Career Clinic: Disillusioned by transactional law - has my training been wasted?

Sausage Factory

No. Your feelings are normal for a transactional lawyer at such a stage in his or her career. You understand but do not yet accept the nature of the job.

Over time your outside interests will die of neglect. Then, for want of anything else to do, you can devote yourself fully to your work. In this way you may become a partner some day.

Big Dave -04 Apr 2011 | 12:36

Leave now. The more time you waste the worse things will be.

Outside of certain business-side banking roles, transactional legal experience isn't valued by anyone for anything. And most of those banking roles will go to lawyers at leading firms in London not a regional solicitor.

So all you can ever do with your transactional experience is work as a transactional lawyer in private practice or as an in-house lawyer - and it sounds like you don't want to do either of those. Your experience will be next to worthless to most employers.

If you hate it you must leave and the later you leave it the worse off you will be. Accept that your experience will count for little and start from scratch at something you enjoy. The more you delay the worse your situation.

If you find a particular area of law interesting then try and work in that and accept you will most likely need to go back to being an NQ - but bear in mind doing the job and the academic subject are world's apart - there is always a client to serve if you are practising and not an academic. If you want to work in politics then get a job in politics. No area of law is anything like politics so law won't satisfy you.

Whatever you do quit - most lawyers are unhappy and didn't quit when young due to their greed (they didn't want to take a pay cut even for a short time) or so obsessed with prestige they couldn't live with not being a lawyer (they didn't want their legal peers to think that they couldn't hack the law).

Magic Circle Associate -04 Apr 2011 | 13:19

What are the alternatives?

What are the alternatives? Are there any areas in which I can use the skills gained as a lawyer?

Questioner -04 Apr 2011 | 14:42

"What are the alternatives? Are there any areas in which I can use the skills gained as a lawyer?"

I'm sure the experience of working at a law firm will have broadened your transferable skills as an individual. What I'm trying to convey is that regardless of what you've learnt personally a training contract and 18 months experience won't count for much in terms of "CV" points so if you want to do something different you need to accept that you are likely to be treated as a graduate and won't be able to make a "sideways" move out of law into a position with similar money. You also need a credible story explaining why you want to work in politics etc rather than law. If you get that far then yes, you might be able to sell yourself further at interview with your experience of working to deadlines etc.

You might have a shot at a sideways move with similar money into another practise area of law but are likely to have to lose some PQE if it isn't a transactional area (which I assume it can't be if it's to be an improvement). The easiest thing to do for a sideways move in law is to move within your own firm. If they aren't receptive look for an NQ position at another firm.

If you don't like being a transactional lawyer you should just quit. You're probably young enough (20s or early 30s?) to start an entire career from scratch without any ill effect. So do it.

You know you don't want to be a corporate or real estate (or whatever it is) lawyer. So now work out if you want to be a different kind of lawyer or something completely different and then apply for those positions without expecting to stay on the same money.

Magic Circle Associate -04 Apr 2011 | 15:55

In House ?

Transactional work at a junior level, particularly at a regional firm where you're not on City rates can be soul-destroying stuff; ridiculous hours, irrational partners, dreadful office politics, take away pizzas at 2am and all for a vanishingly small chance of partnership in several years' time. It's natural to loathe it.

Have you considered a move in-house into a general commercial position? Many corporate/transactional lawyers make the move at a relatively early stage when a few years of the skills built up reviewing corporate contracts and carrying out due diligence can be applied in a junior position. Most of those who make the move never look back. Don't leave it too long though or your increasingly specialist skills will probably only get you a job doing more of the same.

You mention an interest in politics although (wisely?) don't give specifics. If anything a junior politico's life is even worse than a junior lawyer's with only a tiny minority making it to the dizzy heights of being a backbencher (where most stay) after years of unpaid toil. Some in house roles can take you into lobbying (particularly once you get senior) and if you are really committed (and have the experience and the complete disdain for money to prove it) then there's always legal work with a charity or pressure group.

Good luck - the market isn't good but it's better than it's been for a couple of years.

Legal Director -04 Apr 2011 | 17:28

The Bar

Retrain as a barrister? More job satisfaction, except possibly at the criminal bar.

James Masters -04 Apr 2011 | 23:41

Act now - is law right for you?

If you are not enjoying it at this early stage, is it the right career for you? The work can be mundane at the start, but many lawyers fall into law and don't enjoy it. Many hours are spent at work on our lifetimes, so worth checking it is the right career for you. Life is too short!

talentliberator -05 Apr 2011 | 09:37

You are not alone...

You are certainly not alone with this. I work with many solicitors at your PQE who are asking similar questions and the answer for everyone is different - it all depends on what you want and what you are good at.

