should I become barrister or solicitor?

DontKnow!

I'm nearing the end of my law degree and am completely stuck. I used to just assume that I wanted to be a barrister but now I am not too sure. Having read a bit it seems that the lifestyle of a young barrister is very difficult, it seems like nobody trusts you with work until you have been at the bar a good few years and that life is a bit of a struggle. I dont want to be living at home with my parents until I am 30, i want some independence and a job with satisfaction.
At the same time, on the pro side being a barrister seems really exciting and varied. I enjoy public speaking and that sort of thing has always appealed to me so I dont want to be giving up on this potential career if it is really good.

In terms of being a solicitor I had always considered that to be a bit more boring for some reason, dont know why! I suppose its the whole being stuck in the office type scenario. I really like constitutional law and i dont know how well i would fit into a commercial scenario.
At the same time I like the stability that comes with being a solicitor(if working for one of the big firms) and i plan to have children and think this would be easier to accommodate if I was a solicitor. I also like the fact that they work in a firm, whereas if you are a barrister you are all by yourself. Also, I have met many solicitors who are passionate about their work and some of the things that they do really seems interesting.

So as you can see I'm stuck and time is running out! If you have any experience of either please let me know and confirm or dispell and preconceptions that I have!

By the way, just letting people know that I have no family contacts in law which might be a hinderance, however my marks have always been excellent and Im willing to work really hard.

ronaneire

Is it bar work your looking for? And all those pubs closing down
All same really, but I'd imagine a barrister pays more but don't you need to have qualified too as an actor :eek:

impr0v

With due respect you seem to be approaching it like it's a choice between peppermint or chocolate chip ice cream. The first question in this day and age is can you become either. There are high bars to entry into both professions, both financial and practical and, though they've always been there, they are higher now than they've been for a while.

Look through the 'PFO' thread here, or the thread in a similar vein on askaboutmoney, to see how hard it is to get a trainee contract at the moment in even mid-tier law firms, never mind the so-called top 5. Then do a search and see how disillusioned some posters have become with trying to make it through 4 to 5 tough years after being called to the bar, with no money and no prospect of money.

At the moment a lot of law firms are struggling to get paid for the much-reduced level of work they are getting through, which means that barristers have to wait even longer than normal to get paid, so the picture isn't getting any rosier anytime soon. Can you survive on little or no pay for two to three years at least? Or can you take the multiple rejection letters that seem to be part and parcel of applying for a trainee contract?

Having said all that, if you really want to do it, then those things probably won't put you off, and it of course remains possible to gain entry to either profession, and to succeed having done so.

I wouldn't let a love of constitutional law sway your decision too much; even if you choose the bar, your exposure to constitutional issues is likely to be low - though it will have more of a bearing on day to day criminal cases. And you also imply that stability in life as a solicitor only comes with working for the big firms. If anything, your life would be more stable working in a small country practice. Life on the shop floor in one of the big law factories is anything but stable at the moment (with the redundancies and the associated uncertainty) and during boom times, it will mean you have little life outside of your office.

The essential difference between the two is the structure - do you want to work for yourself or dance to another's tune? In the latter scenario you'll have the safety net of a steady wage, in the former you won't. The scope for mistakes in either sphere isn't huge either. The law library thrives on gossip and any mistakes you make will likely be public knowledge. Getting established in the big firms is hard too, especially now when getting a training contract doesn't necessarily mean you'll be offered a position, and a lower workload means associates and assistants will be jealously guarding their work to ensure that their own billed hours meet the required level.

The bar is a more social place to work, so if you're a people person it can make progress easier for you. Working in a commercial firm can be more isolated in a way, as you'll spend a lot more time working on your own in your office.

Either way, you'd be well served by perhaps applying for one of the summer internship programmes (if nothing else the application process will give you a taster of how hard it is to distinguish yourself from all the other applicants to these firms) and spending some time in the four courts. That way you'll get a better idea of the day to day reality of both workplaces and will be capable of making a more informed choice.

I've generalised quite a bit above, but I hope it's helpful.

Edit: one more thing; choosing now isn't making a choice for life. The professions are getting closer and there is always the possibility of switching from one side to the other if you don't like the choice you've made.

johnfás

Why not try and get on an internship programme in a Solicitors firm and if you know a Barrister perhaps see if you could shadow them for a few days to get an idea of the work.

At the end of the day neither is an easy career - there are not many easy rewarding careers anyway - but if you enjoy something and work hard enough to be very good at it you can make it in any career. Thus the best one to pick is the one you have the most interest in - only you can answer that.

nuac

Hard to advise on this.

If you are a good debater and confident on your feet, the bar may appeal to you.

There is nothing stable or predictable these days about solicitros work.

Talk to any barristers or solicitors you know, or are willing to talk to you.#

Try to get temporary work in a solicitors office - might have to be unpaid.

Visit the courts - district, circuit and high and observe what goes on ( swith off your mobile )

read all you can about either profession. Henry Cecil is good on barristers and courts. No amercan novels, especially Grisham give an accurate idea of practice in Ireland.

Good luck.