Legal Career advice please!

newme2006

Hi all,

I am looking for some career advice from those in the know!

I am a second year student studying Law, i love it, i mean i absolutely LOVE it, but i am at a loss as to what to do when i finish my degree, obviously i have all the choices of solicitor, barrister etc.

But.. all i ever hear is negatives about being in the professions, people rarely shout about the positives, and i am unsure as to whether it would suit me.

i generally find things that others find boring in law, quite interesting. it bothers me that so many people who obviously find law interesting generally leave the professions due to feeling unfulfilled by their choice.

What kind of person is a good solicitor/barrister?
What kind of people stick in it?

advice appreciated.

Aprilsunshine

I"m a trainee solicitor and I love it.

I work in a big 5 firm and although things area little quieter than usual its still busy and they are still recruiting.

If you are only in 2nd year then don't worry you have another 2 years or so until you need to worry about jobs - even if your degree is 3 years long you'll probably be another year or so getting FE1s or a masters etc.

Go for it.

My firm keeps telling us all that come qualifying time in 2 years things will be much better.

nuac

Hate to be cynical guys but as a self employed lawyer of 30++ years practice I say : think carefully about doing something else.

For example

Here I am spending a large chunk of Sunday getting some major cases ready for hearing. These are personal injury actions. There are limitations on the amount of fees that will be paid by the Defendants. All sorts of problems if arranging with the clients to cover extra costs involved. I'm keeping track of time spent on each case - huge number of hours indeed days put in - will not recover the cost of same as in terms of time spent the cases have already gone over budget.,

Have to push on as clients are depending on me, but there are lots of facts and documents to collate and marshall.

And if anything goes wrong - the rule is clients win cases, lawyers lose them.

For these cases I am dealing with some highly qualified medical consultants and other professionals who require undertakings and in some cases advance payments of substantial sums of money for attendance as witnesses.

And those are just todays problems - Meanwhile the PI renewal problems loom.

So, in summary, being a self employed solicitor is becoming more and more difficult by the year.

Consider other options.

Aprilsunshine

I accept that things are difficult now and that being self employed as a solicitor is difficult at the best of times. My experience is in a large commercial firm, and may not be relevant if the OP wants to do more general practice.

That said we are busy - if you like law (and the commercial side to it) then maybe apply for traineeship or internship and see what happens....things are expected to improve by next year : )

Thirdfox

Thanks Nuac for that snapshot of the life of a self-employed solicitor.

New: as a final year law student who has a training contract I believe that the actual day to day work of a "lawyer" (I can only speak of my experiences working in a solicitor's firm) are completely unlike university law teaching. If you like the academic side of things then the law firm might not be for you, instead you'll quickly realise that much, if not all that they teach you (in regards to the law) in university is either unnecessary or not relevant. But I happen to find law firm research and work rather interesting too (hence me taking that training contract instead of going down the academic route).

When you say you find some things interesting that others don't what do you mean? Discussing when one can eat another due to necessity? Or finding merger controls within EU competition law fascinating? One seems like a more academically suited interest and the other, an interest that would be useful in a firm.

And a quick word about the negatives - yes, it's tough - I know a few friends of mine who graduated this year, 6 out of 10 have emigrated. On the other hand I know plenty of friends who have secured their training contracts in London/internships in the Department of Justice etc.

Good luck with whatever you choose to do.

Thirdfox

Aprilsunshine wrote: »

I accept that things are difficult now and that being self employed as a solicitor is difficult at the best of times. My experience is in a large commercial firm, and may not be relevant if the OP wants to do more general practice.

That said we are busy - if you like law (and the commercial side to it) then maybe apply for traineeship or internship and see what happens....things are expected to improve by next year : )

The firm I've been approached by says that they guesstimate that this year will be the lowest in terms of intake and recruitment. But that's not to say that Ireland will definitely recover (I'm following the economic/political news with great interest).

An internship is great, as is an exchange course to the US (many uni's have field placements where they'll put you in legal aid, in-house counsel etc where you can gain first hand experience of "lawyering".)

One note of interest - this year Trinity has taken in around 200 law students (as opposed to around 100 the preceding years). Lemmings off a cliff? (They introduced new Law and Finance and Law and Politics courses I believe).

hada

OP, how about you keep your options open?

I found in final year I wasn't exactly sure what to do, so I applied to law firms for traineeships, applied to internships, applied to masters courses, did my FE-1s and applied to research centres. This way, at the very least, you'll have some FE-1s done. Or more likely, you'll have options (i.e. two masters courses, a research job/internship) and you can pick and choose what interests you.

Hope that helps.

bear17

I'd have to agree with hada, with regard to keeping options open. Having obtained a commercially-oriented law degree, I have ended up going into a masters where I am now studying mostly criminal subjects, which wasnt my plan! However, I am finding it very enjoyable, and it's really broadening my legal education.

However, I wouldn't necessarily advise doing the FE1s. I think too many are doing it straight out of college purely because they arent doing anything else! It needs to be remembered that it is the first significant step on the road to professional qualification, and I personally believe only those who are strongly focused towards qualifying professionally and have either obtained contracts/internships should consider it, because, otherwise, it's a lot of work which could ultimately prove to be fruitless!

Strongbow10

But what are the options for someone with a law degree who doesnt wanna be a Barrister or Solicitor?

What are the career options?

Thirdfox

Academic (teaching law in uni).

Financial quarter - I recall the likes of Deloitte, PwC, E&Y etc actively trying to attract law graduates, the banks are fond of law grads too. Right now though times are tough in those sectors too I hear.

Run a restaurant (I know a qualified solicitor who decided to do that).

etc. etc. - a law degree doesn't mean you should do a law-related course (I would argue that a law degree actually teaches you very little about the "real" practise of law). You'll end up with a course that has hopefully taught you how to research and present information in a decisive, informative and persuasive manner...useful skills in pretty much any career.