To be a teacher who is now looking for a career as a barrister or a solicitor

[Amammai]

I’m posting from a point of the complete unknown.

Would a move from being a primary school teacher (18 years experience) to a solicitor or barrister be a completely ridiculous move?

An Instagram recruitment post from the CPS caught my eye and I’m now down a rabbit hole of research. Something about these roles has really caught my interest and I think this could be a potential career pathway for me.

There are many aspects of teaching I still love but after 18 years, I am questioning how much more I can give to the role.

So, has anyone trained as a solicitor or barrister at a ‘later point’ (I’m 40!) Would the move from teaching be doable? Am I kidding myself I could actually do it??

No desire to be a junior and it's so mega competitive t meat grads who have firsts and tons of volunteering don't get anywhere. And they are happy work until 2am as no kids etc.

This. Applies to solicitors as well as the bar. I employ paralegals who have stellar academics, great experience and loads of "extras". Their CV's knock mine at their stage into a cocked hat. They are earning 25 - 30k, work insanely hard for it and all want a training contract (but not all will get one).

I blame the LPC/GDPL providers who are happy to take the money and churn-out ever more qualified candidates to add to the existing crowds of people chasing down fewer and fewer opportunities to qualify. It's sad, but true, to say that AI drafts and researches far better than the average first seat trainee.

SQE (or even CILEX) is probably a better option in terms of avoiding debt, but certainly SQE has not been warmly embraced by the profession or its candidates and I believe has a 40% failure rate. It's been poorly implemented and I read that it has further damaged the SRA's reputation (already pretty poorly regarded for its tendency to be overly punitive towards juniors making errors).

I don't see solicitor and barrister as remotely similar jobs, so I don't think you've done any research at all.

To be fair, depending on the field of specialism, and the type of firm, there are crossovers between the two different jobs.

I have direct experience of this. Been teaching since 2011 and worked way up to leadership level. I saw the same advert as you one year ago and I applied and got an entry level job in the CPS. It has been a tough personal transition as there has been a large pay cut and also I am in a whole new world/industry. However, I will never go back to teaching after this. Working for the CPS you get treated completely differently. Everyone is so accommodating, you get alot of training before you even start the job and from day 1 they talk to you about your goals and how you want to progress. Once you are in, you learn about the many different and varied routes you can take (and that they will support you to take) to qualify as a solicitor or barrister. So despite what people are saying, it is perfectly possible to change career from teacher to solicitor or barrister. I even know a primary school teacher who has done it and is really happy as a solicitor now.

As I said, my role is entry level and I am not sure if I would ever want to progress further because I have a young family and want to concentrate on them for the time being. The only draw backs are the pay cut and the lack of holidays but it is way way way more flexible than being a teacher. My start and end times are flexible and I can work from home some days. I also have flexi time so can 'owe' hours back if needed. If you really want to do it then please dont let comments put you off. Just be informed and clear about what will and wont work for you. As I said, I know I have made the right move and will not go back to teaching. Yes the CPS is underfunded but honestly I would say it is way better funded than any school I have ever worked in. As a teacher you will know that we often dip into our own pockets to buy supplies etc. Well in my new job, anything I spend money on in order to accommodate a request from my boss that takes me outside of my normal working place is reimbursed. Everything I have asked for (supplies/IT etc) has been granted. I have a £350 learning allowance that I can spend on any training I think is useful to me. I have access to law journals and subscriptions to research papers/organisations etc. Compare this to when I worked in a school and was teaching phonics and the school refused to send me on the phonics training saying I could just learn as I go.

People say the law is not family friendly but neither is teaching in my experience. My last teaching job interview, I was directly asked if I had childcare arrangements in place because the headteacher would not like it if I needed too much time off if my kids were ill or needed picking up early from school (I still wonder if she would've asked a man the same question). As a teacher, you are not able to drop kids to school or pick them up in most cases, or be there for assemblies and sports days (unless you work part time). The law may not be family friendly but I think the Civil Service and Local Government is so if you can get into one of those organisations then that will help I think.

If she's got nearly 20 years experience and responsibilities beyond class teacher that might not be the case. UPS Plus TLR for example would be a 50k salary.
I know there some very highly paid lawyers but depending on your location etc, my understanding is that starting salaries outside the very competitive big city forms are below 30k.
Not saying she won't have the potential to increase that but I think it might not be that straightforward if you can't relocate, have to leave for childcare pick ups etc.

Don't do it OP. Change career by all means, but law isn't a great choice.

A.I will mean huge redundancies in this area of work over the next few years. By the time you qualify the world is going to look very different. The legal profession is going to be one of the sectors most affected by this technology.

Imagine it's 2010 and you're thinking of investing your life savings into buying a Blockbuster franchise . . . .

Are you a lawyer? This is incredibly unlikely. While AI might dramatically changed how legal research is done or how administrative tasks (not usually done by the lawyers themselves) are completed, law is no more likely to go bust as a profession than anything else really, especially in the short term. Not least because the courts take a very dim view to AI at this stage.

