Career Clinic: Is 27 too old to start a career in law?

No, of course 27 isn’t too old. 57? Maybe.

You need to apply to do the GDL at College of Law or BPP and then you need to simply spend every waking minute applying for training contracts or vacations schemes for non-law grads. With your languages, degrees and work experience you should be fine... unless your languages are Esperanto and Latin and you degrees are in 1980's pop culture...

JD -29 Oct 2009 | 10:37

No!

Don't be daft - of course it isn't.

Although if I were considering you for a training contract I would wonder why you spent all that time doing masters degrees rather than gathering useful life and/or legal experience.

In this tough market I would ask how that could benefit my firm.

Older than you... -29 Oct 2009 | 10:57

Go for it - I was 37 when I started my training contract, and you certainly won't be the oldest on a GDL course. If you do the GDL and LPC full-time they'll take you a year each, in which case you need to start applying for TCs straight away (unless you are happy to - and have the resources to - start a TC a year later). I would apply to a wide range of firms. Some are more 'conservative' than others about taking on trainees with non-standard backgrounds, but you should find plenty that will welcome your maturity and previous work experience. Also, apply to firms that specialise in an area relevant to your work experience, if possible. You won't necessarily have to end up practising law in that field, but it might help you get a foot in a few doors. Good luck, and enjoy!

Anonymous -29 Oct 2009 | 11:01

Go for it

It is absolutely not too old. I started my training contract in February this year at 28, and there are people older than me in my intake at a top 10 City firm. I agree the literature and websites are not aimed at people in your position, but reading the information provided is still very helpful.

D -29 Oct 2009 | 14:20

No, you're not too old - people with a bit of life experience often perform better and many firms welcome their applications.

However, the fact that you have three master's degrees suggests that you don't in fact have life experience and have instead just spent your adulthood messing around at university in some kind of denial of real life.

You are either lazy or weird to have studied THREE master's degrees.

Why do you want to become a lawyer - is it the prospect of another two years as a student?

Magic Circle Associate -29 Oct 2009 | 14:22

On the continent

I am not familar with the UK, but certainly with most of continental Europe you would be almost "too" young. In Germany, Austria and other countries here on the continent people do not even become lawyers before they are 28 to 30 years old. Spain and Portugal might be an exception, but there you will have to have at least one or two master degrees or good connections to get into a top law firm.

European lawyer -29 Oct 2009 | 16:02

Certainly not too old. My current trainee is 30. Languages and degrees are very attractive differentiating characteristics.

Grizzled old partner -29 Oct 2009 | 16:27

I agree that you do seem seriously weird - 27, three masters and still want to do two more years of study.

Even if you do pass the LPC, I doubt if you'll get a TC as most firms will think you're so odd...

FFS, START WORKING!!!!

Marshall Hall -29 Oct 2009 | 19:47

Definitely not!

I was 27 when I started my legal career. I did the GDL part-time for 2 years, spent one year doing the LPC and another two years waiting to start my TC. I think MCA raises a valid point, but if you are sure you want a career in law, do it.

Mature student -29 Oct 2009 | 20:45

Of course not!

27 is fine. I started at 33 after a career in accountancy. Instead of the GDL/LPC/TC route you could try for a paralegal position and go the ILEX route. It will take a little longer but you will gain 5 years + of practical experience which is perhaps all you are lacking at the moment on your CV.

Go for it! And good luck!

Me -29 Oct 2009 | 20:59

You're not too old in principle, but I agree with some of the posters that doing three masters indicates you are more wedded to academia than the practicalities of law. Firms will question you on this.

Ask yourself this: Why do you want to go into law? And why now, when so many lawyers are losing their jobs?

To be honest I think it will be an uphill struggle at the moment. On the other hand, if you can afford to fund yourself through the CPE and LPC then the market will hopefully have improved by the time you complete these.

Good luck!

Anonymous -30 Oct 2009 | 09:37

Secure a job first

I don't think you are too old but equally as you are a candidate who does not 'conform' or fit within the usual law firm selection process I would not start the LPC or GDL before getting a training contract or at least doing a vacation scheme. Going ahead without a job or any legal work experience could mean you are looking at £30k in fees and living expenses with no job at the end of it or a job you end up hating!

Anon -30 Oct 2009 | 13:49

Not old at all

In answer to the question, 27 is certainly not too old and in fact will work as a distinct advantage when making applications to a number of law firms who value "real world experience".

You may want to look out for law firms who within their training contract brochures/web pages include examples of mature trainees or indicate a particular willingness to receive applications from those who have not simply gone straight through education.

What you may find more of an issue than your age is the fact that you have completed three masters. I have found that law firms have never been too appreciative of this qualification (wrongly in my view) and typically associate them with people who either seek to delay entering full-time employment or those who are trying to make up for an otherwise less than stellar educational background.

Whilst I accept that there may be perfectly good reasons why you chose to study such a qualification three times and no doubt in different and useful areas, I raise the issue as I would expect this to be queried by potential law firms.

