From legal career to….

[Lifeafterlaw]

Lawyers who have left the profession - what are you doing now, and what pushed or pulled you in that direction? What stage in your career were you at?

Interested to hear the replies

10 years PQE. Emigrated to Canada 15 years ago. Got a job in a law office - they were going to help me requalify but I found out I was pregnant so that went out of the window.

I now do Provincial and Federal Election work as a Returning Officer and have my own business providing voting services to First Nation and Metis communities. Also serve on a couple of boards in a governance role.
The work is intermittent but brings me between 30 and 80K GBP depending on how busy I am each year.

Burnt out local authority child care lawyer with 20years pqe to Investigation Officer for an Ombudsman. Similar salary, but not working silly hours on top. Interesting work.. Downside for me is I work from home, which i find isolating and miss the Court/office buzz and camaraderie.

Stayed in law but moved in house and somehow it just feels like a totally different job/world! Absolutely love it. Feel more like a friendly non stressed adviser/problem solver. Moved in house circa 12 years ago.

Others I know have left law and gone into civil service to do policy/analytical type work.

After burning out terribly as a salaried partner in private practice, I became a professional support lawyer (PSL) in my area. Absolutely love it and will very happily see out my career doing this job. The salary is actually pretty similar, genuinely 9-5 and no rushing to get everything done before holidays. Perfect for me.

I was comparing pay ranges recently, and checking an electrician salary by experience level made it way easier to see how fast earnings can rise as you move from apprentice to journeyman. It gave me a better sense of which states and industries might be worth aiming for, especially if you’re trying to line things up with long-term demand.