A question for lawyers

[Harriettah]

I think that i eventually want to become a lawyer, and would love to work in a magic circle firm. I'm currently in my final year of university.

I didn't apply for any training contracts or vacation schemes this application cycle because I was planning on taking a gap year after university. This has changed because I have been offered a role as a management consultant at one of the big companies.

I'm thinking that I could do a few years as a consultant, and then apply for law vacation schemes/training contracts if i decide to still go down this path, as I assume the consultancy experience might make me stand out? Will I have a greater chance of securing a training contract, especially with a big firm, if I have previous experience in consultancy? Does this sounds like a viable plan?

You'd be better asking this to be moved to Legal. I'm a lawyer, but definitely not magic circle so doubt I could help you much!

Sorry I didn't realise there was a legal section, I'll ask! Do you have any thoughts on my question from the perspective of a non magic-circle Law firm?

We'll move it for you now, OP.

I’m not MC either. Honestly though if law is what you love I would just crack on with that. Obviously I know lot of people who came in as a second career, but not after only a couple of years, and they didn’t start off in the first job knowing they would ditch after a couple of years

@namechange the problem is that I am not absolutely certain about law. I was thinking that if I did consultancy for a few years, then i'd gain some useful transferrable skills and be earning whilst thinking more about law. There's also a chance that I may love consultancy and not want to move to law I suppose.

Well fair enough if it’s a viable option for you then give it a go and see how you find it. As far as then applying for TCs goes, I’m not sure it’ll be an advantage or disadvantage. Lots of people love consulting though so hopefully you will!

Consulting will look good on your CV - the soft skills you will learn are highly transferable. Law as a second career is Do-able - go for it.

If you're not totally sure about law (not sure if this is what your degree is in?) then I wouldn't necessarily recommend it as a career. MC firms do take trainees who've had different careers first but you might want to think about going back to the bottom of the ladder/your plans for a family etc as the early years in private practice are brutal!

If you're not sure you want to do law and have a consultancy job lined up then stop worrying, focus on the job you do have and see what happens.

They’ll lap up blue chip management consultancy, esp if you work for some good corporate clients. Older trainees do well. But they won’t let that make allowances for academics, so make sure to get a high 2:1 or 1st.

I retrained in mid 30s, did a first degree in law, then postgrad diploma, eventually secured a training contract and qualified at 40 something. It was a good move for me, but tough going from 40k to 17k. I wouldn't have been able to afford the drop as I had school fees, but my new husband was pretty good and subsidised me for a while. I don't practice now as I retired at 52 to do fun things but it's certainly enriched my life in a non material sense.

I was a MC lawyer in the fairly recent past. I think they would like you with consultancy experience, but if you’re good enough for a good consulting job they’ll like you without the consultancy exp too so why bother. Lots of people don’t do a vac scheme so don’t worry about that. Realistically if you go to a good consultancy job you prob won’t career change to law because you won’t want to take the time out for law school, drop your salary or start again etc. So I’d work out which you would rather do and just go for that expecting to progress in that line / do normal sideways moves eg in house etc. If you need to change so be it, but I wouldn’t start with that as the plan. Good luck

I was at a big city firm. It sounds like you want to take the management consultancy job when you graduate. You could try that and also after a year apply for training contracts (do look up the rules as you may come under the new scheme qith exams called SQE1 and SQE2 I think they are called and when you apply may determine which system old or new you come under for law.

It would certainly not be held against you that you were a few years older than other people - I am presumably you are currently reading law.

Thank you for all the responses. I think I'm going to apply for the vacation schemes still open so I get a flavour of where I would enjoy being a lawyer, and take it from there.

Depending on which consultancy ( I assume one of the big 4) some have in house lawyers so they may even be able to offer a training contract of you do decide to switch.

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