Need to find another job paying £50k a year

[Griselt]

I'm a personal injury solicitor. Due to various changes many of us are losing our jobs - I am safe for the moment but realistically I have 12-18 months max left. Our firm only offers min statutory redundancy which obviously won't go far. So I need to find an alternative asap.

To support my family I need to earn £50k. I've done the same area of law for nearly 20 years so agencies have already told me there is no chance of being hired in another legal specialist (which is what I expected). They have suggested other jobs in personal injury but the field is collapsing and another job doing the same is surely just delaying the inevitable.

Agencies don't seem to consider my skills are transferable. In my current role I also do a lot of training (write and deliver my own material), circulate updates on latest legal developments, and I led on all our GDPR work so I've got some involvement and interest in compliance, risk etc.

But I'm really struggling. Agencies just see 'injury lawyer' and pigeon hole me. I've looked into govt legal service but I believe they tend to recruit people less qualified than me.

Any ideas for other roles I can pursue? I actually don't mind what I do, it just needs to earn me at least £50k a year...AIBU to think that's achievable?

How many 'free' hours do you have a week? Could you study to broaden your knowledge or formalise your existing knowledge?
Could you do some voluntary work using your expertise which will pad our your CV?
I work in the 3rd sector so the idea of earning that much is a bit ephemeral, but I did find that volunteering really helped me when I was looking to work in a different area.
rightsofwomen.org.uk/get-involved/volunteer-with-us/ This one seems to need experience in immigration or family law but there must be others.

Not my area of expertise at all so I may be talking out of my arse, but is there really no option of a similar legal field? So medical negligence or malpractice, for example.

Are the redundancies/shrinking being caused by the whiplash reforms?

Have you looked at insurers? Large loss technical/complex PI claims handlers are fairly well paid at big insurers. Although probably nearer 40-45 than 50.

There must be companies you've worked with you could approach? Is the industry really dying? What about work related injuries?

Insurance companies, hospitals, government, major companies who deal with / have to defend liability claims - supermarkets etc.

Civil service jobs website has lots of jobs in legal services.

What about medical negligence claims? Is that field also shrinking?

Oops x post with Violet

Instead of agencies, could you look for directly recruited positions at a similar level for other areas of law. Then contact them directly asking if they would consider you and what experience they'd expect you to do to make yourself qualified.

Your skills might be transferable into a senior management position in the voluntary sector. If you want to pursue that, look at the job descriptions on the adverts on the charity section of the guardian website to get an idea of what they are looking for. Becoming a trustee for a charity or two could help you get relevant experience. At that level they'd want line management and budget management experience. And an understanding of dealing with funding applications and relationships with funders.

When I set up on my own I earned £50k from writing, speaking and editing. Could you do something similar - keep on with those things and offer say data protection consultancy work as you have done so much of it. Also there are quite a lot of ads for data protection lawyers at present - could you not make sure your CV was data protection orientated and use that as a way in.

I am nearly 36 years into my career (so you are a mere baby compared with me) and I have managed to develop - not all at once - but over time different areas. Where you are in the country might have an impact as some areas will have more choice of jobs than others.

Also you do litigation so presumably know a fair bit about litigation in general - could you work for a litigation funder for example? Or go into something like environmental law?

Not sure the pay structure but what about NHS? A lot of Trusts have their own in house legal teams and am sure between the personal injury and GDPR your skills would be ideal.

Look into training in risk and compliance (e.g. in banking). Your skills should be transferable, you have some experience with your GDPR work and they're crying out for people who can actually get stuff done and write a decent report.

Have you thought about working in GDPR teams within industry? GDPR in my company is huge now, and they've just recruited a couple of GDPR officers. I know they're on about £50k/year as I'm an accountant and know their salaries.

Litigation PR?

Yes its the whiplash reforms that are killing us. Motor insurers are in the same boat as law firms. I actually do 'defendant' work so I work for the insurers rather than those claiming.

I work ft (which really means 9-5.30 plus 2 hours commuting and th3n extra work in the eves/ weekend) so ot doesnt keave a lot of time to commit to volunteering or to fit in extra study.

NHS work is clin neg which I don't know anything about. My injury experience is predominantly Motor, some employers liability (accidents at work) but I haven't done that for 10 years so my experience is considered out of date.

DH who is a law academic suggests Tutor on the SQE. Apparently universities are looking for practising or recently practising lawers to help develop these courses. I am not sure how PM works but I can sort it out if you want to send me your contact details for DH to send you info

Something in risk/ compliance/ GDPR is definitely a route I'd like to take. My concern was that agencies just write me off as an injury lawyer.

However roles advertised directly by the companies themselves could be a way round that.

I feel for you. I work as a defendant PI EL/PL claims handler but right at the bottom of the chain (not a qualified solicitor). I want to pursue a career in law but the legal services market is basically collapsing in virtually every area it seems. It is a minefield.

What about legal member for the appeals service - benefits, industrial injury, immigration appeals. It pays around £250 a half day (here in NI anyway, I’m sure it’s similar for rest of U.K.)

The Government Legal Department are recruiting 50 staff at the moment in addition to the usual vacancies. It's open to external candidates and as soon as you are in you can apply for moves / promotion. The salary doesn't include this year's pay rise, so it should be near enough 50K - www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/index.cgi?SID=dXNlcnNlYXJjaGNvbnRleHQ9NTY3OTg0MzAmcGFnZWNsYXNzPUpvYnMmam9ibGlzdF92aWV3X3ZhYz0xNTY1NzE3Jm93bmVydHlwZT1mYWlyJmNzb3VyY2U9Y3Nxc2VhcmNoJnBhZ2VhY3Rpb249dmlld3ZhY2J5am9ibGlzdCZzZWFyY2hfc2xpY2VfY3VycmVudD0xJm93bmVyPTUwNzAwMDAmcmVxc2lnPTE1MjYyMTAwNDYtMmQwOTY5Yjg3YWNjMTgwYzdhMWU5MjM0YjFhOWUxMDc2MmMxZmQyZQ

But the collapse of this fake market is long overdue, isn't it? I don't doubt that you were working within the law but your job defending the insurers was dependent on hosts of people being encouraged to put in entirely fake claims. I hope we will eventually see a similar collapse in the number of jobs offering legal ways to avoid paying taxes.

Sorry, that's not supportive.
I agree with previous posters' ideas of moving into NHS or voluntary sector. It's good that you are planning ahead in this way and looking for something else before you are made redundant.

Look at things from a different perspective. What does your £50k per year salary actually support? Can you make some sacrifices at home that would enable you to handle a drop in income? Do you have any hobbies that you would like to make a living from?

@Guavaf1sh did you miss the post where she said she represents the defendant insurer...?

Guavaf1sh I'm afraid your moral outrage is misplaced. I work for insurance companies, so I am defending injury claims (successfully, in many instances). I don't see anything dishonest about the work my colleagues and I do!

Thanks for link to GLS, I will look into that. I will also look into Appeals Service, not sure what's involved or required but worth finding out!

jobs.mumsnet.com/jobs/legal/

I actually do 'defendant' work so I work for the insurers rather than those claiming.

I have a couple of friends who went in house at insurers' legal departments, where it can be easier to move into a different area. Is that worth a try if you have a good relationship with the insurers who use your firm?

Also, insurers do not only require solicitors to defend “fake” claims. There may be issues of liability and quantum in perfectly legitimate incidents and injuries that proceed to court.