Career Clinic: I've made the wrong career choice

I'd be very surprised if your firm didn't have the option of insisting you pay back some or all of the money they have spent on you. However, there are two points I would make: 1) If you make sure the firm understands that you have made a genuine mistake, they may well take pity on you - they may also jump at the opportunity of saving the LPC fees/grant/future salary. 2) The GDL is nothing like being a lawyer. If this is the only reason you are having second thoughts, then it may be worth sticking it out for a little longer.

Anonymous -12 May 2009 | 10:57

While your firm may ask you to repay the allowance and course fees, (and not without due reason), if it has any good sense, you are very unlikely indeed to find yourself facing any legal action if you simply say you cannot afford to. It is worth remembering that an awful lot of students do not enjoy the GDL or the LPC for that matter but go on to enjoy private practice. Unless it is making you ill, or you have another good job offer with stability, why not try and ride it out? It's a useful qualification even if you quit immediately on qualification.

Anonymous -12 May 2009 | 11:44

Surprise surprise, someone on the GDL realises they don't want to be a lawyer after all. Take the financial penalty (repayment of the fees paid for you) that you deserve for making such an ill-informed mistake (did you have any legal experience at all or did you just decide to become a lawyer on the back of a magic circle brochure?) and let the place go to someone more deserving.

Corporate Rainman -12 May 2009 | 11:52

Put all your efforts into ensuring you get great grades in the GDL and then reassess. Lots of people have second thoughts but I would have thought that it's better to decide not to join once you have a job you like and can afford to repay if you have to... (which should happen sometime before Sept 2011)

Bogglin -12 May 2009 | 12:03

Yes, quit - a waste management operative will provide a far more fulfilling career and it comes with the added benefit of a work life balance... enjoy!

Anonymous -12 May 2009 | 12:07

I think your firm would like the money back that they invested in you. I am finding it hard to sympathise with your situation. You probably realise you beat thousands of candidates who would be so grateful for a training contract. So what do you do now? I recommend you spend two weeks at a firm (unpaid) and experience first-hand what it's like to be a lawyer. The GDL is not a reflection of what life in the office will be like. Also, speak to lawyers, ask questions about a legal career. If you decide law is not for you, then have a serious chat with you careers officer because you do not want to jump from one career decision to the next, especially in this economic climate.

Metallica -12 May 2009 | 12:09

First, do you hate what you are learning or do you hate the lecturers and the course? Or are you just fed up of studying (I know I was)? Try and work out what exactly it is you don't like: if it really is the law itself, I would second those that say that commercial practice is nothing like the GDL - but you do need an intellectual interest in making fairly fine distinctions between different positions, both legal and commercial, to make a good lawyer. If this is what bores you, quit. You are 24 and you do not have to be tied to a career you have pursued for less than a year for the rest of your life! Don't be scared by the recession into pursuing the "safe" option if it is not what you want. The other posters are right that you may have to pay back some of the GDL fees/maintenance money but I strongly suspect that many firms would not make you do so provided that you are straight with them, explain yourself, and quit before they are contractually bound to pay the LPC fees to the course provider. Good luck.

Associate -12 May 2009 | 12:21

The GDL is horrific. It's intellectually offensive (if you've been to any sort of decent university) and the law school only 'cares' about you since you're paying them extortionate amounts of money. Suck it up, and just get to the end of it. It really is nothing like being a trainee (although your intelligence is offended a lot of the time there as well...).

Anonymous -12 May 2009 | 13:51

People who claim to have enjoyed the GDL should be looked upon with suspicion.

Anonymous -12 May 2009 | 15:02

I know that gut feeling and when I had it I refused to listen to it. I have found that my career is just like the GDL and I am five years qualified and have worked both in private practice and in-house. Law can be plodding and obsessed with documentation over making a genuine difference. Choice of law and training does help, so it does depend on where you would like to end up. I am only still here whilst I pay off my debts, then I am going to do something I enjoy. Get out while you still can!

Anonymous -12 May 2009 | 17:29

I am about to be a trainee and I am wondering why a lot of people hate being a lawyer and can't wait to leave the profession?

