To re-train as a solicitor?

[FithColumnist]

At the moment I'm a teacher, and I'm looking at alternative career options as I desperately want to get out. I was wondering about soliciting...

I graduated with a first in Modern Languages, and would be looking at doing a conversion course like a CPE or GDL. Has anyone done anything similar? I'd love to hear your experiences and stories if so- one thing that's preying on my mind is that I'm 34. Is that too old to be changing careers in this way?

It depends on what kind of level you want to work at. If you want to move into a magic circle firm it will probably be vey difficult (less so if your degree is from oxbridge/Russell group) and you have remarkable work experience. Obviously how you perform on the GDL andLPC will also have an effect. If you just want to become a high street solicitor then go for it! Other options in the legal sector include becoming a paralegal (you can then use this to become a solicitor down the line) or training as a conveyancer.

If you're prepared to join the queue, spend two years without income, do lots of unpaid work experience and possibly some NMW paralegal work and then fight others for jobs that aren't really there and which will undoubtedly require you to relocate (more difficult when you're older, particularly if you have a family) and then probably relocate again on qualification and then do low level work for a good few years in a profession that is notoriously bad for work life balance then it's a really good plan.

Sorry but we are overrun with applicants. You need to think very carefully.

Not exactly the same, but I decided to retrain four years ago as a psychologist. I decided to do the degree from scratch and I was 43.

I suppose I just wanted to say it is never too late - go for it.

My understanding is that it is not great in the legal sector at the moment.

Cuts to legal aid. Increasing amount of work done by paralegals / licensed conveyancers etc

Lots of applicants for not a lot of jobs.

Although if you can get into contract law there is going to be a big boom what with Brexit!

I retrained as a lawyer but a little bit younger. I was 28 when I started the GDL. Didn’t spend two years without income - did GDL part time around a full time job and the law firm I trained at paid for my LPC. Best thing I’ve ever done. I’m now head of the legal team in a media company and I love my job.

And my work life balance is pretty good. I work 8-4.30 and a day from home a week.

Work life balance was admittedly absolutely dreadful for the two years I was a trainee though .

Hmm I'm a 33 year old solicitor and considering my future and the possibility of retraining as a primary teacher!

I've been lucky in my career so far and have a decent job working part time (difficult in this field) but I feel a bit like a grey drone. I'd love to do something with more of a creative, practical aspect that wasn't sitting in an office most days. I work in litigation and it can be exciting and rewarding but it isn't always. It's also hard to move between specialisms. I feel pretty stuck where I am - low down the rung, in a niche area without experience of anything else.

You're not 'too old' but I'd stop to consider whether you're leaving one pile of shit to just sit on another.

There are many qualified lawyers vying for positions and unless you are exceptional and I mean in terms of a first from Oxbridge, remarkable work experience, contacts and willing to spend thousands on a conversion then it may not be for you.

Depends on what area of Law you're interested in. The criteria for magic circle is a great deal less than high-street lawyer.

Presumably though splendide that was quite some time ago if you're now head of legal. I'm just trying to ensure that people don't look at law through rose tinted spectacles.

I love my job and I am lucky in that I good money doing it. You will know as well as I do though that a significant percentage of lawyers hate the reality of it. Long hours, poor work life balance and money which isn't as good as they thoughts it would be with significantly reduced opportunity nowadays for partnership.

Yes fair point Newts, I qualified 8 years ago now.

I’m wouldn’t want to be rose tinted really, I just genuinely love what I do and I’m glad I wasn’t put off it.

OP you could always just apply for training contracts and see how you go. You can apply before you begin the conversion at most city firms.

apologies for the bad typing I'm trying to multitask MNing (this is my work life balance ) with cramming a limp sausage roll in my mouth having been in a difficult meeting all morning and about to dash into another.

Like a few others I'm also in-house and although the pay isn't as good and the structure is flat, the work/life balance is great compared to private practice, so that's something to consider.

Oh and I will admit to being astonished by the level of recruits these days. I recently hired an NQ and every CV the agency sent through was vastly more impressive than mine.!

Why not just invest the time and effort into becoming a better teacher? Curious to know why you are desperate to get out.

Thank you all for your comments! Plenty to consider here: I hadn't realised it was as fiercely competitive as you describe, nor that the work-life balance is so bad. Particularly when work-life balance is something I want to get back!

(As it happens, you guys sound like I do when people ask me if they should get into teaching. )

Both DH and I are around 20 years PQE. Neither of us have straight As at A Level or First class degrees from Oxbridge. The world was different then though. As I often say on these threads the legal world has changed significantly. Partners can't afford to move on to early retirement and so opportunities are limited. Nobody needs a mid level lawyer nowadays. In the world of google anyone can see what the law is. Long gone are the days when we kept our legal knowledge locked away in law libraries. The world needs very senior experienced lawyers who can advise strategically and then dogsbodies at the bottom. Mid level lawyers are in a risky position.

OP if you think you'll get better work life balance as a lawyer you're having a laugh quite frankly. I say this as a lawyer who is surrounded by family members who are teachers. My DSis and DBIL both PIL and extended family are all teachers. DH often says that he would kill for their work life balance. DSis stayed with us for a week recently and said that it actually put things into perspective for her a little and made her realise that her job (admittedly stressful as a Head of Faculty) isn't too bad after all. I would kill for your holidays (I would probably also kill some of the children and so it wouldn't be the role for me )

DH gets six weeks' holiday a year. For the past four years we have been lucky if he has been able to take four of them.

I get 25 days and do take them all but definitely check email.

I would say do a huge amount of research before taking the leap. “The law” encompasses a wide spectrum of types of work and an equally wide spectrum of salaries.

I’m very lucky, I’ve found a niche I really enjoy, I work in-house and I am sufficiently senior to be able to work very flexibly. But judging by these threads etc jobs like mine are as still fairly rare.

There are some important changes in qualifications which will probably kick in in 2019.

l2b.thelawyer.com/issues/l2b-online/super-exam-will-launch-2020-gdl-lpc-requirement-scrapped/

Two good friends who did, respectively, a law degree and a conversion course, at the age of 30 have failed to secure any related employment.

I wouldn't recommend it. If you want to get out of teaching, I don't think you'll find lawyering much better, if at all. In my experience lawyers can be pretty aggressive, don't like any kind of mistakes, and you don't get the long holidays to get away from them. I moved out of practice into professional support work, which is easier and more flexible but you need to have experience in practice first.

I'm sorry you want to give up being a teacher. Is that because of the workload in state schools? Would you consider teaching in FE or HE instead? Or the private sector? We so need MFL teachers. I would consider it myself but I know I don't have the patience to deal with 30 kids who don't want to learn.

Or translation work?