It is pretty eye opening stuff.

Look into CILex.

(not sure where my "loan" rather than "lone" voice came from..... oops)

I agree that it is not always easy to move jobs when you are older although I did work with a trainee at a City firm who was in her 40s and had had 2 children in her teens when I was in my early 20s.

That would've been in the 80s though right?

It was rarer then than now. Now it's helpful if you have a previous career. In fact when my daughter was on the LPC she said most people were older than she was and had done gap years and other things first and law firms can like that maturity and experience.

Interesting. I understand from your previous posts that I'm about the same age and PQE as your daughter. Anecdotally I met more second career people in the late 00s/early 2010s than I do now, I suspect because people have become less willing to take a punt on a risky new career in a crap economy.

I'm also aware that the hours, especially in corporate, weren't as batshit in the 80s. You would've been out by the time that happened I think? But for anyone with responsibilities looking at law now, it's a very relevant consideration.