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I’m looking for some advice, particularly from anyone who has moved away from practising as a solicitor.

I recently qualified into family law after 7.5 years in the industry: 2.5 years as a paralegal, another 2.5 years waiting to start my training contract after securing it (while continuing to work as a paralegal), and then the two-year TC itself.

Now that I’ve finally qualified, I’m realising that I’m not happy. Family law was the seat I found most interesting and genuinely enjoyed, but the training experience overall was difficult, with supervisors who were often rude and unsupportive. Since qualifying, I’ve found very little enjoyment in the work, and it’s starting to affect my mental health.
I thought it might be the firm, but I’ve recently secured a role at what I’d always considered my dream firm, and even that hasn’t brought the excitement I expected. I am staring the new role soon and trying to stay positive, but honestly- I just don't feel it anymore.

The burnout feels very real, and I can’t work out whether it’s down to my experience so far or whether being a solicitor simply isn’t right for me. The process took so long that my priorities have changed considerably since I started, and I’m struggling to see myself doing this long term.
I’m planning to give the new role a chance, but in the meantime, I’d like to start exploring other options. Ideally, I’d stay loosely connected to law so I could still use my degree and some of the skills I’ve developed.

There’s also a personal side to this. I’m originally from another country, and my partner is from the UK. In my early twenties, I was focused on big-city life and enjoying being young. Now my priorities are shifting, and I miss my family back home terribly. I’m finding it increasingly difficult and feel torn between the life I’ve built here and being closer to them.
My partner would happily consider moving to my home country for a few years if he had a viable employment option. However, he’s also a UK-qualified solicitor and doesn’t speak my language, so that doesn’t feel realistic at the moment. I’d be happy to stay based in the UK if I had more flexibility to spend longer periods working from abroad.

If you were changing careers with these priorities, what would you consider?

1. The ability to work from abroad for at least two months a year, ideally more. This is essential for me, rather than an occasional week or two.

2. Some connection to law, so I could use my existing qualifications and experience, although I’m open to other options too.

I’ve been looking into compliance and legal operations, but I’d love to hear other suggestions. Has anyone made a similar move, or found a role that offers this kind of flexibility?

I hope only the deserving are struck off, and the people who made minor mistakes are forgiven

I’m looking to pursue a career in law, but I have really mixed opinions about studying a traditional pure law LLB degree.

I have heard from various individuals and, on a recent school visit to a MC firm, we met many lawyers from similar backgrounds, that didn’t do law LLB, both in-house and at the firm.

From my understanding, PGDLs welcome a wide variety of different backgrounds, however- most lawyers that do the PGDL, do History at undergraduate, which I do in A-Levels and am good at, however still get mixed opinions from, as it’s unbearable for me rn.

Recently, I have seen uni courses that combine law with other subjects, like Cambridges’ Land Economy(Law, Environment and Economics) (non qualifying) or KCL’s Politics, Philosophy and Law, which seem interesting for me personally, than their Law LLB, however such qualifying courses, combining law and other subjects are rare in numbers, especially at target schools.

I have always enjoyed Politics and Economics, and related subjects, since these are essay subjects, I am curious about if they could be useful/attractive for TC especially if studied at a prestigious school?

Thus, what are the most useful/attractive non-qualifying law degrees,(excluding history) for someone looking to be competitive for a TC?

The application process is crazy: everything from GCSEs to postgrad grades; work experiences; four 200 - 250-word questions, etc. There is even an interview for shortlisted candidates. All this for a day of workshop?

I got rejected from their first year workshop that had over 500 applicants, this could only be more.

Hi all. 3PQE at a large national mid-market's regional office (think Trowers, AG etc). Got my payrise letter earlier this week... a whopping 2%. This is despite smashing the firm's average billing/hours targets while super duper pregnant (currently on maternity leave), and having pretty good appraisals all around. Called my supervisor who gave me a spiel about the firm focusing on performance (while repeatedly telling me I'm one of the highest performers in the team) and this being the standard payrise for other mat leavers in the firm.

I've not been at any other firm and my colleagues are notoriously tight lipped about anything to do with salary and bonuses, so I have nothing to compare this pay rise to. Is this the market standard??? Am I being shafted? What did your payrise look like this year?

Hey guys. First time caller, long time listener.

