tell me about becoming a lawyer in your 40s. madness?

[hatwoman]

ok. deep breath. In my later 20s and my 30s I have worked in the not-for profit sector in a legally-related field. I've done reasonably well. moderately respected etc. and in my mid-30s did an LLM. However I have moved out of london and my job simply doesn;t exist where I am now. For the last 2 years or so I've been working as a self-employed consultant in my field, I've done a bit of lecturing and a bit of academic publishing and have toyed with the idea of getting into academia.

However, just today, a friend who's also contemplating a career change, said to me "well, if I qualify by the time I'm 45 that still gives me 25 years at it". and it was a bit of a light-bulb moment for me. at the age of 39 I had completely written off the idea of retraining. thought I was too old, didn't have enough time. thought I needed to engineer a sideways move, taking all my existing knowledge with me (hence the academia idea). but maybe I'm not too old. I've still got THIRTY-odd working years in me (shudder...). my dds are 8 and 10 now. dh works part-time (and has no desire to do otherwise). I am well-placed with 2 big northern cities nearby and a couple of midland ones not too far away.

is it mad...? I'm quite ambitious and work-like. interested in areas mostly covered by legal aid - wouldn't want to do divorces, conveyancing and middle class neighbour disputes. but I do want a life. I'm not some single childless youngster prepared to do 60-hour weeks. I am efficient though...

tell me the worst...

pah. gate crashers

just found myself wondering whether I could bring myself to point out to prospective employers that I won't be seeking more exciting positions in far flung places nor going on mat leave. maybe the former...

Well, I'm 39 and a solicitor, so I hope there a few more years in me yet!I'd go for it!

When I employ lawyers I want to see someone with life experience and knowledge of the world outside law.

If you want to qualify as a solicitor then I'm not sure whether you could skip the academic stage (usually either a LLB or CPE/GDL) with your LLM (well done on that btw!)and go straight onto the LPC. You can do all of these part time but the fees are expensive and usually not funded. You would then do 2 years training contract but might be able to get time credited if you have worked in area related to the law. Have a look at the Law Society website which is helpful.

I really enjoy my work - it's varied and exciting and was worth all the hard graft and debt! Good Luck!

You're certainly not too old! A few things to think about:

You need to choose your firm carefully, some are more open to mature/second career applicants and others only want you to fit the checklist. My firm has quite a number of second career trainees, in the intake the year I joined about 40% were second career, the oldest was 44 (iirc) as it values individual achievement rather than just wanting conveyor belt trainees. Don't know anything much about the northern legal market but regional firms tend to be more flexible about these things.

You need to be prepared to do the mundane boring tasks that trainees need to do and not mind being told to do them by someone likely to be younger than you.

It may be worth you speaking to your local citizens advice bureau and see if you can volunteer, most of the sort of work covered by legal aid (which is pretty limited these days) is also dealt with by CABs so you could get an idea of whether you enjoy it or not.

Don't rule out other areas of law yet - there are many others beside those you mention, e.g. with your not for profit background you may enjoy charity law which is often varied and interesting.

Good luck!

how to be encouraging without giving my real life persona away?
dont think i can be. but, go for it. definitly go for it. every single argument you have given is brilliant. just stay away from the university debt threads.

not going on maternity leave, definitly a plus imo

No personal experience but a friend's Mum re-trained to be a solicitor in her early 40s, from scratch, no degree to start with etc. She had had her first child at 18 so had no chance to do these things earlier.

It is possible, but would obviously be hard work, plus the competition is enormous I believe. I think the key is to get sponsored by a firm before you start.

Have wanted to do this every year since I was in my early 20s but never dared take the plunge, so go for it!

I am a lawyer and if I had my time again, I don't think I'd do it again. Training contracts are like gold dust, legal aid is dwindling so far as to be non-existant.

Also the cost of the LPC is now very very high, so think about the debt you'll be taking on.

Sorry not to be more encouraging, but the legal profession isn't much fun at the moment.

Im a lawyer too and i would think very carefully about retraining in this field. I had worked full time, studied part time, Id got experience of working in legal area and i still struggled to get training contract and that was a good few years ago before the recession hit.

You would have to do the LPC (without any guarantee of getting training contract)- the cost is expensive and you wouldnt get a grant for it - you then have to get training contract and you would only 6 months taken off for previous experience. The wages are shit and you have to put up with an awful lot of crap - you get dumped on from high - i got sent to a hearing in High Court as a trainee with 24 hrs notice (and no clue about the case of the law surrounding it)and i live in the Midlands.

Then when you qualify the hours in most firms are long and target driven - legal aid is appalling - you get to do lots of work for very little return - most firms wont touch legal aid. And the wages arent that great
and everyone thinks lawyers are scum of the earth

Sorry not very positive - I love my job but i have not been able to return since having little dcs

Commercial lawyer here, so nothing from personal experience I'm afraid.

Someone at law school was going to be a magistrate's clerk - her clients would be the magistrates, and she would keep them straight on the law. She had her training contract sorted out before the law conversion course. Would that interest you?

I agree, I think the biggest challenge will be finding a training contract rather than doing the training, so worth tackling that first.

Do you really want to do legal aid type work? It can be pretty grim in order to qualify (sorry, that's a bit blunt, but you know what I mean) and legal aid is being pruned left right and centre.

What is it about the law that interests you and why? I think I can probably comment more if I understand where you're coming from.

40 years ago my mum qualified as a solicitor, she was a touch older than you, had a great time writing trusts and wills for posh clients of a firm of financial consultants. From memory it was not so much the studying by correspondance course but finding the practical work by becoming an articled clerk she found difficult, took her sev eral months to find a job.

All these years later , what happened? I’m in a similar situation x

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