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.

Secondary school teacher to teach law? 1 year post grad training but paid I think.

I’m a solicitor and I was exactly like you. I never really found the actual legal work stressful as I’m good at my job - as I’m sure you are - but it was the ‘other things’, e.g. I would find clients’ unrealistic expectations and constant querying of bills together with the firm’s unrealistic targets and deadlines billing hours were what killed me.

I decided to become a locum solicitor and take on short term, well paid contracts. I can easily do the work and I’m not there long enough to worry about the other things. Sure, there is the worry you won’t get another locum job when one ends but I have never been out of work for more than a few days and the contracts pay well that you can enjoy the time off without having to worry about finances.

Have you looked at insurance? My DH is a solicitor but works as an insurance claims manager. His immediate and senior colleagues all have a background In law too.
He deals with challenging technical claims with a lot of legal interaction. He earns well, although less than a senior partner at a law firm would do, but always leaves work on time.

I also wondered if you had thought about moving into professional support/knowledge. You can also look at training positions for organisations in your field, or mediation as someone has said upthread.

What about applying for a part-time judicial position?

OP, you could call LawCare and see if they would offer you mentoring from someone who has experienced these issues and/or has changed career or area.