Don't want to be a solicitor any more - but what else?

[sohackedoff]

Hi. I'm a solicitor who got made redundant (worked in property, so the recession was the death of it!) but now need to get back to work. I definitely don't want to work as a solicitor again, even in another field. Has anyone managed to retrain successfully? Any suggestions would be gratefully received. Thanks.

Any ideas what you might fancy doing?
Can you afford to spend time retraining? Do you need to be earning while you train?

Wish I knew I'm a former family lawyer who took a 2 year career break which turned into 6 years. kept up with CPD but don't imagine anyone will want to give me a job having been out of practice for so long.

Wish I knew what I could do
Good luck

I am a solicitor but just started my own business (selling 50s style wedding dresses & accessories - online and shortly opening home-based studio for trying on). I wanted to do something I enjoyed and cared about. I am still working 4 days a week in a small firm and it's ok I guess, but I don't want to be doing it in another year. I will start properly marketing etc soon and am hoping things will take off.

I have a 15 month old and want another baby hopefully in a year or two, and by then I would like to be able to do my own stuff and not go back to law. In that spirit, I'm starting a make up artistry course next week and would like to branch out into mobile wedding make up etc (if I'm any good at it...) Might also do a hair styling course if I can find time... There just aren't enough hours in the day.

There are an absolutely astonishing range of courses available out there - what would you ideally like to do?

Agree with emsyj. Is there anything you'd really like to do? Something you feel passionate about?

I'm just about to leave my City firm to write full-time. No real idea how it'll pan out. I have some form, as it were, but trying to make some sort of a living will add different pressures even though I'm lucky enough not to need to earn loads - or, indeed, anything at first.

I suppose, to some extent, your need (or not) to earn a living of whatever standard will influence what you do but do think about what you enjoy doing already (hobbies etc) or what interests and engages you and whether it might be possible to turn that something into a new career.

I was hoping someone might have some ideas on this thread. Not have practised for a year I'm actually missing the intellectual challenge - which I never thought I would say.

Of course, I'm not missing timesheets, management meetings, overly demanding clients, unpleasant colleagues, proofreading, other lawyers.....

I'm actually seriously looking into retraining as a legal mediator - which I think I could combine with other creative interests. I don't really know how you would get started though.

What is your practice area Unreasonablyfedup? A while ago on here someone suggested to me applying to be a District Judge. If you have enough PQE (think is min 7 years) might be worth a look?

Thanks emsyj. That's something I would have been interested in - but to complicate matters I am now living in different jurisdiction (north of Carlisle!) so probably not possible, even for the northern circuits - as am about to have a baby any second now so travel would be difficult. And I'd have to practise for 10 years before I would be eligible up here.

I'm beginning to think I'll have to get a job up here for a bit - assuming I can find one - and then move on from there. Or do something else entirely different.

OP - I do know a couple of people who have left to do different things. One is retraining as a life coach. The other runs her own business - but legal related. She is actually now trying to get back into practice as she works harder than she did when a solicitor.

We should start a support group. I read this thread and thought I could have written exactly the same thing. My problem is I have difficulty thinking outside 'the professions' - and there must be more to life than being a lawyer or a teacher or an accountant.

In an ideal ideal world I guess I'd love to run a tea shop, or be a florist. I have had the sad realisation that there's nothing I can do that will make me nearly as much money as I earn now, and whilst it's not majorly important how much I earn, I think I attach too much importance to my profession as part of my identity.

Has anyone tried consulting a careers advisor? Do they provide advice to adults? I'm not entirely sure that I'd know what questions to ask. It's nice to know other people are in the same boat though, I guess.

nice - I have considered both the tea shop and the floristry . Maybe combine both and you could have a nice business, especially somewhere in West London.

stay in the law but do a non fee earning job - either for a legal publisher, or in house or in a firm. Totally different vibe, and v. good money for v. little stress. Retraining is time consuming, expenisve, and few areas are as well paid as the law. There are loads of things a qualified lawyer can do.

I'm a solicitor but starting my own franchise business doing cookery parties and workshops with children. Also doing a few hours in a local coffee shop to keep things ticking over. I just wanted to get out of the legal profession, and sedentary office work altogether.

fairyteapot I went in-house and local and whereas the job when it started was not stressful the workload built and built and did become very stressful. But the source of my stress was also that I hated the work as well as the volume of it. Went into the legal profession thinking someday it would all click but it never did.

I think it's important to establish whether you want to move into another legal area or role, or quasi legal role or leave the profession altogether.

Apparently careers advisors see a lot of solicitors wanting to change their job.

Oh god I could definitely have written OPs post. I'm on a career break at the moment but I really don't want to return. It's bad for my confidence and stress levels and I feel like I'm wasting my life with it.It's not that I want to do something mega fulfilling (though that would be wonderful), just something that didn't deaden me.

Been thinking about getting a baby product manufactured, but actually I just want to be with my daughter so am considering setting up as a childminder with a eco/montessori twist.

Any other lost legal souls out there?

Waves to Sariska - missing the MMMS, computer been down plus was taking a break from it as hooked!

This isn't exactly on topic, but I'm reading these posts as a fellow lawyer and I'm fascinated that as a profession, we seem to have such a significant number of people (men and women) who don't seem to enjoy practising law. Personally, I like many aspects of my job, but I'm really interested to know what you think turns people off a career in law? Is it that the practice of law is uninteresting/more mundane than you thought when you got into it? Or is it all the other stuff - client demands, partnership politics,etc?

I was a solicitor but now am a kiltmaker. Do miss some of the client contact, and using my brain in a particular way from time to time, but I absolutely love running my own business, and the challenge of that.

Fits in well with having 2 (soon to be 3 dc), and although at times I feel as if I actually work harder, I also love the direct link between hard work and profit, rather than making money for the big bosses.

Chum of mine trained and qualified as a lawyer and now works in legal compliance.
In an area closer to where I work myself, a few ex-solicitors have cropped up doing local authority work, in highways/rights of way and are exceptionally good at it - bit of a drop in pay though probably.

Oh god, I could have written the OP's post. Property finance, made redundant (which I was happy about), had baby and I'm now on maternity leave, 'cept it isn't really maternity leave, with no existing job to go back to. I have no idea what to do now, except I want to use my brain and have two degrees from top universities and Magic Circle training/experience. I like the idea of a support group for solicitors - I'd join.

I have no wish to return to the City, but in-house legal jobs are like hen's teeth, are usually on a contractor basis and are almost always based outside the M25 and I'm in central London. I've tried keeping an eye on the Government Legal Service website and Courts Service, even when in private practice and nothing came up.

Hgirl1974 - lawyers generally hate law because it is such a family unfriendly profession with enormous billing pressures on fee earners, which makes them work enormous hours. I have my own theories about why this is, but it all stems from the stupidity/inflexibility of flat partnership as a business model and career aspiration and billable hours as the basis for revenue generation.

and would add "up or out" policy to that list of unfriendly practices. In City firms you are generally forced out of your job anyway unless you become a partner. No respect for age and wisdom ;-)

I like the client side of law, and the intellectual stimulation, but dislike the monotony, the fact that you have to record how every minute of your day is spent, and the working environment that stems from everyone around you feeling pressured and stressed. Also the ultimate pointlessness of it all. I would love to do something which I feel has some social worth, I just don't see the POINT of being a lawyer, except to pay the mortgage and to generate fees to pay the even bigger mortgages of the partners.