What’s it like being a solicitor?

[wildblue07]

Is anyone currently working as a solicitor who could share how they find this as a career? Do you enjoy it? What’s the work load like? How is the work life balance? Is it feasible with a young family?

I’m currently a primary school teacher but completely disillusioned with working in schools and the education system in general. I’m desperate to retrain and start a new career. I have a degree and have looked into ways to become a solicitor but don’t want to waste the time doing so to be stuck in another job I hate.

It's really hard for anyone to give you an answer to this because the job is massively different depending on what type of law you do and what type of firm and in what location. For example, someone doing domestic property law in Wales probably gets paid about £40k a year, has a relatively decent work life balance but may have relatively high stress due to clients and workload whereas a Corporate lawyer in London might earn £200k but have no work life balance and extremely high stress levels.

In-house is another kettle of fish.

So I suppose the question is what sort of law would you want to practice and where would you do it?

I'd say try for a trade mark attorney but you'd need to be a trainee first and they have no work life balance. Afterwards it's good money with low level stress, especially in housem

It varies wildly depending on the area of law and whether you are in house/in private practice

What bits of primary teaching do you like /dislike? That would help you get a sense of what type of law to consider

This question comes up a lot and usually people's idea of what it's like to be a solicitor is very different to reality.

What is it that is making you consider it in the first place?

I retrained as a solicitor in my late 30s having previously worked in the insurance industry. Don’t underestimate how much of a hard slog it is to study whilst working especially with young children at home.

I started studying part time in 2009 and qualified in 2017. 2 years GDL, 2 years LPC, 2 years paralegal work, 18 month training contract. Currently a salaried partner in a national firm, earning £95k.

I’m fortunate to work in medical negligence which I find incredibly rewarding. I feel like I’m making a difference in injured patients’ lives. Dealing with litigation can be stressful as it’s adversarial and involves strict deadlines. The subject matter can be pretty gruesome… I specialise in birth injuries so there’s lots of horror stories. I have a great team around me and we support each other well.

Work life balance is good although I do check my emails on holiday. A usual day in the office is 09.00 to 17.30 and I rarely have to stay late. Occasional overnight trips to other offices or conferences. Quite a lot of BD and marketing events but I enjoy them. It’s easier to be away now my children are teenagers.

As others have said, it very much depends what area of law you want to work in and what firm you join but I hope my shared experience is helpful to you.

I’m a family lawyer and run my own firm.
it can be very draining. People offload their problems on me on a daily basis. They treat me as a counsellor sometimes.
people can be arseholes and hard work.
but its often rewarding and satisfying knowing I have helped changed peoples lives.

average salary would be £55£60 per annum. I earn more because its my firm
never had problem with work life balance but I would never choose to work for large corporate firm as I’m not very good at playing politics

Suggest think about the costs of fees for GDL and LPC.

There are currently more applicants seeking training contracts than there are places for trainees in most sectors.

You could end up with debt from law school fees and no training contract (and not being able to qualify). There are lots of paralegals treading water trying to get training contracts.
And even if you get a two year training contract, it’s no guarantee of a permanent job at the end of it,

Whilst I’m happy in my job, I wouldn’t describe it as low stress. But hats off to you, teaching in primary or secondary must be incredibly stressful, I have friends who do it and they work incredibly hard.