How much does a solicitor make?

[PurpleBugz]

Any education solicitors about?

I currently am taking LA to tribunal over my sons lack of education provision. I have a legal aid solicitor. She copies and pasted my words I to the documents most of the time. Twice I've corrected her on things as I know from other parents a certain thing is possible and which case law to quote. Twice she hasn't attended important meeting with the LA and she can't represent me on the actual day at tribunal as legal aid doesn't cover this- so I've done it myself. I'm not complaining as she is proof reading my work at least and I've had independent reports funded I could never have afforded otherwise.

I think once this hell is over I would love to be a solicitor. I understand everything I read I think I'm capable. I would do legal aid cases only as I don't think I could happily do the court part and keep my cool at how badly failed so many of these kids are. I want to help families like mine who can't afford the help otherwise. How much does a solicitor in education law doing legal aid make? How flexible is the job? Can you be part time? Obviously important meetings must be attended but other than that does the job fit around a family? How do you train? Could it be done distance learning? I'm a single mum with a high needs disabled child who will need me to be able to collect him on bad days etc so maybe I can't ever work but I really want to.

Thank you so much for this

but that poster is in Australia

I have two friends (both 30) who are solicitors in England.

One earns £30K and does legal aid. She's been in the job since she qualified. She has a 2:1 (Law, Oxford). Had to pay for all her qualifications herself

One earns £140K a year and works for a magic circle. She has a 1st, (Law, Oxford). Qualifications paid for by her firm.

They do similar hours (and historically have done) which involves very long days, nights and weekends. They both deal with challenging issues (one emotional and one just dealing with the arseholes who are clients). The only real differences that I see is that one can retire by the time she's 45 and she's also the one who didn't have to pay for training past her degree as the law firm funded it.

Law is expensive to get into, OP, and they want blood (regardless of who you work for). The training is horrible (you're talking 12-15 hour days if you actually want to qualify well and be employable rather than just scrape through). The cost of that training is extortionate and there's no degree of flexibility for a difficult home life or caring commitments.

It's great that you'd want to do legal aid work, but please don't underestimate the time commitment involved, the personal cost and the financial cost. It's not a career many go into - for good reason, it's hard and the reward is rarely worth the cost.

@StrawberryEater thank you your comment is immensely helpful

If I did bachelor of laws (hons) via the OU (4 years part time) and had a couple years experience in an admin/assistant legal role would this make me a good candidate? Would I then need the SQE on top?

Or is the diploma of higher education in law better to do than a bachelors? That's also 4 years part time via OU and manageable for me.

Do education legal aid firms take on volunteers looking to build some experience? I'd probably find this just as rewarding and possibly better as then if I'm unreliable because of my son it's more understandable/acceptable as I'm a volunteer

The entry ways into law have changed very recently and I'm no longer up to speed but the harsh reality is that it will be extremely difficult getting someone to take you on as a solicitor with a part time OU degree and then requiring massive flexibility due to family commitments when your competition for the role is a graduate with straight A stars at A level and a first from a top ranking university plus excellent work experience to demonstrate that they really know what they're letting themself in for and are truly committed enough to warrant the costly investment in their training.

To be a solicitor you have to have an incredibly good brain. There's no point pretending otherwise. When we are recruiting we therefore look at formal qualifications since these are a good way of indicating intellectual ability.

I'm sorry but in most cases you're unlikely to get very far with an OU degree, an attachment to a particular location and a requirement to work flexibly. There will be exceptions but they will be few and far between.

I agree with this. You will need to invest a huge amount of time and money doing the academic side on a gamble that someone will decide they want to train you for two years on the job before you even qualify. And then after all that there's no guarantee that anyone will want to hire you. There's huge competition and law is not easy intellectually; you need to pass exams in disciplines other than the ones you are interested in (such as land law, trusts and equity, crime etc). And if you do get a job, time keeping and being reliable and up to speed for clients is essential.

The post from Australia sounds lovely but I'm not sure it reflects the reality here sadly.

