@mmmmm21 I'd disagree that you couldn't necessarily get an in-house role. I know a few people who moved from a specialist corporate role to an in-house role that was totally disconnected. Sports law and sports and general regulatory bodies seems particularly prone to this - probably because there are limited people with that specific expertise anyway - I mean how many people are there who specialise in the regulation of [fill in random sport].
Most people I know who have felt like you say you feel went in-house and raved about the change in culture and better hours.
The government legal department are always recruiting and that may be a short stop gap to dip your toe in the waters of something different before you alight on your true passion.
The judiciary is also something worth considering if it interests you - starting part time?.Even if you aren't a litigator don't let that put you off. There is a massive recruitment crisis and they are desperate for good people. A friend of mind was recently appointed a recorder and there was someone on her course who did purely non-contentious work and hadn't set foot in a court room for about 20 years! Still got appointed though. If that interests you probably worth going to one of those appointment coaching firms re: the online test and the interviews.
In a similar vein, a lot of regulatory bodies (General Medical Council etc) frequently advertise for legally qualified assessors - you'd need to keep your eye for those jobs as they seem to randomly pop up on Linkedin and other places and seem very ad hoc in terms of location and timing of adverts.
If you want more law but totally different and can be bothered/motiviated enough, maybe consider taking the NY Bar which you can study for in London now?
Random suggestion - something that might be worth looking into if you are interested in a total career change is charitable fundraising specialising in major donors/high net worth individuals -given your tax background. It's an area that really matters to charities but for some reason alot of the traditional paths into fundraising don't really produce people who are comfortable trying to build relationships and ask for donations from very HNW individuals. So there are very few people that are at the top of the game in major donor fundraising for HNW. If a charity can secure a meeting with a HNW person they typically get very little time so a person who feels comfortable and is able to develop a relationship through swift impact, connection and presentation is gold dust. It's always struck me as an area where if you are articulate, highly educated and interested, you could achieve a lot very quickly. Have a look at the Institute of Fundraising website - they run courses if you are interested.
If you are looking for a total change, then I'd start with working out what it is that is important to you from a new job - whether its money, standard of working environment (can you cope with public sector or are biscuits, coffee and nice loos with Jo Malone handwash important to you?), hours, location and so on. Then take it from there.
Maybe also consider a few sessions with a career coach - a proper one - not some blue sky thinking type. Of a Megan Hellerer standard
www.thecut.com/2019/10/megan-hellerer-career-life-coach.html
I feel your pain and mull periodically on this issue.