To consider a law career, late 30s

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I'm up for a reality check here and AIBU is the best place for genuine opinion!

I do not have a current 'career' at all, I'm 37 and life has been a bit dysfunctional if I'm truthful. I had an awful childhood but married my DH 4 years ago, feeling more settled than I ever have done and I've been treated for PTSD and I'm delighted to feel recovered now.

Due to my childhood, I didn't finish secondary school but in my mid 20s I completed an arts degree. I excelled in the academic part of the degree, graduating with relative ease with the highest grade a student had passed with, and at graduation I was surprised with an academic achievement award.

I had never considered myself remotely academic but it gave me a huge boost of confidence! I've always wanted to embark on a proper career but been lost as to what to pursue and have just drifted really.

I recently helped a friend navigate probate for her family member as she couldn't afford solicitor fees and, being somewhat emotionally objective, I enjoyed the process and gaining knowledge (as well as supporting my friend) - also when DH and I bought our house I was fascinated with the process and enjoyed reading and understanding the legalities of the purchase.

Because of these experiences, am I being incredibly naive to think I could even consider studying law? It's a world away from an arts degree and I have never considered myself bright enough. But still, I feel pulled towards it.

At my age, is it far too late to embark on a career, let alone law? I admit I feel a bit ridiculous even considering it and I can't bring it up with anyone else for fear they'd laugh at me!

Just to throw another suggestion in there - what about something like compliance? Fewer barriers to entry and there is a real lack of good people!

I'm a lawyer, relatively late entry and complete change of direction in my thirties, had my daughter the same month I qualified! Have been doing it for 13 years now and I love it. After a bit of moving around I am in a lovely family owned law firm with a few branches in small market towns locally. Flexible and not too pressurised.
The way i got into it was working as a typist/secretary first which is how I learnt a lot (and different styles working for different people within the form), then got into it that way (I had to go off and do my conversion degree course then my GDL but managed to work a couple of days a week alongside that), so don't write off the typing/temping route as you will make valuable contacts and find out if it's really for you. Smaller firms better for this as the larger forms tend to have more rigid structures for progression (unusual to move from secretarial to Fee earning in a larger more corporate firm i ended up in family law as I discovered I personally loved family law.

I'm now trying to become a judge alongside my work, waiting to hear if I have been successful this time 🤞🏼

Ps I also had a traumatic childhood and my twenties were a bit if a 'lost decade' for me whilst I sorted myself out, then i stabilised when I met my DP in my early thirties. Life experience is useful for dealing with the difficult experiences my clients go through in family law as I have empathy and am non judgemental.

Been practicing for over a decade now, I would say look into a legal exec role if you want to be a lawyer as you can study, get paid and go all the way through to qualifying as a lawyer. One of my colleagues has just done this, they would never have been able to afford the traditional route of paying thousands to take the GDL/LPC (now SQE) to be in with the mix of thousands of others all at the same place.

Apprenticeships are quite new so not all firms are offering those.

Also huge shout out for compliance, I work in compliance now at my firm, really love it and there are loads more ways into that area and the recruitment market is good and has been all through the pandemic. Bonus of compliance is that you can look at financial services firms after a few years too. Those jobs are called things like ‘client intake assistant’.

Good luck!!!

What is your current academic profile and work experience, where are you based and what would your salary expectations be? What sort of hours would you consider working?

I think all of this can help you narrow down where to go next. I wouldn’t just start a law degree or conversion without considering all this in detail.

Plenty of people on my course were a lot older than you OP! And I trained alongside a gentleman who was in his fifties.

It might be a good idea to ask around for a firm that might offer you a bit of work experience - even a few days will give you a good feel for it, and help with your university application and future applications for training contracts etc.

It does go without saying that it’s a lot of hard work, and no guarantee of a good career at the end of it since law is very oversubscribed. But a law degree is a useful thing whether you go on to practice or not. And many law firms deliberately look out for law grads who aren’t 20-something cookie cutters, so you may actually find yourself well placed when it comes to job seeking.

Former lawyer here. It's certainly not too late but I found whilst I had a passion for the subject itself the day to day reality is very different. Pick your area carefully as it can very dry and dare I say boring.

I would second the ILEX route, easier to get into and earn as you learn. I'd just clarify in response to an earlier post that Legal Executives are fully qualified lawyers. I've worked with many and often they are far more experienced than solicitors.

Speaking as a lawyer I wouldn't! But maybe I've just been scarred.

It's a long process, it can be hard to get a training contract and the pay during traineeship is awful.

Also depending on where you live the work available might be really dull - exciting work tends to be in large cities.

It’s never too late! I have done something similar (but not in law). If you are truly passionate about something then follow your heart

Might be worth considering brushing up on any secretarial skills you have. Opens a wider door.