To change careers at nearly 40 and study law?

[Hubbel]

Ok, here goes.

BA and MA degrees from Oxbridge. Successful career in academia involving frequent international travel. Great salary, mostly loved my job.

Had children and took career break for five years. Worked on something unrelated to academia with little money but fulfilling/successful.

Stressful period and divorced ExH. Back to academia but had a very hard time finding a similar position to what I held previously. Accepted job with smaller salary and fewer responsibilities than I had 10 years ago! I feel so over qualified and under appreciated in job to the point where I think about resigning every day!

Had a couple of life changing events happen this year and just think is this it? Apart from DC I am not fulfilled in life. I have a brain but working in a job where I feel over qualified is dire… I feel my experience is wasted in this position. I have applied to many other positions but academia is not the same as it was. Jobs are very competitive and salaries have barely risen. I have had numerous interviews for better jobs with almost the same response, someone else with more experience beat me to it. On top of that I’ve lost my enthusiasm for academia which probably shows in interviews.

I am looking for something new. I want a challenge and feel I have a lot of energy and drive which is wasted where I am. I know I’ll have to retrain with years of study but don’t want to look back in another 10 years thinking I could have done/been so much more.

The pros are I have always been interested in law and have worked on law related projects. I love networking, am a deep analytical thinker and have all the experience of research, writing and managing projects etc. I want to use my brain, learn new things and feel appreciated! I want to feel I’m able to move up a company with career progression with the potential of earning more.

The cons are I currently work part-time and juggle two children and I am tired! So tired every day. But I think this is partly because my job is literally sucking the life of out of me. I’m a single parent living within commuting distance of London. It would be great to work in London but how could I possibly do the commute with school/being a single parent etc. I have a lot of life experience but I’m nearly 40, too old? Would pursuing a career in law mean I barely see my kids?

What do you think mumnetters? Should I go for it or am I mad to consider?

I have no idea, but you could be working until you are 70+ so why not look into it?

I requalified into law in my early 30s and it was the best thing I ever did. I love my job. 40 isn't too old, particularly if you've got useful work experience which can add value to your applications. Best thing to do would be to try and get a training contract. If you're successful with a bigger firm, they'll pay for the requalification (graduate diploma in law and legal practice course assuming you want to be a solicitor, not a barrister). The competition is absolutely bonkers but you've nothing to lose by testing the waters to see if you're an appealing candidate. Definitely don't enrol on those courses without having assessed your chances - they're expensive and of little/no value to other employers.

I’m just requalifying at the age of 42 as an IFA.

Totally unrelated to what I used to do and being back in the classroom for study sessions and the actual learning has been a bit of a shock (well it has been 20 years).

I’m loving it. It’s a challenge and should see me clear to earning a decent amount and be able to provide for myself in retirement.

Go for it.

How old are your children - what age will they be when you begin a pupillage or training contract? Sorry, can't remember the difference.

Unless you have health issues, I think doing something you love would actually reinvigorate you! It is very draining to spend the bulk of your waking hours doing something that frustrates you such as your current job.

There are more options to study while you work now, they could be a good option? Either ilex or we have a trainee doing am extended contract and taking the LPC at the same time.

I love being a solicitor but I expect I am quite rare in the profession!

My answer depends on what kind of law you want to do.

I have worked in both private practice and in house. Large regional / national commercial / corporate type firms.

If you want to corporate end - it’s very sexist in the main and not family friendly. I’m not particularly bothered by feminist issues, but you’ll have to deal with the old boys club and being groped “accidentally” waiting for the lift. At the junior end work is boring, repetitive and long hours with little respect. Generally clients will patronise you being female. Wages are no longer great and don’t just increase with each year pqe as once they did. There’s extensive pressure to hit fee targets and you’ll be treated like a child having to justify your time. You’ll also have to do extensive non chargeable work to generate your own clients and this is on your own time. You’ll also be expected to do all this to progress, and you’ll have to progress or leave as no one wants someone with loads of pqe only doing basic nq work - clients don’t pay for it. But you’ll only progress if your face fits and / or you sleep with the right person.