Best of luck!

MG -30 Oct 2009 | 16:03

Not sure that three masters degrees really counts as "real world experience" in the words of a previous poster. Whilst I agree that a number of firms will look at more mature candidates, this is usually on the basis that they have spent the intervening years doing something that gives them a useful commercial edge. I am not sure that so much time spent in academia will be a great selling point. If you have no valid employment experience at all, it might be worthwhile undertaking your GDL part-time whilst working in an area that would complement the practice area(s) you are interested in. That will also give time for the legal employment market to recover a little.

City Litigator -30 Oct 2009 | 16:20

As old as you feel

I'm a pupil barrister, so please bear in mind that my comments might not apply equally to the solicitors' profession....

I started my LL.B in 2001 and completed my BVC in 2008. I did both part-time while I worked in a full-time job. I am now in my late 30s and have just started pupillage.

I found my age was no disadvantage when applying, and, in fact, I was told several times that my non-standard CV made me stand out from the homogenous mass of 23-year-olds with virtually identical applications. Common sense, commercial awareness, judgement, self-confidence etc were all given (either explicitly or implicitly) as reasons for interviewing me. I was also talking to a judge and two QCs last night (over G&Ts, don't ya know old chap) who reckoned I would be at an advantage because lay clients, solicitors, other members of the Bar and judges would probably (whether consciously or not) take me more seriously than younger barristers in the early years of practice.

In fact, an argument could be raised that you are old enough to not be wet behind the ears anymore, but not so aged that you've become set in your ways or run out of steam.

Don't let it put you off. If you're good enough, you're young enough.

Good luck!

Pugh Pill -01 Nov 2009 | 22:23

Go for it, but be very careful in your choice of firm...

I started my training contract at 27 having had a similar mix of education and real life work experience in a previous career. You'll benefit from being that bit older and more experienced, but it is both a benefit and a burden. Many mid-level associates with the interpersonal skills of a mediocre school prefect struggle to deal with trainees who aren't fresh-faced 22-year-olds they can treat like dirt. Likewise being treated like a green 22-year-old and tied to the photocopying can be pretty soul-destroying if your previous work gave you any level of responsibility above that of making the tea.

I'd recommend looking carefully at the US firms and avoid the magic circle and any stuffy old English firms. In the right firm you'll be marvellous (I love my career) but in the wrong firm you'll be at your wits end by your second seat and wonder why you didn't stick in your previous career.

30 year old NQ -04 Nov 2009 | 10:04

No - I am 36 and several of my fellow trainees are in their 40s (top 20 firm). 27 is plenty young enough.

Don't fret about being treated young - it's not that you are seen as young, it's that you are seen as inexperienced, which as you are a trainee is inevitable, regardless as your age.

However, you might be a bit more cynical about any "wow-my-first-real-job-isn't-it-amazing!" types straight out of university you may encounter (give it five years - it'll probably wear off), you probably won't regard your fellow trainees as potentially your best mates forever and ever (or want to go out all the time with them on the razz - or probably see them that much outside of work), and you probably won't be blown away by the "lure" of corporate hospitality (read "chore" and "largely tedious").

If you want it, give it a shot. Just remember that funding it yourself is extremely expensive though. Also remember that it is a job at the end of the day and not a panacea. You are highly unlikely to be changing the world for the better - far more likely to be contributing towards gold-plating the partners' bath taps.

David Beadle -04 Nov 2009 | 21:35

No - but the fact you have to ask the question means makes me seriously doubt you have the intellectual ability to deal with the profession!

Anonymous -13 Nov 2009 | 18:42

I would be seriously worried if people answered this question in affirmative. I am 23 years old (24 next month) and I am currently in the first year of my law degree studies at university. If everything goes the way I hope it to, I will 28 when I start my TC.

I have no credentials that could even begin to compare to yours, but I am taking a chance at this, as being a solicitor is what I really want to do. I left school at 16, moved to England, worked for seven years, then did a Certificate of HE, got a distinction and I am not studying at Oxford University. I had to quit my job, live on student loans and etc., all in the hope of a better future and a dream which I hope will come true someday soon.

All I am trying to say, I guess, is that you shouldn't worry about your age. Not at 27, at least. If that's what you want to do, then go for it. You will never know unless you try.

Best of luck.

Eve -24 Dec 2009 | 23:36

Is 36 too old to start a career in Law

Hi Guys,

I am 35, graduated and 1996 and did an MBA in sales and marketing in 1998 from India. Before coming to the UK in 2002, I worked with top companies in India and then after coming here I had to take a break for four years due to extreme family reasons. I did get a professional consultancy degree in supply chain management from Siemens in 2005 in order to make myself more competitive in UK market, but to no use.

I then started working for call centres in the UK and got extremely fed up as this is something I do not want to do. Law is something which interests me.
Kindly suggest me friends so that I can get a right career path.

Anurag Yadav -07 Jan 2010 | 09:20