To pack in my stable/flexible job that I enjoy

[RollerCola]

To re-train for a completely different career?

I'm 37 with 2 dcs 9&5 and married. I have a 2.2 degree and have worked in various aspects of finance within 5 diff companies over the last 16yrs. The last 9 yrs have been part time and i now do 4 days per week. I have a good knowledge in this area and quite a lot of experience now.

I've reached a point where I'd really like to further my career so the obvious path to take would be in finance again, maybe moving up the ladder within another new co, taking professional exams etc.

But I have a niggling ambition to study law and move into the legal profession. It's not based on anything in particular other than really enjoying the few modules of law I've studied in the past (not much), and the bit of litigation work I've done in my current job (again not much but I love it)

I have this romantic notion that I could re-train, find I'm brilliant and get excellent results, waltz into a training contract and a couple of years later be a fully-fledged solicitor doing satisfying, worthwhile work rather than number-crunching all day.

In reality I know a) it would cost a fortune b) training contracts are like gold-dust and perm jobs even more so, especially with little experience c) it's ridiculously hard work, long day, little flexibility ie the opposite of my current job.

I did look into it last year but changed my mind due to all of the above but it's still niggling away at me. There are loads of things against me (not great degree, no real experience, age) yet I'm telling myself that my work and 'life' experiences would count and my determination would get me there.

I'd happily do anything to get experience and I'm certainly not expecting to walk into anything with great pay for ages.

Oh and dh works for himself and earns v little, so no chance of him supporting us while I trained.

Now I've written it down it sounds ridiculous doesn't it? :-(

Has anyone done anything remotely like this and had a happy ending?

I think it would be a mistake to go into law now:

juniorlawyers.lawsociety.org.uk/downturn

Although there may be some expansion in debt recovery work!

Roller Someone upthread mentioned insolvency. Don't want to bang the drum, but I think it could really interest you as it is a combination of law and accountancy.

I actually looked into doing it (didn't in the end for personal reasons) but you can do the course part time by distance learning and do the exams either all at once or over a couple of years.

I think being an administrator/offical receiver would be pretty interesting stuff.

ps- wasn't sure from your OP, but are you a qualified accountant?

Also, dont do audit. I did it for 3 years (training contract). Basically, you meet all your clients when they are at their most stressed and fucked off with life. They wish you weren't there. It's not great and you hardly ever uncover anything exciting and if you do, 99.9% of the time it's just an innocent mistake/system glitch

Just to bring a positive note - my friend's DH did exactly what you're thinking about, followed his dream despite all the naysayers and it's worked out fine. He too had a poor first degree but did one of those law conversion degrees and did well at it . He managed to get a training contract at a good firm in london, even though he's mid-thirties up against fresh grads in a v competitive environment, and is now partway through and loving it. It's not easy and the hours are long, at least in the corporate stint of his training - think he's aiming for something less high-end ultimately, property law maybe. He wishes he'd done law all along, but lost his bottle after bad a-level results, but is really glad that he took the chance and did it now rather than regretting it forever.

Not saying this is a reason why you should do it. Just giving some balance. Perhaps the first step is to get some experience on your days off?

No I'm not fully qualified as an accountant, I'm part-CIMA qualified but put it on hold when I had the children.

I suppose logically I should simply pick that back up as I'm already halfway there, but law just seems so much more interesting :-(

I've found the other thread, it's over 600 posts long and quite depressing reading. Im on my phone and can't link but if you search for 'barrister' it's someone thinking of doing similar at the bar. There isn't much encouragement at all

Just a thought - why not become a Magistrate? Your job should allow you time off to do it and my m-i-l, who's a JP, tells me they're dead keen for 'younger' (i.e. younger than retired!) people to become magistrates. That way you'd get to do some legal training and flex that muscle in court on a regular basis (n an arguably more powerful position) without jeopardising your career at all.

Don't. Do. It.

Law is a wildly oversubscribed career and you have to be incredible to stand out from the crowd. My particular experience is working with the Crown Prosecution Service and they are laying off laywers left, right and centre - despite having more work than they can realistically deal with.

I looked at retraining, just like you, about 3 years ago. I started ILEX study with work and was looking to build on that at home but was advised by every single lawyer I know that the traditional law route is on the wane.

You talk about 16 years life experience counting for something - it won't. You'll be up against brilliant Oxbridge graduates that have been doing pro bono work, amazing research projects, organised charity events, built hospitals in Uganda; or you'll be up against people that have been involved in jobs aligned with the legal sector all their lives and deciding to specialise in an esocteric area (eg an ex-matron deciding to retrain so she can specialise in medical negligence)

If you are a frustrated number cruncher, why don't you try to move into a role with more strategic thinking? It won't mean giving up all you have achieved so far.

"I have a dream of breezing into court with my gown billowing about, putting clever but witty proposals to the jury, making the perpetrators squirm at my cutting accusals, while the wronged leave with a high head knowing that justice has finally been done "

It's nothing like that. Absolutely nothing.

Maybe try some amdram?

After reading the replies on here and also on the other thread I feel completely disheartened and am, for the second time, going to forget it.