I did make partner, but only because my face fit and I was in the right place at the right time (not someone’s bed). My last private firm was actually the best - national, quite a few women in positions of power but not great payers.

High street firms are almost worse with old boys and those full of there own self importance. Quite a petty atmosphere I found and again, not great for family life.

In house is probably the way to go as it’s more flexible in your circumstances but not great pay.

All my contemporaries from the big firms are leaving the law or going in house.

I’d second the advice to do nothing without a training contract in place as the courses are expensive and essentially worthless without a training contract. If you are successful with a bigger firm, they’ll pay for it though.

And also, if you’re in a bigger firm you’ll feel very left out of trainee culture / life at your age and most will be early 20s and enjoying their first job. It can be very social for trainees but if you are leaving to be with your family (which if you’re planning to leave at 5 every night will be severely frowned upon even if you’ve done all your work) you will feel a bit out of place.

You sound like you have the perfect personality to succeed in the law. I would say though that it is more competitive now than ever, see previous post and that the days of big money for just for turning up are well and truly over for anyone starting out now. Oh and forget about seeing your kids during the week. Good luck!

I don't have a law background, but with most corporate type jobs nowadays, its very tough to get yourself established at a junior level and move up the ranks when running for nursery/after school pick up.

All my lawyer friends moved in house as soon as they had a family. I'm not sure if its possible to go straight to an in house job?

@LaurieMarlow I trained and qualified in house so it can be done. I'm public sector but there are private firms that take trainees.

I dislike being a solicitor and the attrition rate for women leaving the profession after children is a joke (at least in london). I would think very carefully about the practice area, type of firm (I.e. US, boutique, in house). If you love the analytical and research side of things then you'll probably be more suited to disputes work than transactional. However commercial/ transactional law generally offers more opportunities to move sideways, change sector, and even change career later without retraining.

If you're looking for great pay, then think carefully about whether you're willing to lose 2 years of your children's life being beasted at work during your TC.

I would speak to as many solicitor mums as possible- and not just the ones who have stayed in law practising, but some of the many who have left the profession altogether in order to get a rounded view.

Sorry for the negative viewpoint, but for the amount of work and competition it takes to reach the end goal- it's important to be sure on exactly what the end goal is and whether it's something you would truly want.

Sorry I feel I've been very negative. I think it's great that you want to change career, and I'm sure if you're willing to put the work in then you can make it in law. But with children law is not a profession to enter into blindly. For many working solicitor or barrister mum's in London it's not child friendly. Though I have a friend who is a government solicitor and her hours are great and she loves her job. Pay is not amazing (maybe 50-60k pa) but I guess it's a balancing act. I also have legal contractor friends who have great flexible hours and are paid extremely well (£500- £750 a day), but of course there's not the same stability as being employed fulltime.

Have you thought about the civil service fast track? I was reading about it, and you could do government work in London in a Westminster type role. Your academic experience could be a real tangible asset and while it is hard work for two years, you can get quite a good salary. Political law requires a lot of what you have described.

Eek ok, some negative views of life in law but I guess they are realistic. Sigh... But nice to hear about the positive ones. I admire those who have changed roles and gone for it.

Unless you have health issues, I think doing something you love would actually reinvigorate you! It is very draining to spend the bulk of your waking hours doing something that frustrates you such as your current job.

Thanks @AbsentmindedWoman. Exactly this. Feel like my life is slowly slipping away.

Thanks @Confrontayshunme I'll look into civil service.

Do it!!!!!! You could have another 30yrs of work ahead of you but even if you only had 10yrs wouldn’t you rather spend those 10yrs fulfilled and doing something you love?

I’m 41 and currently studying for my 2nd Degree to qualify as a Social Worker. I’m already working in the authority so know it’s work I enjoy.

Its not your age its the family unfriendly and sexist field.

Yes @AntCrawley a shame it's still such a sexist environment in so many areas in 2019! From some of the posts above I know I wouldn't be able to juggle it with childcare...

@MaryShelley1818 congrats for changing careers. What you say is absolutely true. Doing something fulfilling makes a world of difference. Even if it's not law I need a big change!

