Converting to law @ 40?

[jobhunter7]

Is it conceivable to retrain as a lawyer @ 40? Also would I have to fund the GDL myself or is there an chance I would get a training contract and how would I go about getting one?

What else would you bring to the table? You'll be in your mid forties by the time you're qualified... do you have other specialist business knowledge/experience to offer?

There is huge competition for training contracts. Particularly those that fund the GDL course. I was fortunate enough to get a training contract in the days when competition was no fierce. However, now I see people with stellar cvs not getting as far as interview.

I think that unless you have something remarkable to bring to the table, you are unlikely to get a training contract.

What area of law are you interested in?

What is your current line of work? What attracts you to law? And sorry to be so negative in my above post - just trying to be realistic

thanks. but i'd prefer to know. if I self-funded, would I likely be taking seriously after I did the gdl?

I don't think self-funding will make any difference to whether you're taken seriously or not or change the prospects for getting a training contract. The issue is that GDL only takes you forward if you get a training contract. You need to have a realistic prospect of getting a training contract before doing GDL.

I may be being thick here. the gist of what you said before is I was very unlikely to get funded to do the gdl. so there would be no point in paying for this myself in the hope I may get a training contract once I've passed it.

?

Yes, that's right.

It's really the training contract that's the issue. Without a training contract, there's no real point in doing the GDL.

Sorry if I'm not being clear.

I self-funded the GDL and LPC, and then just after I finished the LPC was offered a training contract. But I think these days, with the increase in the law school fees, I would work to secure a training contract before going to law school, if at all possible. You will then likely have the added benefit of having the fees paid for you, but even if not you at least know you are not wasting £20k on a course that you will never use again.

I don't think starting a career at 40 is necessarily a problem - many law firms appreciate the skills from other careers and I don't think that would necessarily put employers off. But it's just such a competitive field generally I would think carefully about getting into debt to go to law school unless you have confidence that you will be offered a training contract.

It may be worth reading more about the proposed changes to the qualification system which I believe are coming into force in 2020. I think the whole system will be changing anyway which may mean the GDL/training contract is not required anyway. I have to admit I've not looked into it much.

thanks for that. how do you go about securing a training contract? I guess it doesn't matter where I live and the yellow pages is full of law firms. where does one begin?

Out of curiosity, why have you decided to take this step now? And what job would you be switching from?

teetering on whether to take such a step. just wanted some more info. this all very helpful though.

Go the websites of each law firm, they will often have a recruitment page and will tell you if they are taking on trainees and how to apply.

I would suggest you think about what kind of law you want to do, and the type of firm you want to work in e.g. banking law in the City or normal high street firm, and start from there. Chambers and Partners is a good starting point for looking at the larger firms. Roll On Friday is also a good website if you are looking for inside information on the larger firms.

To be honest, I had a rather indirect route - I was a paralegal for 3 years before leaving and taking myself back to law school. Even then I didn't get far with training contracts until I was part way through the LPC and had some solid 'proof' that I was good through my law school grades. However, I was mainly applying for City law firms so the competition was likely to be higher for those types of firms.

I would try and get as much work experience as you can, even if it's voluntary. It's a bit tricky to do a vacation scheme when you are probably already in a full time job, but I think having some kind of work experience in providing advice (if you don't do that currently) would be useful.