Have you retrained for a career in Law? Advice needed??

[honkytonk]

The title says it all really.

I have a previous career in social care sector as a manager. I have an MA and Degree. Since having children I have been contemplating a career change and have been looking in to Law. I would be interested to hear from people who are Lawyers or if people have retrained from other careers.

Has anyone else retrained and what were your experiences etc?

What does your working week look like?

TIA

i work in a solicitors office (not a solicitor - somewhere between a fee earner and a secretary!) working week for a solicitor is 9-5 in the office and about two to three hours most nights at home, depending what you want out of it. we have a couple of solicitors who only work 9-5 but the partners hassle them about targets etc and there is no chance of them making partnership. you have to get your law degree and then get a training contract (which doesnt pay very much - about £16000 in most places). then its up to the firm as to whether they keep you on or not - there is no guarantee so you have to be prepared to put a lot of hours in for no extra money. you will find you will be asked to cover all aspects of law (certainly have to for your training period) and you may not be able to continue doing what you want, ie family, crime. we have a trainee who is doing crime just because it meant he could work as a solicitor and not because he wanted to do crime. he does have the option once fully qualified to move to another firm if he wants

not sure about the situation when retraining specifically

I was a city solicitor. What type of law do you want to do? Where? Solicitor or barrister? Lots of years training and studying for either with generally long hours although some areas worse than others. Happy to answer any qs

There's currently a shortage of training contracts with employers - which you will need in order to complete your law qualification. The careers section of the Law Society website lays it out: www.lawsociety.org.uk/home.law.

hi

I went back to uni did the law degree and the diploma in legal practice.

I didnt mind doing the law degree itself I just wished i didnt bother with the diploma.

Traineeships are so hard to find and you only have 2 years to find your traineeship after completing it or the diploma expires :(.

Im struggling and i know quite a few people in the same boat as me.

And now im basically regreting doing the diploma and spending all that money £5000, time, effort, plus travel expense and studying all those long hours for a useless piece of paper.

At the time after finishing the law degree i was being offered a quite a good job with an accounts firm. And i opted to do the diploma instead to become that so called lawyer. Now i regret that choice wish i stuck to the job oppurtunity at the time, because now i have a LO and part time work is so hard to come by... could have worked gone on mat leave and still had a part time job to go back to.

sorry for the rant!!!

I would advise get some work experience in a law office beforehand. Its 4/5 years of long hard studying then 2 years working your ass off as a trainee then all the long hours in the office to maintain your lawyer title.

Jobs market is vile for trainee solicitors at the moment (or was a year ago certainly) - there seem to be loads of people with qualifications marking time doing unpaid shifts at the CAB just to brush up their cvs and get a little bit of experience.

So be very cautious, but OTOH a legal qualification of some sort can be a very useful additional selling point in many careers, so it's not necessarily a bad idea if you plan all your options carefully. (I switched from law to a totally different career).

Thanks for the replies.

I would be switching from a completely different career altogether.

I have contemplated doing an intro to Law with the OU (W100 Rules, rights and justice course)to get a flavour of what is involved as it is something I have been interested in but never really pursued. Hence I wanted an honest picture of what it is like. This has helped a lot.

I am not sure what area I would like to work in as still in the stages of considering it as a career change!

Other replies would be most welcome.

Hi,
I'm a 2 year qualified lawyer and whilst I enjoyed my job before having dc it isnt the most family friendly career. I know a lot of women that either go to the public sector or change careers due to finding it hard to balance the two. If you already have a degree you'll need to do a one year conversion course (CPE) and then the LPC. Tuition fees for these two are around £16k combined. If you don't have a degree you'll need to do a law degree then LPC. After this you need to do a 2 year training contect with a firm (for which you get paid) Firms often sponsor people for the CPE / LPC when you sign up for a training contract and I'd strongly advise you don't undertake the course(s) without a training contract signed. As to hours this varies massively between firms and practice areas. Generally city firms (London) have the longest hours followed by regional firms and then high street firms. The pay is also correspondingly less though (trainees in city firms can earn £40k plus more like £16k in high st firms). In commercial city and regional firms there are some areas with more predictable hours (eg property). High street firms (which do eg conveyancing,family, crime) are more likely to be 9-5. I'd say you have to be really passionate to do it due to the cost and time. Another possible option is ILEX (legal executive). This route enables you to train whilst earning and you can eventually become a solicitor. Best of luck.

Thanks csla that is really helpful. It sounds like things vary widely and it is worth doing your research!

Hi I did a law degree part time at night class, it took four years. I used my degree to get a promotion in my current job rather than go into law. I know too many people who work in law and do very long hours for no more pay than I get. Also I would have had to start at the bottom despite having a degree and do my time. wasnt worth it! I loved studying though and really enjoyed doing the degree. I work in higher education and would say that any degree is worth doing especially in the current job market, despite what people say!