Law conversion degree

[Katherina198819]

I’m 38 years old and hold a BA, Master’s, and PhD in History. As academia has become a shrinking field, I’d like to retrain. I’ve always been interested in law, so I’m considering doing a law conversion degree.

I’m leaning toward the solicitor route, as I know becoming a barrister is extremely competitive and securing pupillage is difficult.

My questions are:

Do I need to secure a job in law before applying for a conversion course?

I’m happy to pay for the degree, but I don’t want to finish and end up with no job opportunities.

I’ve already applied for paralegal and legal secretary roles, but most postings ask for prior experience—which, ironically, no one seems willing to provide.

Has anyone here completed a law conversion degree? What’s the best way to approach it, and how can I realistically get my foot in the door?

I’m a solicitor, but qualified the old way about a decade ago. I did a law degree then the LPC plus CAB volunteering and pro bono law clinic before i even got in the door for an entry paralegal role. Getting from paralegal to qualified was even more competitive tbh. that was all before I was married with kids and I genuinely don’t know how I’d have managed it with kids in tow as I had to graft hard hours to get noticed at all.

Now im quite senior but AI is already been used more and more (by me too!) and im considering my 10yr plan as I expect I’ll be made redundant at some point. I work in house.

I do have experience—not specifically in law, but I have studied extremely hard, worked since I was 16, and gained a lot of transferable skills that can be applied in the legal field. I am not 18 and just starting out; the fact that I completed a PhD while working full-time, gave birth to two children, and cared for a father-in-law with dementia demonstrates that I can work very hard and manage multiple responsibilities. I don’t think that feeling unable to take on additional unpaid work should be seen as a lack of dedication.

Additionally, many people fresh out of university have little idea what a particular job entails. Does that mean no one can ever be hired without prior volunteer experience? I don’t believe so.

If my knowledge and experience are not considered sufficient for a minimum-wage secretary role, then that reflects on the assessment, not on my capabilities.

That is concerning about AI. But realistically, every job is at risk now, so I’m not sure which direction to take. I simply can’t afford—especially in terms of time—to invest my energy and resources into a dead-end field. I’ve spent my whole life building something, and now I find myself having to start over while carrying huge responsibilities and with very limited time.

In my recent experience, volunteering isn’t valued the way it used to be. Increasingly, only paid experience seems to count—perhaps because there are too many volunteers competing for the same opportunities. I don’t know if that’s the case in law specifically, but it’s certainly true in heritage, where many places no longer even accept new volunteers because they already have more than they need.

You might be aware already but the routes to qualification have changed. In some ways it is advantageous as the “qualifying work experience” can come from a wider variety of experience and not just a traditional training contract route.

That said, I personally wouldn’t undertake the SQE without having a training contract. Law is incredibly competitive and the sector is filled with people who already have their legal qualifications and relevant experience who still aren’t able to secure a TC. AI is also a consideration at this point.

I would look at getting some work experience as a first step to see if it’s something you definitely want to pursue.

There are a number of law firms in Newcastle but they don’t tend to take on trainees in huge numbers so it will be very competitive.

OP you talk about your excellent transferable research and data skills but honestly sounds like you have done little research on the SQE.

I am in the industry and I think the odds are again you for getting what you want, particularly outside London. You’re older, you’re overqualified and looking for part time. Unless your PhD is something that would help in a specialist field it will likely be more of a drag. When my team puts out a paralegal job ad we will typically get well over 100 candidates, at least half good calibre so a hard field to compete in. I would be pretty hesitant to pick someone who considers they are taking a step down to do this. Legal secretary roles are becoming a dying breed in many firms.

I would suggest having a look at financial services compliance, project management and corporate governance, they are typically a bit less competitive than law and have good prospects.

Law doesn't look down on volunteering, in fact most trainees come through vacation schemes (which are essentially two weeks of working without pay - i.e. volunteering!)

You will be up against graduates with perhaps multiple vacation scheme experiences, who have taken part in mooting competitions, shadowing judges, etc.

I think if you can't/won't do any of that, you stand no chance. I work at a mid(ish) size city firm, qualified almost 8 years ago. I took me 5 years to get a training contract - I had worked in finance for several years, completed two vacation schemes and worked as a Paralegal at a well respected London firm. I'm not worried AI is going to steal my job, but it is certainly being used more and more and will likely affect Paralegal and trainee roles.

That's all before you get into the demands once qualified. Billing targets, business development expectations, continuing professional development....

Honestly, in your position, I wouldn't bother. Sorry.

I did a law degree, where I did vacation scheme placements at law firms during the summer holidays, then the LPC. This was 20 years ago and even then competition for training contracts were fierce (it took my BIL 10 years to secure one, despite having extensive legal experience). I worked as legal administrator for a motor insurance company and then at a bank but still couldn't get a training contract so I changed careers and stayed in finance. The LPC was useful in helping me move from legal recoveries work to governance risk and compliance roles. For the last 2 years, I have worked as a HR investigator.

I understand that the route to qualification has changed but it still seems as competitive. 2 of my nieces both want to qualify as solicitors but are struggling to secure work experience whilst they submit their TC applications. 1 has finally secured a role as a legal assistant, while the other is still looking.

If you're unable to do any volunteering work in the legal field or secure a legal role for good work experience, then I think you should reconsider the SQE.