As you say you have invested time and money in your training and so the more time you spend now working out what you are good at and what you enjoy, the better your decision is going to be about your future career. Have a think about the following to help:

1. Make a list of all the things you would like your career to include such as skills, interests and working environments that suit you. Make sure you include the interests you have outside of work and the particular aspects of delving into the law that you enjoy.
2. Write a long list of career and job ideas (include your current role).
3. Start identifying careers and jobs from your list in step 2 which would best match ‘who you are’ as identified in step 1.
4. Identify relevant professionals and organisations associated with the careers and jobs identified in step 3. Investigate sources of vacancies and start networking to find out more about these roles.
5. Evaluate your best options to enable you to make an informed decision about whether a new career is right for you or whether your existing role suits you adequately.

I hope this is helpful for you. Ultimately, you are wanting to find a career that best suits your personality.

Tessa Armstrong -05 Apr 2011 | 12:39

Stick at it

I think it's worth giving a smaller firm or a broad in-house role a go first before you decide to leave law.

I was in a similar position to you. I started my career in the City and I became thoroughly disillusioned with working as a corporate lawyer and the oppressive environment I had to endure.

However, at around 2 PQE I moved to a leading regional (or rather county) firm where I've been one of only two corporate commercial solicitors. I've been able to enjoy a very varied and challenging workload, been able to make my own decisions, had complete responsibility for managing and building client relationships from day one and been able to leave at 5pm or spend a morning at a networking event if I choose to. In short, my life has become a lot more enjoyable. Yes, the money has been rather different than what I earned before, but now, two years later, it has given me the knowledge and confidence to start my own corporate and commercial boutique.

http://twitter.com/jonathanlea

Jonathan Lea -06 Apr 2011 | 10:09

I enjoyed reading Jonathan Lea's post but he has been very lucky.

I work in a medium sized High Street firm in the West Midlands. To be fair to the partners here, I don't get people breathing down my neck if I want to leave at 5.30pm in the evening or spend a morning in a networking meeting. The partners know that I put the work in when I have to, and concentrate on what is important which is satisfying clients.

However, the financials are still what drives the business in the regions, whatever the size of the firm. If I am not making the firm the required amount of money, I will get a P45. I know it may sound impractical, but why not do some volunteering in the field of politics or campaigning or lobbying in your spare time before throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

When I was newly qualified I had no cynicism and really believed that the citizen's voice could change the world. I wrote letters to MPs, Councillors, MEPs and newspapers and was interviewed on local radio. I learned how to write press releases and generated news stories in local papers. I even went to the World Bank and the IMF in Washington DC five times to lobby. I met interesting decision makers and made friends with ordinary people with the same passion as me.

It didn't convince me to become a politician, researcher or lobbyist instead. Actually it showed me that I probably wasn't up to it. But it has probably made me a better solicitor. Good luck.

high street solicitor -08 Apr 2011 | 14:04

It's not all bad

How perceptive of you, to have immediately grasped the meaning of life for a transactional lawyer. Remember the faster you work, the faster the wheel will spin!

A few positives. Doing what you do means you will learn (at a minimum):

1) Attention to detail;
2) How to execute complicated deals under pressure (which requires careful planning and team work);
3) What clients want;
4) Contract law and commercial common sense (lacking in so many lawyers);

These are all great skills and applicable outside the niche work you are doing, so take heart!

A little advice:

Spend the next year perfecting the above;
Get to know clients (possible employers);
Try and help on other deals outside of your area;
Network;
Think wider than the UK, there is a big world out there.

Rick -12 Apr 2011 | 14:39

Be brave

I was a three-year qualified litigation lawyer in a niche London firm. I found the work incredibly dull - the hours were bearable but the work was terrible. Boring and everything I did had to be looked over by a partner first. It was incredibly frustrating.

Now I work for a trade association for a type of financial services doing lobbying and policy work - it is related to my legal training because my responsibility is to focus on the civil litigation system so I feel that my training wasn't wasted. It is varied and I finally have control over my own life. I had to take a drop in salary but only to what I was being paid at NQ level, which wasn't too much of a dip in exchange for getting my life and my sanity back.

Everyone at the firm that I left thought I was mad as I left with no job to go to. But I needed the time to clear my head and it only took me a month to find something else. Remember, the three-month notice period is something that new employers will accept but if they have the choice then they'd probably get you in there to start the next day so that you can get up to speed.

Be brave and go for it - you will never look back. There are too many lawyers out there like you being miserable...the smart ones get out and realise that there's more to life!! Good luck.

Samantha -12 Apr 2011 | 17:02

Wing mirrors to see your skills

Nothing is ever a waste - you will look back in hindsight and see that this part of your career journey makes sense.

Everyone has transferable skills, it is just hard to see them yourself.

talentliberator -11 May 2011 | 12:48

Alternaive carreers within law

If you want to use your legal training but do something worthwhile to improve the system and benefit the community, you might like to try another career within law - such as Centre for Justice.

A Hurndall -02 Jun 2011 | 16:25