Any part time lawyers on here?

[Boshi]

If so what area do you specialise in? I am thinking of retraining but end goal (in a few years) would be to go part time and also retrain in something that is family friendly (as in no long hours at the weekend etc)

Also, any advice on a field that might be AI proof? I was thinking of patent law/intellectual property as I have a science background but this seems like something that may be under threat by AI programs. Ive got around 25 years of working life left so don’t want to be made obsolete after retraining in middle age 😂

How part time and for how long do you envisage wanting to be part time? It’s difficult to have a part-time law career when you’re starting out building your career, and certainly virtually impossible to find a part-time training contract. The majority of the lawyers I know / have worked with who’ve had successful part-time stints have worked in the public sector and civil service, which tend to be less deadlines based (and even they, however, often remark that part time work is frequently 60% of the pay for 90% of the work of a full time role.) Non fee-earning roles are probably your best bet, and certainly nothing involving the courts which have deadlines and give no shits that it’s your day off!

In terms of specialism, I can’t see competition or corporate law being taken over by the robots any time soon.

I know that to retrain and get started I'd need to be full time but would want to move to permanent part time (as the situation allowed) as soon as possible. Whether in 1 year, 3 years or 6 years after qualifying.

Yes I think anything to do with courts or fee paying clients would probably be off the cards in that case.

Will look into competition or corporate law thank you

To give a completely differing view, I think it depends on how supportive the firm is. I'm at a big national firm and qualified into a 0.8 role in litigation, so deadlines. Lots on similar contracts. We cover each other with ease and I only occasionally have to work outside my hours (not every week) and I happily do it because I love litigation and really appreciate how flexible and supportive my firm is.