I think I would like to start off my proper bloggery pokery by pondering why anybody would want to become a family lawyer. I suppose I started thinking about this because I am lecturing on the LPC for UWE and I was struck that “the kids” or some of them, want to do my job, want to put in the effort into the exams about my job and turn up to listen to me talk about what I do in my job.
So there must be something in it, right? Maybe the glamour? The pinpoint cross examination leading to wrongs being righted? Perhaps the solid job prospects and excellent pay?
Hmm. well, not so much. To be candid with you, this is a profession going through some revolutionary pangs. Here is my take on the good and bad.
Good things:
- I am very rarely bored in my work. It helps that I am nosy about people and fascinated at how they interact with each other. I enjoy changing my clients’ minds about things or widening their vistas. That’s not to say there are not regular themes or similarities that crop up – they do.
- It is indoor, varied, non manual work. If you have ever done manual work, you will understand why this is a significant positive.
- The personal and professional development journey is never over. Law has a reputation as a dark art.; litigation particularly so. I think the reason for this is the emphasis on the development of the skills of persuasiveness, negotiation and manipulation of the scene to suit the client. But rest assured I have an inner check and balance: if I change my last name to Borgia, I know I have gone too far.
- Statistics and the the social landscape tell me that this is a growth area of law. People not getting on in a family context? That is potentially my harvest whether by mediation, negotiation, collaboration or litigation. No good blaming me for that or getting eggy about “blood sucking ” lawyers.
- Potential to be well remunerated, to a standard that allows for a nice house, a car, a pension, a holiday abroad. Family lawyer wages are unlikely to put your kids through boarding school, so don’t get too excited.
- We live in a time in which the profession is allowing solicitors to advocate and barristers to find themselves separated by a gossamer veil from litigating. it is all a lot more fluid and it has certainly benefitted me…
Bad:
- Without the Bank of Wealthy Relative, I do not see how you can get to a training contract with less than £50k in debt. That sucks. And without doubt will re-homogenise the profession just when we were starting to be more representative of the client base.
- It will be years before you break the £35,000 mark and you will be stuck at the £20,000 to £25,000 level for ages. Probably until you get partnership somewhere. It just isn’t viable to pay bigger wages in these firms. I really worry about the ageing of the profession as a knock on consequence of this.
- Sometimes it can be draining. The expectations of clients are huge compared to what can often be delivered. Mind you, as time goes by we all get better at managing those expectations.
- Being so blatantly and deliberately misunderstood by the government. There is a wilful prejudice against lawyers generally from the government and against the value family lawyers bring to disputes. Access to Justice is not understood by the Ministry of Justice who, as it happens, are supposed to be safeguarding Justice on your behalf and not doing a very good job of it.
- The uncertainty of the high street lawyer’s future, a place where so many lawyers have happily made their careers. I don’t really know where the commoditisation of law will take us, although I have some ideas of my own that I will be using in my firm.
Well, those are my starting thoughts. I hope I don’t come over as over or under selling it. I just wanted to try and capture some of the pros and cons. I would very much like to hear from anyone who thinks they can flesh it out or can help people out there contemplating their first steps into law…
