Law as a mature student?

[bumblebee1987]

I'm probably having some sort of early (ish!) mid-life crisis, but I've been thinking a lot about doing a Law degree at the age of 36. It's something I planned to do when I was at school, then changed my mind and did an English degree, worked in publishing for years, then quit that when I had my children and subsequently set up my own business (totally unrelated field!) which I've been running for 7 years. I like my job, and my business is successful, but it's a young person's game and I cannot do it for much longer as it is pretty back breaking and physically I can't manage. I have very limited transferrable skills without retraining, and am used to a fairly decent income, so I'm really stuck with regards to what to do next?! (I don't want to employ anyone to carry on the business, if I can't do the job then I want out.)

I realise this sounds like I change my mind every five minutes about what I actually want to do! I really don't, I loved publishing but the pay was bad (for me anyway!), I never really felt like I was good at it, and I left because I had small children and wanted something more flexible at the time. I love my current job, but I'm running out of time to figure out what to do next because I'm physically broken!

So, is it mad to consider Law? My kids are bigger now and I can commit more time to studying. However, realistically The Open University is my only option. My husband isn't sure that an OU Law degree at my age would actually get me anywhere?!

Please be honest and brutal, I can take it 😂

I studied for an OU law degree and I really enjoyed it. If you study part-time, the OU recommends that 18 hours per week will be needed to follow the OU schedule. The year tends to run from Sept/Oct through to end of May/ beginning of June. You will have 2 weeks of non-study time at Christmas and Easter.

Are you interested in becoming a solicitor? The path to qualification changed recently so now, in order to qualify as a solicitor, you will need to be educated to degree level then study, and pass, the SQE1 and SQE2 exams. You will also need to gain experience in the legal field as a trainee, paralegal, legal adviser etc (this is called the period of recognised training). This means that you do not need to get a law degree, your English degree will be sufficient (I think that previously you would have needed to convert your English degree to a Law degree then studied for the LPC).

The most difficult part of qualifying as a solicitor is gaining the period of recognised training because you will need a placement in a law firm, legal dept etc to gain the experience.
Just to mention that, as far as I am aware, you cannot get student finance for the SQE exams but I think if you take a Masters you can get the SQE1 included in the Masters along with finance.

Also, at 36 it’s not too late.

Take a look at the SRA website for more info. Hopefully this helps.

@bumblebee1987 can I ask, op did you go for it? Your story is very similar to mine and I'm debating law at 35

Hello! I decided against it in the end, I think the uncertainty of whether i'd actually be any good at it, but also the potential years of earning very little money was too much of an issue. I decided to lose weight and get myself physically fitter to buy myself some time in my current job. Not a longterm solution by any stretch, so i'll be back to the drawing board soon, but it's working for now!

You should go for it though, don't be put off by me!