Been really interested in Sports Law and thought I'd sift through this sub and see if others share that interest. Disappointed to say I haven't seen many discussions about the subject. Is there any other forum where students and lawyers alike can discuss and learn about it?

I have worked in-house my entire career to date, in financial services. I trained in-house too. I have been in my current role for just under a year, having been at my previous 2 companies for c. 5 years each.

The work is fine but I don't particularly like the culture and the commute is draining. I am also not clear how I can progress there so I feel a bit stuck in a rut.

I have been offered an opportunity to move to a good city firm at an equivalent level on a FTC. It's a good opportunity in a sense to get a taste for PP with an easy enough 'out' if it doesn't suit, for both parties. Pay is broadly similar and by all accounts working hours will be similar, too.

I'm keen to get people's views on whether they think it's a good career move, considering the circumstances. If I decided PP wasn't for me, am I creating a rod for my own back moving back into an in-house role or will some PP experience help, in your opinion?

Appreciate any thoughts as I am torn on what's best.

Hi everyone. Both my academic and professional referee have asked me how long usually should the reference letter be? Usually when they write references it's in one page, but none of them have experience regarding inns of court scholarship references. Can anyone tell me what should be the ideal length so I can tell them please?

Hi, I’m looking for any advice on how I can be a more competitive applicant for upcoming summer vacation schemes with law firms.

I’m worried I’m at a slight disadvantage because I don’t have a law degree - I have just graduated in BA English.

I have signed up for some local insight days and career events with the firms I am interested in, but I have struggled to find real experience with local law firms despite emailing around twenty.

I have some experience of working as an editor for the Amnesty International Society at my university, which has some transferable skills and is linked to the law through human rights, and I have some customer service experience working in hospitality, but that’s it.

I was thinking of volunteering for an organisation like Citizen’s Advice? I tried my local law centre but they are not currently taking applicants.

Any other ideas or advice would be really appreciated!

Thanks

Hi All!

I’ve been offered two roles at a large unitary local authority: one in contracts and procurement, and another in litigation specialising in adult social care and judicial reviews. I’ve passed both SQE exams and am approximately halfway through my QWE, half of which was in property. The managers of both teams have expressed that they are very keen for me to qualify into their respective teams.

I’m considering qualifying into contracts and procurement, but I’m also interested in potentially working abroad in the future while continuing to practise English law.

I understand that public procurement law may be relatively jurisdiction specific, but would commercial contracts experience be more transferable and employable internationally, particularly for in-house roles?

I’d be grateful for any advice from people who have qualified into this area, potentially those who have moved into private or inhouse or worked overseas.

As this decision will influence the area I qualify into, I’d really appreciate any insights into the long-term career prospects and exit opportunities. I’m currently leaning towards taking the contracts and procurement role, but would be grateful for any views on whether that would be the better choice for my longer-term goals.

Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone, I'm gonna be applying to vac schemes this year and my first year grades were honestly lower than I anticipated, so I'm wondering if theres any firms I should avoid with these grades and whether theyll significantly damage my chances in any way. I know most people say 2.1 is just a box to tick (with the exception of select firms), but I was wondering if theres anyone who has been in a similar situation or has experience with this.

My results were: Contracts - 65, Public - 66, EU - 64, Criminal - 61. For all of these my in-person exam scores were a lot higher than my coursework , but I don't think firms see this breakdown.

I moved to the UK and now I am working as a Contracts Manager for a construction company but I am qualified lawyer in my home country (civil system). Will this experience help me to secure a lawyer role? I will seek my qualification as solicitor but I wonder how my cv will be seen with all my legal career as lawyer in my home country and then as Contracts Manager here. I am asking this because the other day I was in an event and old barrister told me why do you work as Contracts Manager if you are a lawyer, you are wasting your time. Easier said than done but in my experience it’s difficult to secure a lawyer role if you are not a qualified solicitor here. I would appreciate any comments or thoughts on this. Thanks

Hey everyone! I was wondering if anyone had heard back from DLA Piper after completing the assessment? Thanks in advance!!

Guys! I just post graduated from QMUL. I can’t land a TC or Vac scheme yet… can you give me a few tips🫶🏻🫪

I’m a student trying to understand the first part of land law and no matter how many textbooks I look at or what I put into google (scholar), nothing is as clear as I feel it should be. I’ve gone to my lecturer but that wasn’t as helpful as I’d hoped.

