To ask you what you ended up doing with your law degree

[caramelonion]

Namechange but been on here for a while (not that i've ever posted anything exciting anyway). Pinky promise I'm not a lazy journalist.
Almost all of the careers stuff at uni pertains to corporate law, which I don't think I'd fancy. We were also recently set a piece of reading about depression amongst femal lawyers which was... disheartening...!
I have no clue what I'm aiming for, really.
So AIBU to ask what career you ended up in after doing a law degree and why?

I'm a solicitor, hate it and have hated it since my training Contract. Problem is its hard to get out of it and into a business role without starting at the bottom and taking a huge pay cut (can't afford this).

Don't qualify if you're not sure as you'll be stuck, do something else while you're still a graduate and your degree opens doors. I wish I'd quit during my training contract but I'd always wanted to be a lawyer so I stuck with it. Sigh.

I still plan to leave, but it won't be until we as a family can afford it.

"Working in complaints"

Dont we all coffee don't we all.

I didn’t do a law degree, but I’m a solicitor working in house. It’s generally great and I wouldn’t go back to private practice.

did publishing degree and am now a legal editor. Not the most exciting but great flexibility

I qualified as a solicitor in a corporate firm but now work in a gift shop.

Just returned to work (London non-corporate firm) after mat leave. Finding it not particularly family friendly. A lot of people seem to leave after having kids and I don’t blame them. Some aspects I really enjoy but I’m fairly sure I’ll have to choose between a reasonable work life balance and any chance or progression. I’ll choose family every time so I should probably look for a new line of work now!

I work in house for a large multinational company. I love it - it's very 9 to 5 and quite flexible.

I'm a partner in a small high street firm and I love it.

We have three children and live in childcare. Husband works from home but is away on business a lot but between the three of us we make it work.

What helps is a managing partner who is a family man and understands the need of the family.

Still guilty though!

I've done admin jobs and am now with a charity and give lots of constitutional advice to members. I also get the job of reading any contracts! So not really used it directly but the skills have definitely helped.

Qualified, worked as a "back-room" solicitor for a large firm (i.e. they had finders, minders and grinders, and I was a grinder.) Good money but not remotely family friendly. Now a SAHM. Of my four closest friends at Uni, one dropped out altogether after a couple of years (last seen on a stage at the Edinburgh Festival), one works in the charity sector, one works in the Records Office and one is a solicitor. Of the three women I trained with, one went into local government, two are SAHM.

Police officer

Solicitor and tried every option!

Trained with tiny bonkers high street firm doing family and criminal.
Moved to magic circle firm doing international corporate work crazy hours, lots of money and travel.
Binned that off when had a baby I wanted to see.
Now work for myself doing private client to fit round family.

Partner (litigation) in regional office of a large UK firm. Used to work in London, It's much more family friendly in the regions and the quality of work is still good.

Employment solicitor, trained at a regional firm moved to very large international firm and I'm now 20 years on and working for my own firm. I love what I do but it isn't family friendly, the hours are completely crazy and most lawyers I know absolutely hate it. Ive worked for most of the past three weekends and this week haven't managed to stop working before midnight (having started at 7am each morning).

Solicitor, Scotland. Court work. Family mainly, some crime. Tired broken and fed up. Would not recommend it to my worst enemy.

Uni friends, one immigration solicitor, one conveyancing one stay at home mum, one government. All much happier than me. Legal aid court work is not a good career path. Not here anyway.

Family solicitor. I work 9-5 in a high street practice. It’s ok. I don’t know what else I’d do these days.

Set up my own copywriting business. It's a hefty degree that has opened a lot of doors for me. I'm bloody lucky to be able to make a living by freelance writing from home.

I’m surprised by this thread, or perhaps the title makes it self-selecting.

I’m a lawyer in a top 100 firm in a regional city. I work 3.5 days a week. I returned from mat leave after my second child about 8 weeks ago and I’m just about to go for a promotion.

Maybe I’m lucky with my firm or my practice area, but the PT thing is ok. I’m very, very organised though and there are obviously pinch points either at home or at work at various stages. Tbh I just get on with it. My DH is a partner in the same firm and it good at doing his share of the nursery runs (mostly, he’s very busy and important ) and housework.

I'm a housing lawyer. Earn peanuts but do enjoy it. Am lucky enough to work for an employer who is good about child care commitments.

I did GDL and LPC after kids, 10 years after science PhD. Work in Information Compliance (data protection, FOI) in HE - loving it! My governance colleagues almost all have law degrees.

Worked at a huge American corporate firm, loadsa money, felt very important, enjoyed it but wanted kids and to see them. Now in house at a huge American co and have three kids, work three days but I am the only one in a dept of hundreds doing that, work is pretty interesting, hours good, money good but no promotion prospects or ability to get another job pt and I think I want to be pt forever so not sure what to do...

There’s lots to be grateful for but if I had my time again I would do something easier to do pt eg GP or dentist

Jacking it in half way through! It really wasn't for me. The hours in the library seemed to achieve nothing. I never loved learning for its own sake and it pissed me off, in all honesty, that I couldn't coast through and get top marks for very little effort like I had done at school. Also, there seemed to be two types of student on my course: spoilt little cokeheads who weren't that bright and didn't care because Daddy would be setting them up in chambers anyway, and the scared, swotty ones who were petrified of failing and competed with each other over who slogged the hardest. I didn't fit in with either of those groups, and I figured if I couldn't stand studying next to them I didn't particularly want to spend my career with them either. However, dropping out was easily the stupidest decision I ever made, and it took my confidence a very long time to recover. Twenty years later I'm probably earning as much as or more than most people on my course for less effort, but I definitely went about it the long way around.

Law degree, solicitor's finals (showing my age there!!), two years training, three years post qualifying in regional firm doing personal injury law......... then gave it all up to work in IT for one of the high street banks. No regrets at all!

Government law. Would recommend. Family friendly and intellectually satisfying. Am pondering the judiciary too.

Lawyer in the regions. It can be family friendly as a job (have been part time for a number of years to fit in with children and it's been relatively manageable apart from in the run up to big trials etc) but I don't think it's family friendly as a career. I'm in my 40s now and comparatively speaking, my peers in other professions (accountancy, management) who have taken the same approach - part time hours but committed - don't seem to have been overlooked quite like my legal peers.