Given your circumstances, a typical training contract might be difficult. You'd probably have to do it full time, it's hard to leave on time etc. I advise looking at coming in a different way. If you're in academia are you at a university? See if you can do a week's work experience with their in-house lawyer/legal dept. I'm an in-house head of department and it's a candidate's market, so as an employer I would seriously consider taking someone on as a paralegal and training them up. The pay wouldn't be good for a few years though, but it would be interesting!!

I don’t want to crap all over your ambitions(!), but having worked for 3 corporate law firms, I know it’s a very tough gig.
The hours are LONG and presenteeism culture is huge. Many Central London law firms have bedrooms/sleep-pods for lawyers pulling all nighters. Even a pretty chilled out regional law firm that I worked for introduced a ‘meals on wheels’ plated hot dinner service for people still at their desks late into the evening.
Alcoholism and drug addiction are rife because of the hours.
It really might not fit with your hours requirements and lifestyle.

The route to qualifying as a solicitor is changing so look that up.

I think law is still very traditional so as an ex-Oxbridge high flyer you'd probably beat off competition to get your foot in the door fairly easily. The trouble is what happens after that. Being a trainee / junior, you're expected to put your life on hold, change plans, stay late as required. As you progress, whilst you wouldn't be doing low level work, you'd still have days where you just have to drop everything because something unexpected but time critial arises. Thats difficult to manage with a family even with 2 parents happy to juggle & co-operate, i'm guessing that would be tricky as a single parent without a good support network. It would no doubt be full time too. That traditionalism continues in respect of promotion and client/case allocation; its getting better (and some firms are fantastic) but still has a long way to go. Don't expect rapid progression as a female and a mother, no matter how good you are.

Salary wise, its probably the poorest paid profession - peers who are accountants, doctors etc are much better paid. Thats even ignoring the drop in salary you'd have whilst you qualified.

The work is often stimulating, you do use your brain so in that respect, it works. However, you need to go into it with your eyes wide open if you choose this path.

Op I completed a law degree (already had an MBA) studying part-time when I was 42 and had a senior role in a large bank, working full time, had a one year old DD and my parents both died unexpectedly (both fit and early 60s) during that year so as you can imagine it was a traumatic time and So stressful, but I was determined to do it and DH was very supportive. I realised half way through the degree that I didn’t want to be a solicitor nor barrister but I still found it all very interesting and extremely useful in my banking role. It has enabled me to climb the ladder in one of the largest banks in the world and I am so pleased that I did it . A law degree is very useful in so many jobs.
Go for it.

I'm a university lecturer (but in Australia). I teach law. Some of my students are in their 40's and 50's. I say, go for it!

I qualified as a solicitor at 46!

I worked with a 40 year old single mother at a leading City law firm (and she did fine and by the way despite the post above saying all women get groped in lifts and sleep their way to the top that is not so for most women although I certainly agree it is very hard work whatever your gender).

You need to look closely at when and how you will qualify. Eg if you want to be a solicitor staring a course called teh GDL in September 2020 (or Jan 2020 may be your last chance to go down that route of the existing exams before new exams with a new 50% failure rate come in SEQ1 and 2) I am not saying you will fail the new exam sysetm startingi n 2021 but it is an unknown at present and a bit more complicated - in theory you can work and to d o the exams but it may not be as simple as that so do think it all out.

Also if you want to star teh GDL course and be sponsored (paid) to sit it and the LPC coursethen you apply now i.e this week if possible until about end of Dec 2019 to be trained in city firms from Sept 2022 with them paying for your 2 years of full time courses so timing is absolutely key in this particularly as you have children to support. The applications close about Jan 2020 for 2022 and then you would have to apply the year after and probably be under the new SQE qualification system

You will also need some humility in the early days to do dogsbody work suitable for a new graduate who does not have 5 years of practical experience - you might think you know it all but no one does and you have to be able to take orders from people much younger than you are. I could do that when I was 21 (I graduated aged 20 in law) but not everyone in their 40s can.