Boredom in the law profession is a universal human phenomenon. The article below is from UK law blogger.
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- According to the recent All About Law survey about the future aspirations of their readers, 28% of those surveyed (amounting to 840 people) responded ‘Not Sure’.
Its clear, therefore, that there are many people who are thinking of becoming a solicitor, or who are already studying or training to become one, who are not sure in their heart of hearts whether they are on the right path.
Maybe the reality of endless studying as a student, or photocopying as a trainee solicitor, isn’t quite matching the image they had of being the dynamic young lawyer. Maybe they’re looking at the people around them and feeling a bit different as they can’t get quite as excited as them about the latest piece of case law. Or maybe they just have an ache in their heart that says they might not be following its true desire.
All of this is fine and, if you are in this group, you are not alone – in fact many qualified solicitors feel the same and they have been in the profession for years. A study a couple of years ago revealed that almost a quarter of solicitors (from a survey of 2500) wanted to leave the profession. Another survey at the same time showed that around 20% of managing partners wished they were in another job. We suspect that these numbers will have got even worse since then. - But before you all go and jump off the nearest cliff, or run away with the circus, what can you do if you have some lawyerly doubts?
The first thing to do is to make sure you have fully researched the profession so that your future decisions are based on your own knowledge rather than hearsay, glossy brochures or the odd horror story. You must ensure you know all the possible areas of law you can work in, what each entails, which would, or would not, suit your skills and passions, and the opportunities that exist in each.
Secondly, and as an extension of your research, its imperative you get some form of real life experience of the legal profession. Work experience or work shadowing is available during A-levels and university and more formal work placement schemes exist at many law firms during university and law school holidays.
Work placements are an invaluable way to get a very real sense of what it’s like to practice law as opposed to merely studying it. They will help you evaluate whether continuing on the path towards solicitor-dom is for you or not. They will also give you a chance to get a feel for what sort of firm you might want to work for. Finally, they are a fantastic way to develop an initial relationship with a firm, which could assist you when applying for a training contract with that firm. This is priceless in the current competitive market place for training contracts.
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