Career in Law?

[Johnny Canuck3]

I would actually like you all to be a bit less supportive in a way and give me the downsides,.

The downside is, you're a marxist who isn't all that interested in the law, and who's considering this just because it's available.

You will be working with people with whom you will have little in common, you will be working exhaustive hours, doing things you're probably politically and morally opposed to. You will be climbing the laborious first rungs of a career that you don't have an intention of following through on, at present.

I'd think long and hard before doing this. The amount of time and energy you are about to expend on something you're indifferent about, will get you miles down the road, in some occupation that you have an actual interest in.

Do you really want to find yourself in five or ten years, stuck in a job that you don't like, because you've now become co opted into the lifestyle, and you no longer have the inclination to retrain into something you actually enjoy?

 

[fakeplasticgirl]

The downside is, you're a marxist who isn't all that interested in the law, and who's considering this just because it's available.

Well...she says she is interested in law.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Well...she says she is interested in law.

Looking back at the op, I see you're right:

Should I transform myself into a corporate lawyer and work for a Magic Circle law firm?

I graduated a year and a bit ago and have worked since with insurance claims. In January I am going travelling independently around Mexico. However, eventually I will have to come back and eventually I will need to get a proper job. The only career I can seriously imagine myself doing, and it maintaining my interest and effort etc. - is lawyer. So I have applied for a training contract with a MC firm and have been successful.

I applied for three reasons: I would need that level of funding to qualify - it isn't avaiable from smaller firms as far as I am aware; I don't do things by half measures; I assumed I stood a cat's chance in hell of being offered the contract.

I'm a bleeding heart Neo Marxist with a shedload of personal baggage and I am not motivated by money. But I do want a career.

Do I sell my soul for four years as it's too good an opportunity to pass up?
Or do I recognise that I'm likely to get eaten alive and wrecked, and find something else to do?

I glossed over that bolded part when I read it first time.

Looks like she's answered her own question.

 

[Laney]

Looking back at the op, I see you're right:


I glossed over that bolded part when I read it first time.

Looks like she's answered her own question.

But you have made me think about how much I am interested in it, and etc., which is what I wanted. People put a lot of time and effort and ambition into getting these contracts. I don't have that dedication, and I do have objections that those people won't have, and I will find at least some of them to be unbearable fuckwits

The more I look into commercial/business law the more it interests me. I also have some more specific areas in mind - e.g. intellectual property, employment law, that I know the firm will allow me to train in.

Is it really possible to train with the dark side and then be something better? Ask me in ten years?

 

[FridgeMagnet]

What part of law are you talking about? What specfically do you mean by the "appalling bullying exploitative system" - are you talking about the UK legal system itself of the working environment for those who work in the law?

The thing about the law is it isn't just one career - it's a whole range of careers depending on the area of law and the type of firm the person works for, aswell as inhouse roles, government roles etc. If the OP is drawn to it and thinks it's a career that would suit them then chances are they will be able to find something they enjoy.

well, yes, and I'm also being a bit melodramatic to be fair; there's a lot of things in the area of "law"

 

[cesare]

But you have made me think about how much I am interested in it, and etc., which is what I wanted. People put a lot of time and effort and ambition into getting these contracts. I don't have that dedication, and I do have objections that those people won't have, and I will find at least some of them to be unbearable fuckwits

The more I look into commercial/business law the more it interests me. I also have some more specific areas in mind - e.g. intellectual property, employment law, that I know the firm will allow me to train in.

Is it really possible to train with the dark side and then be something better? Ask me in ten years?

If you can get qualification and MC profile cv, it is a quick albeit arduous way and might be worth your short-term time.

I rejected the formal education/qualification route - but though I don't regret it, I don't recommend it. I'm 48 and whilst I subcontract to law firms and lawyers, doors open to me as a result of what I did as an employee/director and it took many years of that to open those doors. Far more years than devoting time to pursuing the shorter, formal route. You sound young and idealistic, but also practical. Think hard. A few years now v many more years work exp. But work exp being actually what's it's like, not a theory? Real life. Good luck with whatever you choose - but whatever you choose, try and keep grounded in how this shit plays out.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

But you have made me think about how much I am interested in it, and etc., which is what I wanted. People put a lot of time and effort and ambition into getting these contracts. I don't have that dedication, and I do have objections that those people won't have, and I will find at least some of them to be unbearable fuckwits

The more I look into commercial/business law the more it interests me. I also have some more specific areas in mind - e.g. intellectual property, employment law, that I know the firm will allow me to train in.

Is it really possible to train with the dark side and then be something better? Ask me in ten years?

