How to change professional careers at 40?

[Adelle79360]

I’m really struggling and wondered if people might have some ideas/inspiration for me.

I hate my job. I’m a solicitor. It’s all I’ve ever known, I went to university, did my LPC, got a training contract, qualified and over 15 years later I’m still doing this. I loved my training contract but have really disliked the job since I qualified. I’ve applied for a couple of jobs in house in different areas of law but haven’t been successful, so I feel like now I really just need to seriously consider a different career altogether. I don’t want to be totally negative, I do appreciate that I’ve always worked for decent employers with maternity pay, sick pay, pension contributions etc. But I have also been stressed to the point I lost my eyesight in one eye (a muscle problem so I can see but it’s temperamental), and more recently stress has caused me to pull at my hair causing a thin patch. As I’ve got older I just can’t take the stress, I used to be able to cope with it but now with children and a home to run it’s too much. The money isn’t worth it, I don’t earn what people expect lawyers earn and many professional careers pay far in excess of what I do.

The problem is - what else do I do?! I don’t want to put myself in a worse position with a massive commute or something like that, and there’s no student loan funding for second degrees so I can’t retrain from scratch in the same way.

How do people find new careers? I feel a bit stuck in a rut and like I’m struggling but I really need to turn it around and be positive and hope I can make a change this year.

I changed professional careers in my mid 40s. I was a librarian but I went back to uni, did a series of degrees and became an academic. I retired from employed work some time ago but I still do private tutoring. It was a lot easier then to switch careers because grants were still available to do a 1st degree. However I had to compete for the funding to do my masters and doctorate.

Do you want to totally retrain or use your legal training in another way?
what type of law are you? If family could you be a professional McKenzie friend? Could you train in mediation and do that instead? Much easier and less paperwork? Go into academia or teach law a level with another humanity subject?
go and be an in house lawyer for a charity or local authority and have better work life balance?

Might it be possible to join the Government Legal Dept, or go in house at a regulator or the civil service? I know a few lawyers in those sorts of organisations and none of them seem too stressed or unhappy (and seem to have great pensions to boot!)

Move into tech. Work remote. Plenty of work there.

you will get lots of advice on careers but re: hair pulling - it’s not just stress, it’s a form of OCD called trichotillomania. Please do get some therapy as it can be controlled with support. It probably won’t just go away on its own; I’m 43 and have had to manage it since I was 13 x

Following with interest as I’m in a similar position, although healthcare rather than law. Wishing you luck x

I don’t really know whether I would prefer to do something totally different or use my legal training in another way. I do family law, the options are really limited, it doesn’t seem to be transferable to anything. Legal recruiters have told me they can’t help me (because I basically need somebody to take a chance on me going into a practice area I don’t have any experience in and they won’t want to pay recruitment fees for that) and I’ve been rejected for legal jobs I’ve applied for in house too because I don’t have any experience in a commercial type area of law. There aren’t any in house roles for my practice area so it has to be something different.

Not that I particularly fancy being a mediator but my firm won’t support that, it isn’t profitable because the hourly rates are less than what we charge for the legal work.

I’ve been keeping an eye on the local authority but the only vacancy I’ve see has been for a senior education lawyer which obviously isn’t me! But I do check their careers pages periodically and will continue to do so, I will apply if they have something as I would definitely like to try for that sort of role.

Thank you for the suggestion. What sort of training is needed? Any organisations/companies you can suggest?

Thanks, I’m sorry you’ve had to go through it too. Mine was triggered by stress at work, but it is indeed ongoing even in times of relative calm.

I wouldn't assume in-house is less stressful (you become responsible for actually making things work and realise/have to compensate for how totally rubbish most external legal advice is).

Have a look at ads on LinkedIn. See what sort of things look interesting.

I did think about the GLD but in the end discounted it - my local city is London and with the lower salary, and commuting costs (car park is over £10 a day and train ticket £35 per day so it adds up!) and time I figured I’d be in a worse position than I am just sucking up what I currently do tbh. I’m looking to improve my life not make it more stressful.

I hadn’t really thought about regulators though, I will have a search and see what I can find to apply for or keep an eye on, thank you.

Depends what area of tech maybe, and how much experience you have. I know several techies who are struggling to get work and I wouldn't advise someone with no experience to try.

Agreed, I don't think moving into tech is the safe bet it used to be.

HR !!!

Company secretary/corporste governance
i got quite a few exemptions for having a law degree (plus being an accountant).
but you don’t need the qualification to do it in a firm. Only if your co sec of a listed plc.

There are sideways moves into training, tech or BD if you’re interested, or maybe knowledge? The bigger firms might seem initially less tempting if you’re stressed but if you’re using your legal experience to run training or a tech/AI type team then it is overall less stressful than fee earning. A lot of the firms nowadays are looking to get experienced lawyers into their knowledge and training functions, and that way you get a move but without totally retraining.

from a personal point of view- I changed careers at 42. One of my best ever decisions. I think it’s so beneficial having the experience of another career behind you, but the enthusiasm for a fresh career- go for it and don’t look back OP. You’ll always wonder “what if…?” If you don’t

What area of law are you in @Adelle79360 ?

How about Policy? I have a law degree (never practiced) but work for the civil service in policy. It’s hybrid working. I live outside London and go in once a week and it’s great. You would be good at it too

Lecturing? What qualifications you’d need vary from dept to dept but you don’t always need a Masters when starting out, you can do it and your teaching qualification while in post. Problem is there have been redundancies in academia recently but jobs will come up as people leave. How competitive it is to be a law lecturer I have no idea. But some courses struggle to recruit and are keen for people with industry experience.

What salary are you on? You could definitely move into HR into policy/ER - maybe look at doing the CIPD course?

Wild card, and I don’t think you will need a new degree maybe just some 1 year courses. Have you thought about private sector roles? Legal or patents in FTSE companies could be a good option

Agree with this. There are literally thousands of computer science graduates who can’t get jobs at the moment. They used be in demand, but not anymore. Way oversubscribed. With AI, a lot of tech skills are becoming obsolete faster than people can acquire them.

Same! I’m a hospital doctor and sadly can’t make it work with family life. But I really don’t know what else to do.

I am changing from Senior Admin in healthcare to training to be a psychotherapist. Hopefully starting in next 6 months. Its 4 years training. I'm 44 🙈