Have you considered regulatory roles? I'm an Environmental Health Officer, I spend my days knee deep in legislation, preparing cases for prosecution, going to court. An Environmental Health MSc would qualify you. It's a fascinating role. I'm happy to talk more about it if you like.

I did the law conversion course in 1998. Then the LPC. I believe that you don't need it anymore. If you have a degree already, in any subject, you can do an SQE which is the conversion and LPC in one. Im not sure if you need to be doing legal work already though to do this. The problem you will have is that you will.be competing with law graduates, fresh out of uni, who will work for free/ peanuts to get experience to try to get qualified. On the plus side, you have more life experience and a strong academic background.

The LPC itself is quite hard, simply because you are squashing 3 years of an LLB (core modules) into one year.

What area of law are you interested in? Because they are all totally different jobs. A legal aid solicitor doing care cases is a world away from a banking lawyer for example. What is it specifically that appeals to you?

Sorry, I meant the conversion is hard, not the LPC.

Do you know what being a solicitor actually involves & do you really want to be a solicitor? It can be very different in practice to what you might read.

In a private firm (private practice) you could well have a fulll day job plus a significant amount of business development to do as well (events, lunches, dinners) plus depending on where the clients are, travelling.

most law firms have high chargeable hours targets too

I worked with a lady who came to law from academia as a second career. She was utterly shocked (and tbh horrified) at the way people were treated - lack of development & support particularly.

Also it can be a very long hours culture

I’m not saying don’t do it but maybe find out some more about it first?

I retrained as a lawyer when I was a few years younger than you but still in my 30s. I got a training contract before starting the conversion course and this is desirable (and common) because the firm then pays your law school fees. What was then the GDL and LPC and is now the SQE are not really transferable to any other job so it’s a big expense to fund yourself without a training contract secured.

I had no work experience in law but my CV was good. These days it is very difficult to be considered without some form of relevant work experience, or an obviously transferable skill set, eg if applying to a firm that does a lot of life sciences work and you have a biomedical background.

Getting some experience as a legal secretary is a great idea. I have had 2 legal secretaries go on to secure training contracts at the firms we worked in at the time. Another thing you might do is ask your wider circle if they know any lawyers who would be willing to speak to you about the training process, tips and tricks for how to stand out in applications etc. I did this and 4 kind law firm partners gave up a bit of their time to talk to me on the phone. I think it helped make my applications more focused.

A personal tip from me would be to read and learn as much as you can about legal tech: e-disclosure software, use of AI like Harvey/Co-Pilot in law firms, etc. Anything by Richard Susskind (he has written several books and there are many YouTubes of him speaking) is excellent on this. Adoption of AI is changing how lawyers operate and understanding its use cases both now and how these may develop is key for all lawyers but especially those just starting out, in my view. Being able to show that you understand the business of law as opposed to just what the law is, is a good thing to do in applications and interviews.

You’re thinking of going to this effort and expense to be a legal secretary or para legal Op?

good grief, no.

check this out

www.nationalparalegalcollege.co.uk/

Thank you!Yes, I’m aware there are a lot of issues here, but I believe that would be the case in any new field for me. Overqualification is a huge challenge, plus the part-time — and as much as I know about law, part-time work isn’t really optional or desired in that field.Project management is something I’ve been considering — I believe there are still opportunities there, and it’s a role that actually benefit from AI.

This doesn’t really make sense op
what are you trying to say?

and Overqualification is a huge challenge,.
Are you saying that this is a concern of yours?

This is a very good post

Would you consider pgce and part time secondary school history teacher?

You’ve already been applying for paralegal and legal secretary roles despite zero experience or qualifications? Surely that would have involved you completely ignoring the job spec minimum requirements?

Ironically, CAB is one of the better places for part time work, and they often promote their volunteers. Doesn't pay well, but then generally neither do the roles you've been looking at.

I've been away from the coal face for a while too so don't have knowledge of the new routes to qualification. But in my experience (which may be different to many other people's experiences) as a solicitor, the paralegals are used as cheap, keen labour. Keen because they would want to impress the firm in the hope that they would be given in training contract in the next year's intake. Which they seldom did. That was one firm I worked in and I felt very very sorry for them. Very dispiriting for some that kept getting knocked back each year although had been encouraged to work hard in the hope of a training contract.

The firm I qualified in by contrast sponsored me through the LPC at law school and had no paralegals. So the cheap, keen labour was the trainees themselves who would definitely qualify in the two years. And then get taken on as a solicitor (or not). But it meant I got through the LPC with a job already sorted.

You need work experience in the legal sector. There's so many great law graduates and people applying for training contracts that amazing academic grades are a given. I'd suggest you need to show real interest in the profession or you probably won't get past the interview.

I'd also point out Newcastle has a very small legal sector. The economy is far smaller than say Leeds and so there is less work to do so less lawyers required. There are only a few full service firms in Newcastle and I don't know if they contribute to law school fees. Unlikely. There's also a huge number of applicants for roles.

because I have extensive experience with research, data collection,

really? I find that quite surprising on the basis of this thread

Have you considered other career options for example, accountancy or cyber security?

Can’t believe you wasted your time applying for legal secretary and paralegal roles. You must have completely ignored the job spec.