Time for a change of scene?

Many of the lawyers I speak to genuinely enjoy the work they do. For most of them the role comes naturally and it’s all about continued progression, whether it is aiming for partnership or a General Counsel role, becoming a better technical lawyer or taking home more money. It’s not difficult for my team and I to assist these people by offering them what they are looking for and assisting them to secure it.

A small percentage of lawyers I speak to however, are very unhappy or dissatisfied with their career choice and are clearly looking for a way out. I really feel for those people as they remind me of my own struggles as a junior lawyer, feeling like a fish out of water and realising that a long term career in law just wasn’t for me. This can be a frightening position to be in as after years of academia and training, with loans stacked up and the added high expectations of family members. To realise that you have made a mistake and act on it takes a lot.

The perception of law amongst non-lawyers (perpetuated by TV) is a glamorous, highly paid profession, where lawyers chat round water coolers and appear in court to offer devastating cross-examination one liners. In reality law can be incredibly stressful, with long and unpredictable hours, extreme pressure and variable levels of support. Salaries can range from Champions league levels at the very top to Sunday League levels at the bottom. Newly Qualified lawyers in City firms are often given very high starting salaries and once you get used to being paid a lot of money and having a certain “lifestyle” the alternatives can look less attractive simply from an economic point of view.

I can only talk for my own experience that for me it took a few years of realising I wasn’t in the right career to actually having the strength to act upon it and leave. In the interim, although I liked the people I worked with and the law firms I worked for, I struggled badly, and often woke up feeling the weight of the world on my shoulders - even though I was just a junior lawyer. In those days the acceptance of mental health issues was far different than it is today, the allocation of work by firms was chaotic at best, and the culture of “all-nighters” was in full effect. Essentially it was expected that this was what we had signed up for, and we should just toughen up and crack on. Perhaps a warning sign that law wasn’t the rosy profession it was made out to be came when I witnessed (from afar) a couple of the partners at the firm I trained at go through breakdowns.

In 2003 I decided to take the drastic option of leaving my legal role and moving to Singapore (with my fiancée, now wife). I was at the point where I just wanted a complete change of scene and I hoped I would find a new career that would be better for me. I dreamt of moving into finance before realising that the (somewhat patchy) skills I had as a lawyer were unsuited to high flying roles in Private equity or Hedge funds. I tried a few entrepreneurial things in Singapore including attempting to sell golf technology (Topgolf) despite having no real understanding of golf or tech, and then tried to source (legal) products I could find in Asia that would sell back home. I earned virtually no money for the first 12 months of my time in Asia and remember feeling ashamed when I met my wife’s family members at gatherings explaining what I was doing for a living. With little or no savings from my time as a Solicitor we kept our costs really low and were lucky to have the wonderful support of my wife’s sister who put us up at her house for the year. In time, my wife secured a role in advertising which really helped us get through, but I remember feeling a sense of panic that I did not know what would happen to me or what job I would end up getting. 

In the end I fell into recruitment and found that I loved it from the get-go.

Since those early days I have become a business owner and have realised my own calling is growing a company and helping people that love their legal jobs progress to even better roles. Despite its reputation, when it works recruitment is incredibly positive, it’s a rare job where all parties can be happy when the right person accepts the right role and the recruiter gets paid a fee. Recruitment is pressurised too (and running a business with lots of others to think about ramps that up), but for me it’s a positive pressure and I no longer wake up thinking I have the world on my shoulders, or am afraid I’ll make a crucial mistake on a document at 3am in the morning.

I’ve found a place I want to be.

Over the years I’ve had the opportunity to work with some amazing lawyers and colleagues on a global basis and managed to keep a little toe in the legal profession. I wish all those lawyers searching for something outside the law to be brave and seek out happiness and fulfilment in something new; whether that be a career change, a start-up business, or a different role within the legal field. With the rise of legal technology and more opportunities for part-time remote working it’s possible to have a range of roles and work for organisations in different countries. Spend some time to research what’s out there, get some guidance from third parties who have no vested interest, and when possible I would advise you to go for it. If you try something new and it doesn’t work out, it is usually still possible to get back into the law if you find that actually it is the best place for you. Just before I took my first role in recruitment I was offered a potential highly paid legal role in Singapore. I was very tempted as I had earned nothing for so long but I decided to give legal recruitment a try and have never looked back.

As inspiration for those thinking of a change, below are just a few amazing people who started out with a law degree or within the legal field and who moved on to other careers:

Barack Obama, Nelson Mandela, John Cleese, Andrea Bocelli, Mahatma Gandhi, Michelle Obama, Henri Matisse, Rebel Wilson, Steve Young, and John Grisham. I salute you all!

There is life beyond the law. Have a great week ahead.