Metallica -12 May 2009 | 18:15

Metallica - it's mostly because people are sucked into the so-called glitz and glamour image (where does that come from??) before realising that it's actually just a job, and quite a boring one at that. One realistic phrase that has bandied around is Geeks Fight Back, which sums it up pretty well for me. It's not a job for everyone, although you can have a very successful career - I'm happy for now, but even the lure of big cash can't convince me there isn't something better out there!

Anonymous -12 May 2009 | 19:04

Commercial practice is nothing like studying law at Uni and certainly nothing like the GDL or LPC (not that I did either coming to the profession via the Bar). In practice there is a choice of area and the type of work. Transactional work is for some people (if you don't want to actually use any law) and doing deals cuts it for some. Other specialisms work for other people - I'm a litigator and I get paid a very nice wage to argue with people, all day, which frankly for me is being like a pig in the you know what... What I do now is nothing like anything I ever learnt at Uni - it's actually far more academic because of the areas I specialise in, but all of that dry, academic and often arcane law actually has a point and an application. It was only when I went into private practice that I realised how long I'd needed to climb off that academic fence I'd been sitting on and actually make some decisions.Don't try and assess what life in practice might be like based on the course you're on now as it bears absolutely no relation to what you'll be doing in 3 years time.

Associate top 25 firm -13 May 2009 | 10:56

So, nearly 24, apart from hating your course, what alternative career do you have in mind, and what are you doing about it? Having invested all this time and effort, as well as your law firm making an investment in you, don't you owe it to yourself to finish what you started, and see what private practice is like, because it's very different from what you are doing now as a student? The grass is always greener and just hating what you think is the law based solely on your course is not prudent, and I think you know it. But if you want to jack it in, there will be plenty of people without a firm sponsorship who would love to take your place and get a TC. Sorry that I can't feel much sympathy for you. M

May -13 May 2009 | 15:21

If the GDL is bad, wait til you experience the mind-numbing misery of the LPC. Fortunately neither course bears much resemblance to reality. Actually working as a lawyer is quite different, but just to warn you that it will get worse before it gets better.

Anonymous -13 May 2009 | 17:30

The GDL is boot camp for you. Every law school I know puts its worst teachers there, the losers, because if they screw up with you it won't matter. They don't care about academic standards since there aren't any. So stop bleating, live with it. It's only for a year. Course that doesn't mean you'll like the rest of either. I suspect you won't.

anon -13 May 2009 | 18:41

You have been very lucky to get a TC and an allowance and fees paid. I have had a young man here who had passed the LPC with commendation and still had no TC. He would have given his right arm to be in your position. He worked for 3 months for me unpaid so he could use work experience to get that all important TC. He has one now and was still very grateful that I gave him the opportunity to come and do work for me. If you are still sure that you've made a mistake, then I suggest you admit it sooner rather than later. There are plenty of other people who will be ready to take your place, so I shouldn't worry too much about letting the firm who have given you the TC down.Good luck! I think you are crazy by the way. The Law is a very broad church and there's something there for everyone. I can't think of any other profession that brings you into contact with such a variety of people and projects. You really don't know what you are missing.

High Street Solicitor -15 May 2009 | 14:46

To whoever asserted the GDL is better than the LPC... lies! The GDL is an academic course but devoid of any attraction because it's taught in a 'law school' way and so condensed. The LPC is fine - at least it's possible to see the point of it.

Anonymous -15 May 2009 | 14:54

Mr

I would stick at it if I was you. Unfortunately for me, I didn't and deeply regret that decision. To be honest, I wouldn't have made the best solicitor in the world but I would have been passable at the job.

There are very few careers out there that offer the level of progression, security and money especially if you're a graduate. Yes, you'll get treated like sh*t as a trainee and given crap work but it's all worth it in the end. Most other careers (Marketing, Sales and Business Management etc) are rubbish, not particularly well paid, aren't generally suited to graduates and offer considerable less in the vast majority of cases with regards to ultimate career progression.

Just quickly peruse job-boards like Jobsite and you'll be able to see how unbelievably crap most of the advertised jobs are. That's undoubtedly a taste of the world of work if you're not in a recognised profession.

James -25 Sep 2009 | 00:51