I think it's often the case that unless one has family or friends etc who practice law, it's not common to actually know what's going on in these areas.

What is it that interests you about business law? Law can be broken down into two broad areas. We call it barristers vs solicitors, but I think it's a bit different there, in terminology at least.

You can also break it into lawyers who go to court or are relatively directly involved in the process, and those who have no prospect of doing so.

Securities lawyers, corporate/commercial lawyers etc, usually fall into the second designation. And the people in the first designation, refer to those in the second, as 'underliners and scribblers'.

Intellectual property has aspects of both, though, as does immigration law.

 

[Cheesypoof]

YES!!!!!

go for law.

my sisters are pretty successful IPs, and i deal with loads of lawyers in my job.

my advice is that to tackle law skillfully you need to be quite clever. that doesnt mean einsteinein thinking but it does mean intellectually clever with a good work ethic. If that comes natural to you, good, if it doesnt, forget it. i am a journalist, but i have about 20 lawyers who i write to, and them to me.

my job is to look at 100 page law documents and FIND, DISCOVER things - i have the kind of mind that sees 100 things pretty quick, which isnt always a good thing so my problem, is choosing which one is feasible (its usually correct, but requires a bit of digging and LOADS of reading of boring documents....) Lawyers do this to an intense extent, and they know it by heart. to be a lawyer you need to be quite creative to THINK, and VERY studious, which is of course boring. In the eventual job you'll make money but the application of that creativity can drain a lawyers creativity a bit. They can end up stuffy and clinical....(not all of them)

but the lawyers themselves....the love of the law is eternal.

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

But you have made me think about how much I am interested in it, and etc., which is what I wanted. People put a lot of time and effort and ambition into getting these contracts. I don't have that dedication, and I do have objections that those people won't have, and I will find at least some of them to be unbearable fuckwits

The more I look into commercial/business law the more it interests me. I also have some more specific areas in mind - e.g. intellectual property, employment law, that I know the firm will allow me to train in.

Is it really possible to train with the dark side and then be something better? Ask me in ten years?

Laney, as well as the firms that Sparks mentioned that specialise in particular areas, you mentioned employment law, and a vague recollection popped into my mind:

I think Thompsons have quite a good reputation for trade union work. Or at least they do a lot of it:

http://www.thompsons.law.co.uk

I'm not very familiar with that area of law, so you might want to double check, but that kind of thing might be more up your street.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

my advice is that to tackle law you need to be clever: .

To me, 'cleverness' implies a sort of artifice, an ability to use less than rigorous, and even somewhat intellectually dishonest means, to get your way in an argument or whatever.

There are lawyers who are clever, but they will come up against other lawyers who are intelligent, and intelligence will trump cleverness every time.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

but the lawyers themselves....the love of the law is eternal.

You know how much I like you, how you put things, but this line here?

I almost projectile vomited my Cheezies! Yes, actual Cheezies. The ones I was just eating.

 

[toblerone3]

To me, 'cleverness' implies a sort of artifice, an ability to use less than rigorous, and even somewhat intellectually dishonest means, to get your way in an argument or whatever.

There are lawyers who are clever, but they will come up against other lawyers who are intelligent, and intelligence will trump cleverness every time.

Are you a lawyer?

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Are you a lawyer?

myob

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

for any groupies:

I have a friend; he was a musician fulltime, then he became a lawyer. He was pretty good at both.

He said he got groupies as a band guy, and some as a lawyer, but I don't think sex is involved with the groupies as a lawyer, which brings up the question, what is the point?

 

[DotCommunist]

Of course, all lawyers are politicians at heart. They simply lack the charisma to mask the sliminess of thier chosen profession. And one day they will all be strangled with the guts of the freshly eviscerated bankers

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Of course, all lawyers are politicians at heart.

Oh, ffs.

 

[DotCommunist]

one only has to look at how many MP's have legal training. Tis lots.

 

[Diamond]

Lawyers become legislators.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

one only has to look at how many MP's have legal training. Tis lots.

The good lawyers are still earning good money - as lawyers.

 

[cesare]

I think it's often the case that unless one has family or friends etc who practice law, it's not common to actually know what's going on in these areas.

What is it that interests you about business law? Law can be broken down into two broad areas. We call it barristers vs solicitors, but I think it's a bit different there, in terminology at least.

You can also break it into lawyers who go to court or are relatively directly involved in the process, and those who have no prospect of doing so.

Securities lawyers, corporate/commercial lawyers etc, usually fall into the second designation. And the people in the first designation, refer to those in the second, as 'underliners and scribblers'.

Intellectual property has aspects of both, though, as does immigration law.

Over here we often term it contentious v non-contentious work.