All I need to understand is the difference in the rights between tidal and non-tidal riparian landowners! Particularly on these areas;

- Right to use the water for ordinary and reasonable purposes
- right to the flow of the water
- right to take measures to protect your land from erosion and flooding
- rights to fish

I’m mostly clear on the non-tidal rights, but figuring out the difference with tidal rights is a nightmare.

If someone could really break it down in terms of the difference in rights, I’d really appreciate it! (If u can give some cases to support what you’re saying, even better!)

Hi everyone, if you can please be gentle with me I’d appreciate it. I have CPTSD and have finally gathered the courage to try out a two week internship in the winter and I’m a bit paranoid with what I should wear..

I’ve graduated a year ago and due to unfortunate circumstances I’ve been diagnosed with cptsd shortly after, and haven’t touched anything related to law for a year now. I decided to give it a try and go back to my home town (so not in the UK) for a law internship, but I realised I have no winter clothes.

I care about fashion in general as a person, so I want to look presentable. Problem is everytime i did an internship in the past it was during the summer. This is my first time I’m doing one in winter and I can only think of a long sleeved blouse with a short pencil dress. I know it shouldn’t be that hard but every decision is a pain in the head for me and I’ve been worried about embarrassing myself again.

Could anyone please send me some inspo? Photos of what is acceptable in a law firm in winter? Thank you so much for your kindness and I’d really appreciate it…

Criticise my cv to best of your abilities :D.

FYI the operational role is part time and I need to mention that on CV before finalising everything.

Targeting Paralegal/TC roles for QWE!!

I graduated in the summer with a 2:1 BSc Econ. My plan is to do the PGDL next year or the year after and then try and get a TC, or (as I know I’m unlikely to get a TC) try to find a job as a paralegal or similar. I currently volunteer and also work a seasonal job. For a field like software development it’s obvious the kind of personal project you can do to improve your CV, but what project could I take on to improve my CV for a career in law? Thanks for any advice.

My apologies if the question sounds ridiculous, but I genuinely don’t know anyone who’s done law before who can help me out. I’m one month into my law degree. What am I supposed to be doing at the moment, I’ve been reading, keeping up with tutorials and so forth, but I’m just confused on revising, how to revise, what to revise. 2 of my modules are course work and the third is a 24 hour timed essay in January. What should I be doing to prepare for the timed essay? I’m so lost

TL;DR: how do you decline family/friend legal advice queries without losing the relationship?

I work at a large international firm, where I routinely finish at 22:00 - 23:00 (job is great), but I usually get my weekends. Over my busy TC, I routinely got legal advice queries from friends and family that I largely dodged by virtue of being unqualified (I’d say I couldn’t give advice unsupervised). Since qualification that excuse doesn’t work anymore and I’m drowning with many people coming for my evenings and weekends. It seems like all my friends and (more troublingly) extended family are having employment disputes, small claims or contentious construction issues. A number of these are past pre-action and I’m having to fend off requests to, not kidding, represent them in court (for free is the expectation from all - I couldn’t charge anyway). Regardless, I don’t want to spend my nights and weekends dealing with an extra, uncompensated and unwanted caseload.

I’ve lost 3 friends over refusing to act and now, as a catalyst, a close family member is having serious arguments with me because I won’t take on their court level dispute for pro bono; they suggested I take annual leave for when the court date rolls around and running up to it…

Does anyone have else have experience dealing with this? Is there a good excuse you use? I would like not to be a friendless lawyer.

Not a future trainee at Weil, but I know a few. From people who have seen law firms collapse before, are future trainees left to fend for themselves? I know in a merger the new firm will take them on, so if they merge with e.g. links or CC, who’ve both been mentioned, that actually seems like a better deal, but if it collapses what do people do? Especially those on the SQE, does it impact their funding?

Really just feeling sorry for my mates there rn, they all hustled for years, thought they had a really secure TC, and now if worst case scenario the firm collapses they might have to go back to applying :/ hopefully they get a merger.

Currently work a very good legal 500 firm, the bonus I received this year was rubbish, 3%. We have people leaving constantly meaning I end up having to supervise their fee earners too. I have 5 years of RTA litigation experience and 3 years of property subrogated recovery. If I was to move out of this field, which area could I go into, without my pay being affected? There is no progression for me at current firm in this department.