I'm quite upset at the amount of negativity tbh. I realise the odds are stacked against me and I said so in my OP but not many people have offered much encouragement (thanks those who have btw)

I'm surprised how many have just poo-poo'ed it as an idea, I thought there would be more 'do it, you only live once' posts but it seems not .

We are being realistic, Roller. Most of the people that have posted on this thread have experience of law in some way and know how difficult it is for 25 year olds with no strings and brilliant degrees to forge a career. I hate pissing on your bonfire but you need to go into this with your eyes wide open - because the cold, hard reality is that you are unlikely to suceed.

There was a recent thread about someone with an Oxbridge 2.1 who wanted to go to the bar as a mature applicant. Most lawyers thought it wouldn't be advisable at the moment. I think with your background I would pursue your CIMA qualification instead if you feel under stretched in your current role.

and I presume you are the breadwinner in your family ? If I were in your position I simply couldn't afford to take the gamble on a scheme that was more likely to fail than not.

Put it this way, if I told you to put £10,000 in a high risk share portfolio in a company whose share of the market was shrinking and whose market was also declining, would you do it ?

If anyone wants to hear the other side- I do know one person who obtained a training contract, and was kept on after it finished, in her 40s. However:

• she got this in 2007, when there were more of them available than there are now
• she already had voluntary experience in the area of law
• it was in the charity sector, where recruitment can be a bit more flexible (although non-existent at the moment).

OP, the thing is that things are really hard at the moment. Anyone who's got a job that suits them ok is taking a big risk by jacking it in, there's no point in pretending otherwise. There are, however, still actually quite a lot of training contracts out there, in the grand scheme of things. Hundreds. It's just that the competition for them is massive: there are also hundreds of applicants for each one. A significant slice of them have no realistic chance of ever getting one, though.

I do think the magistrate idea might be a good one, if what you want is the excitement of the court stuff. You wouldn't be going to court much as a corporate lawyer, for example.

Oh, has anyone mentioned insolvency law? Apparently there's always demand for that in a recession, and presumably you'd be seen as having more knowledge than the average applicant.

I wouldn't go into law unless you are passionate about a specific area of law. It is not glamorous, highly stressful and mostly dull IMO. Do not do it if you have a creative, practical bone in your body either.

Solicitors are the profession most likely to seek a career change. Go figure.

OP- sorry you're feeling depressed but better to know the reality of a situation than plough on and find out a year down the line that it isn't as you imagined.

I think your best bet is to finish your CIMA. Many higher tier finance jobs advertised are restricted to ACA/CIMA holders, so getting that bit of paper could open up a raft of more interesting/challenging roles. As you've been working in finance for so long, you could probably just sit the exams tomorrow.

If what you really like is getting people to follow the rules, then do look at whether training as a company secretary. might work for you. Their role is precisely to make sure that the governance rules are followed. Your options would either be to look at joining a big company with a compliance department and seeing if they might sponsor you to qualify, or qualifying and then looking for a job. Do look at the ISCA website www.icsa.org.uk/ are see what you think.

'Chartered Secretaries are high-ranking professionals with a diverse set of skills unique among many professions. Trained in corporate law, finance, governance and corporate secretarial practice, Chartered Secretaries are the focal point for independent advice about the conduct of business, governance and compliance. They can also offer legal and accounting advice and manage the development of strategy and corporate planning.'

Just in case my suggestion got lost amongst the negativity, check this out:

www.direct.gov.uk/en/HomeAndCommunity/Gettinginvolvedinyourcommunity/Volunteering/DG_195453

Onwards and upwards...

And I shall retrain to learn how to make links work on mumsnet!

Is this any better?
www.direct.gov.uk/en/HomeAndCommunity/Gettinginvolvedinyourcommunity/Volunteering/DG_195453

There is absolutely no reason that you couldn't - and shouldn't - do a law conversion course like the Graduate Diploma in Law or something similar. These are open to anyone with a degree.

I used to work at a law college - a specific law college that also did the Bar Professional Course. There were plenty of mature part-time evening students. And believe me - judging from the caliber - or lack! - of full time, straight from uni students, you will be absolutely fine. These students could barely write a sentence, had zero IT skills ("how do I attach my assignment to an email?") so Lord only knows how they got through uni.

I really believe in doing something just because. Just because you want to. Just because you believe you can accomplish it. If you can afford it, look up either College of Law of BPP. If you can afford, do it just because you'd love it.

Then, when you've completed it, send out for training contracts. If you get them, fantastic - quit your job, enjoy your new career. If you don't, you've still accomplished a huge dream of yours.

@bettybat - of course there's no reason why OP couldn't do a law conversion course. Except for the fact that it costs nearly £10k and to become a solicitor, you then have to spend another £10k doing the LPC. And at the end of that, you're not qualified because you have to do a 2 year training contract.

It's irresponsible to suggest that people incur costs like this without some kind of assurance that they will get where they want to be in a reasonable timeframe - but there simply aren't the training contracts around at the minute to make it a worthwhile investment.

OP - in a corporate law firm you'd be ruled out on the basis of your 2:2 (never mind all the other experience). You may be able to get in as a paralegal, prove your worth and get a training contract that way - but its a long hard drudge and not one I'd want to go into with a family life I'd want to preserve.

I would think about accountancy/forensic accounting which with your background would probably be much more rewarding and aesier to get into.