Local authority or not for profit?

[GHIHRU2021]

Hi, just looking for a bit of advice really. I have been offered a full time role at a local authority condensed into 4 days. I am currently working at a not for profit full time condensed to 4 days but it is very accommodating. I’m a lawyer. They understand I have a young child and they give me all the space and help I need at the not for profit and I am progressing but slowly. I am also taking on a lot more project work but I feel my legal skills are being affected. I have a 2 year old and I feel I am not giving her enough time. I work in the office 2 days and 2 days at home but by the time friday rolls around I’m exhausted.

The new role is better pay, they offer flexible working but I would be doing 9.5 days fours days a week, 2 days in the office. Should I be trying to gain skills or stay in a job where I am comfortable just to keep my foot in the profession? If I could I would love to go part time and be home more with my 2 year old but that’s not an option atm as we need the money. Any thoughts?

Public service has few guarantees these days. Not for profit had even fewer. But the local authority will usually be flexible, and the pension your don't find in not for profit ( and possibly not the sick pay, etc either). Personally, despite hearing that you need the money I would go with the local authority job and ask if you can drop a few hours for the first year - dropping 1.5 hours a day, or 6 hours a week, isn't an awful hit, especially if the pay is better. If they agree you could both review the arrangement in a year.

I'd be surprised in the LA weren't flexible.
I suspect bring a lawyer is one of the more secure roles in an LA.

Thank you so much both for the replies. And yes I suppose I could ask to drop a few hours per day and that would help a lot. Maybe I am just overthinking and new job nerves are getting to me!

When you say your legal skills are being affected do you mean you aren't doing 100% legal work in the NFP org? This would be a deal breaker for me and I would definitely look at the LA(in a LA legal role myself). The only thing I would say about lawyer roles in LAs is that it's dead men's shoes. There's no career progression whatsoever other than through the salary grades but not eg solicitor, associate, principal, director etc as you would get in PP.

thank you. I am doing legal work maybe 50% of the time. I have 1 year PQE so
really worried about not utilising my skills and enhancing them as I seem to
be heading towards a project management role unintentionally.

I'd go LA. Flexible in general and better pension. Then when your child is older you can reassess.

Hmm that would definitely bother me especially being relatively newly qualified. What's the reason you are only doing legal work half the time? Is there not enough legal work to do? If that's the case could you be seconded to another department to do their legal work half the week? Or is stuff being sent externally that you could try to pick up?
Do you have an appraisal or 1 to 1 booked soon? Definitely worth raising it with your manager.

LA pension will be chunky on top of that.

And you can usually work v flexibly in LA. I was a LA lawyer for a long time and worked pretty much whatever pattern I wanted, I must have changed my hours/pattern about 10 times in the 7 years I was there!

If you want to PM me about being a lawyer in LA I am happy to chat more.

It depends on the authority. We had about 8 grades we could progress through as lawyers - and t was a career grade structure