My husband is a barrister, he worked at the junior criminal bar for a year before going to work for the government legal service. Criminal barristers earn so little money at the junior end it’s unreal. - I don’t think he earned enough to pay income tax that year. You are self employed and, at least at first, only get cases on an evening before the trial at the magistrate the next morning. Shit pay and shit working conditions.

hes still a barrister but happy working in the civil service. I was a solicitor for over 10 years and a mow retraining to be a teacher, so…. Might tell you what you need to know!!

its not court work, it’s the research and drafting and low end negotiation.

This will impact the junior end and if you can’t get in to be junior you can’t get in.

I qualified as a solicitor on the early 90s and throughout my career the demand for qualified solicitors has diminished because it’s now possible to create template letters so easily.

So a huge uptick in factory like law providers, with few qualified people and one or two qualified people to oversee. It’s pretty much seen off the high street solicitor practice

Go for it, if it has really grabbed you ... always best to follow what your gut instinct tells you 😀
Good luck, I hope it all works out for you.

I respect your experience in your space and wouldn't seek to argue against it.

But would just note OP is also looking at becoming a barrister. And I am not sure about the UK (I work in a similar but different jurisdiction) but court-based solicitor roles (like mine- duty lawyer) have very limited interaction with AI at present. So there are spaces where keen and smart people might find themselves thriving, yet.

Sure there are. But due to my vintage I see there are far fewer opportunities than there were and I think that trend will only continue due to AI.

If someone has a passion for the law I think they should pursue it, but it’s very over supplied with would be lawyers.

Non criminal barristers earn a bloody fortune!

They really don't. In most areas of law pay is down significantly over the past few decades in real terms. For example, the rates paid to barristers by the Government Legal Department for work for the govt were fixed in about 1997, and haven't gone up a penny since. Pay in family, immigration, housing, all those sorts of areas, isn't high at all.

Fees in some areas are very high indeed. Top commercial / tax / chancery barristers do command very high fees. Juniors in those areas do pretty well, too. But there's a significant number of barristers who earn a small percentage of a fortune.

Barristers' fees don't equal income, either. It's like equating the amount a taxi driver takes in fares with a salary. They pay Chambers rent / costs, travel, IT, training, insurance, certificates, all of that out of it.

I’ve been through this myself. I was a teacher before deciding to study for the GDL, and I have no idea where Mumsnetters get the notion that competition is so fierce yo out you off or that 20-year-olds without children have the upper hand.

In reality, being a mother with over a decade of professional experience gave me a significant advantage. I was the most proactive, well-equipped to handle difficult situations, and fully prepared for the challenges of the profession. Other solicitors treated me as an equal because I was their age, not a fresh graduate.

You’d be surprised how many newly qualified solicitors are hesitant to pick up the phone or navigate tough conversations.

You’ve got this, OP! Don’t let people here discourage you. They don’t seem to have real-world experience.

That's crazy. In Aus counsel with a mixed practice could reasonably expect to earn around $300-500k AUD (I think AUD about double GBP) within give or take 5 years of practice.

Read the Secret Barrister book to understand more about the CPS. Very eye-opening.

Doing work for them felt like being in an abusive relationship.

The key for barristers is to not do work for the government. No legal aid work. All private work. Absolutely no criminal work. They must be good with solicitors and clients to keep the work rolling in. A teacher could definitely look at family law. The op would have to fund the conversion course and training course but there are scholarships available from the inns of court. Earnings are way higher than teaching but you must be in the right chambers doing the right work. DD is a family barrister and earns a lot - London. There’s long days to consider though and getting a pupillage is hard. There is considerable travel
too.

I don’t know about the CPS. A barrister cannot practice unless they complete pupillage but I’m not sure how the employed bar works. For DD doing the 2 courses wasn’t enough to practice.

This isn't true unless op wants to work in city law. Most law jobs are harder work and less money than teaching. Also it's much more competitive in terms of getting training and decent jobs.

Yes me too. For the security and short hours. Law is very demanding

I used to work for a conveyancing factory. They started using AI. I can see how it will make a difference at the simpler end of things.

@Amammai I work at a law firm and all the barristers we instruct earn plennnty trust me!!!

Hi 👋

I am a barrister, although not in criminal law (too last minute and poorly paid for me, although I have friends who love it). Have been for 15 yrs.
Barristers do mini (3-5 day long) work experiences called "mini pupillage", to give students etc a taste of being in the job with no commitment. I recently had one such mini pupil who was a teacher, thinking of moving after about 10 years in the job. He came during school holidays so didn't have to take leave. I don't know if he preferred my job or his but it was hopefully at least a decent taster!
Search "criminal mini pupillage" and see if any options in your area. Avoid any which are "assessed" (most aren't) as you'd struggle to do that pre-law school and they're part of the formal application process.
You can also, for free and with no planning, just go any sit in on your local crown court & observe a couple of days' hearings! It's an easy way to get a taste of at least the court side of it.
Good luck, with whatever you do :)

Depends what kind of law you do. If you do crime / family and it's legal aid it might well be less than a teacher!

Any decent family barrister earns more than a teacher! If you specialise in divorce you certainly should! Some little backstreet solicitors is another matter. As I said doing legal aid work is barely paying the bills!