Am I too old?

[user1472151176]

I'm nearly 40 and considering training to become a solicitor or lawyer. I would be completely starting from scratch. I work part time and have 2 kids in primary school. I am looking at studying with the open University. Am I completely bonkers? Does anyone have any advice or gems of wisdom?

@Myotherusernamesafunnyone And I, will have to agree to disagree! I too am at the Bar, and have sat on our pupillage committee many times, and we do see quite a spread of people on second careers. The ones that are successful are excellent- but I don’t know that the OP isn’t! A former member of chambers recently went up to the High Court bench, and she was on a second career when she came to the Bar…

I retrained as a solicitor in my 30s, was a single mum of a 2 and 4 year old when I started. I was 34 when I qualified and I wasn't the oldest in my trainee cohort, so it is definitely a done thing to train and qualify as a lawyer later in life.

I already had a (non-law) degree so did GDL and LPC. I made sure to get a training contract before I started, as most London and regional firms will pay your own school fees. There is no point paying for it yourself in the hope of getting a TC later, unless you can afford to burn that kind of money (I believe upwards of £20k now). As many have said, the market is massively oversupplied and there are loads of people paralegalling for years after completing the LPC (now SQE) in hope of landing a TC. So I wouldn't bother starting without the TC in the bag.

I'm now a partner in a London firm. I am well paid by normal standards but not at all well paid for the hours/stress involved. I do enjoy practising law, but if I could start again I would do something different, specifically, start my own business doing something else. Most of my clients are entrepreneurs and they make money I couldn't dream of even if I became an equity partner at a US firm.

If I was dead set on going into law now, I would consider alternative routes such as CILEX, as others have suggested.

*will pay your LAW school fees.

No experience of it personally but my former colleague (early 40s) is training as a lawyer. She's struggling to find placements as it seems there is a preference for younger students. She said she wasn't expecting the volume of work to get through either (and she is one of the most studious, intelligent and diligent people I know). And she doesn't have DC.

Not to put you off but it's certainly a challenging path from the sounds of it.

It's an exceptionally hard road to follow.

I would really look into this before starting to plan. Check how much the College of Law costs, find out about the chances of a placement. Ask for advice at a firm of Solicitors. Buy the Legal Gazette see who advertises jobs, get a feel for the profession.
Open University, The College of Law then a placement then a job. This will be tough and you will need to be fully committed.

Bad idea. And I’m all for ‘you only live once’.

you won’t make the money or prestige you are dreaming goes with this career. And will have wasted a lot of time and money, blood, sweat and tears in the process.

I agreed that the bar is more open to mature students. But it is misleading and poor advice to suggest that it is somehow an easier route into the legal profession. I too have been on our pupillage committee and in fact have my own pupil now. But I stand by the fact that it isn’t helpful to lead someone in the op’s position into thinking that they could just ‘become a barrister’ as it would be a better or easier (!) choice than a solicitor. And it’s very dangerous to advise in the hope/ expectation that they might be exceptional. They might not. Those of us in the job know how tough getting here is and should be honest about that to people considering it; they deserve to know the impact it will have on them and their family before deciding if it’s worth it for the end result.

@Myotherusernamesafunnyone

You’re right of course - I’ve always just been far too optimistic by nature, forget I only ever see decent candidates who won’t be reflective of society as a whole (and am commenting on MN and was just throwing out suggestions which I wouldn’t expect someone to base a serious life decision on…)

I perhaps ought to have said though, that my optimism is coloured by the fact that I went to the Bar after having had 2 kids, doing the Bar course over two years while a single mum also working as a paralegal at the time (but I did already have the law degree). And I didn’t find it that hard to get pupillage. And of my cohort from the Bar course (which being part time attracted different types of entrants), my two good friends were both mature students who both got pupillage within another year of completing the Bar course and have excellent careers at the Bar now - one with kids, one without.

So my own experience is that is absolutely can be done. But you’re right, I probably shouldn’t sow what might be false hope. But as I’ve said - I’m an optimist!

I was seriously considering the same as you, OP. I don't have children and I do have a degree, but I came to the conclusion that it just wasn't worth the risk to invest so much time/money into a career that is hugely over-saturated with graduates. I think unless you have contacts and can gain a position, it's fruitless. Some great honest advice from PP.

Thank you so much to everyone for your honest advice. Slightly disheartened by all the negative feedback but I truly appreciate the eye opening. I clearly need to research this career further before making any definitive decisions. Maybe I was too caught up in the idea of studying law which has always interested me that I didn't really look to the bigger picture. You have all been amazing with your advice, thank you.

Honestly you'd be mad Op if you actually plan on working in the field. It's absolutely cut throat industry filled with brilliant energetic youngsters with firsts from top class universities and the chances of a law firm taking on a 46 year old graduate are really slim.
I think there are loads of re skilling opportunities that would be better and more lucrative than that.

The reality is, unless you’re in a local area with strong links to a good non-RG university, then virtually everyone has a degree from an RG as a minimum. OU just isn’t going to cut it, or at least not sufficiently to give you and your children security.

The hours are long, and get longer, flexibility is non-existent. If work comes it and it’s time sensitive, it gets done there and then. So you need a cast iron childcare plan. You need to choose your area of law carefully. I tend to be busy in sprint to autumn months so as you can imagine, childcare nightmare. And I spend that time pandering to clients who behave like totally entitled spoiled brats.

I’ve spent the last ten years up at the crack of dawn at least once a week (pre pandemic) to get public transport to a court miles from home for a hearing lasting minutes sometimes. I can’t afford a cab or to drive (though often courts are in the middle of nowhere or have no parking) even though I’m in an area of law that is paid reasonably well. God knows what it’s like for criminal or family solicitors.

Then I look at my friends from my old career than have had an extra ten or so years on the ladder and with pension and employment continuity and honestly, I’m very jealous.

I wish I’d come onto a forum like this when I considered changing in my early thirties. I wouldn’t have wasted my time or my money.

I would strongly recommend exploring other means of doing legalistic work without the sheer slog of becoming a solicitor or equivalent. Think about things like contract management, company secretary roles. Scratch the itch without throwing away the next ten years of your life getting into debt and stressed to the max, and maybe the ten years after that pandering to adult babies.

It is the training contract that will be near impossible to get as pp have said.
I was a Solicitor in a average size practice and nobody and I mean nobody had their requests for a training contract got any further than the receptionist bin.
Receptionist would open said request and bin without forwarding to the partners, obviously she had been told to do this the firm did not want trainees.