If I were you and I wanted to make a difference I wouldn't waste years of my life getting qualified for something that could be achieved using a different route (plus something that a lot of solicitors want to leave after a few years anyway). You clearly have a vocation to help so maybe see if there are quicker ways to get in the position to do so.

@PurpleBugz No one can be a solicitor without the SQE in one form or another. So you need to look up the routes into getting this qualification. Law diplomas won’t be very helpful. OU degree not really and as you have a degree, why not the law conversion course? I still think you see a solicitor as a niche role. When you train its general law. Therefore looking for a role with a charity might be better but again you only have your experience. It’s not a broad experience of education law. After qualification, you then specialise. You are years away from that though and it’s a slog to get there.

That's fair- from you and the previous poster- while my experience has been on balance positive and worth it, it is certainly context specific and it sounds like quite a different playing field in the UK these days. (Which tangentially is interesting- as we are always being recruited by UK big law recruitment!) I do hope OP is minded to the local feedback too.

My comment was meant more in the spirit of providing a story from someone who does not regret the career change in the slightest, as an old baby lawyer! I feel like the other side is so often aired, yet amongst those I went to law school with- and we were all mature aged students- we are now 2 ish years into legal practice and no-one regrets it.

I don't mean to demoralise the OP in doing something she really wants to and is passionate about, but I suppose its a dream with a big risk and expense attached, is not in any way an easy option and which might not get you where you want to be anyway. I just think people need to know what they are embarking on. It's brilliant it worked out for you though and really well done for doing it later on!! Impressed.

I have a legal background and work in education law, but came up through an alternative non-teaching route so am not a solicitor. There are increasingly posts in schools with the kind of responsibilities you describe, and which include being an internal EHCP lead (supporting schools with applications and the family liaison to get them through, and can include supporting families at tribunal) or SEN coordinating roles working with SENCos to put the right interventions in place and ensure expectations are met. There are also private SEN consultants now who are retained by families to help them navigate the processes and some are very good.

It's very rewarding but if you want something quickly and with full training I would recommend looking at EHCP writer posts close to you. They are about £250 a day, mostly remote and would open the door to other areas of work.

Why don't you do an educational psychology course? Can still help the same families and you're half way there with your bad

Funny you should suggest this actually as I was just starting that route when my son lost his school place due to his SEND. I have the relevant work experience and all qualifications needed to get onto the funded joint MA PhD course as my background is early year's education and just ended up I've got lots of SEN experience as I'm good with SEND kids. I can't train at this remotely however and since my son lost his school place, I've lost my job so don't have the recent experience anymore. My relationship also broke down and I've had to move house so travel to London or Birmingham where the course is offered isn't possible anymore 😔.

In the end I ruled it out as it's a lot of report writing and not much work directly with kids I didn't feel it would be as rewarding. I know solicitor/paralegal won't be work with kids but you stick with the family through the process not just dip in and out writing reports and advising schools so I feel this would still feel worthwhile.

Thanks EHCP writer may suit me actually I will look into it. Or SENDCo in early years setting as I have all I need qualifications for that already.

It's just the kids who have no access to education and no setting don't have access to these supports as not in a setting. I've met sooo many parents of kids like mine and with the worsening state of SEND education there will be increasing numbers of kids who literally only have their parents or the legal representation their parents can afford to get them their legal entitlement to education. It's this pool of children I most want to help.

I really want to thank everyone commenting. I'm finding the advice very helpful.

As you already have a degree, you don't need to do a law degree. You do a one year conversion course - the Graduate Diploma in Law. Approx cost £10k.

Back in my day we did a further one year course - the Legal Practice course. Followed by a two year training contract.

If you want to study whilst working, you should consider the SQE Solicitors Qualifying Exam.

I think it's easy to think you'd be a great lawyer simply because you've experienced a particular field in your personal life. The reality is that it's bloody hard work and very competitive.

Legal aid lawyers are the worst paid. I don't know anyone who'd want to work in legal aid. That's probably why yours is rather shit.

This is a good assessment. Law is difficult in all practice areas. And it is very competitive and unfriendly to family life.

If you want to work with the children most likely to be lost to the system, maybe SENDIASS?