According to a poll of junior lawyers on The Law Society website, a whopping 85% would consider an alternative career to law.
Far from being a case of the grass being greener on the other side though, a closer look at the comments from those who voted suggest many have no option other than looking outside law as they struggle to find openings for newly qualified lawyers.
And on top of this, responses also suggest many of those pursuing alternative careers are finding it tough, with some fearing their legal experience has made them too specialised — while others worry employers are wary about hiring career changers in case they were planning to return to law.
With little good news in the legal industry — The Times reported last year how as many as 10,000 lawyers could be out of work as the legal business faced the worst slump in decades — many lawyers could also find themselves facing an entirely unplanned career change.
So, what else can a lawyer do? And is a career change as difficult as the comments from these junior lawyers suggest? We'll be examining these issues in a live Q&A — join our panel of experts on 6 October between 1pm—4pm.
Our panel (more names to be added):
Simon Broomer is a qualified solicitor who has retrained and qualified as a career development and job hunting professional. He is founder and director of CareerBalance, a career planning and job search company. 50% of Simon's career consultancy clients are lawyers, and he has provided training and development for solicitors and barristers for 12 years.
Jonathan Brenner is a qualified solicitor and an experienced recruiter who works for Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP. Jonathan co-founded the firm's Lawyers on Demand scheme, which allows lawyers to practice law in-house with the back-up of a City firm, on terms that allow them to pursue other projects. Lawyers who have taken part in the scheme have combined their legal work with acting, pilates teaching, novel writing, further study, psychotherapy, film-making, journalism, parenthood and travel.
Nic Bottomley in an ex-finance lawyer who left the profession to set up an independent bookshop in Bath, Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delights.
Jennie Rooney did her training contract with Slaughter and May, working in both their London and Paris offices. She wrote her first novel during this time, and although she qualified into finance, she left after six months of working as an associate finance solicitor after gaining a publishing deal with Chatto & Windus. Jennie is now currently working on her third novel and she also teaches history and English part-time.
Jonny Goldstone qualified as a corporate lawyer at Clifford Chance in 2003. Jonny left law behind him to set up greentomatocars, an environmentally-friendly passenger car service, with co-founder Tom Pakenham.
Hindi Greenberg is an expert on career issues for lawyers and career alternatives. Hindi, a former business litigator, carries out career consultations with lawyers worldwide, presents career seminars to bar associations and law schools across North America and is author of The Lawyer's Career Change Handbook.
Melissa Dunnett is an ex-City lawyer who now works for www.moretolaw.com. The site has been running for more than four years and offers lawyers information and ideas about career options both within and outside of the legal sector.
We'll also be joined by several representatives of The City Law School, who'll be answering questions about their teaching careers.
Snigdha Nag is a barrister and a senior lecturer on the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC). (1.30pm-2pm)
Marcus Soanes is course director on the part-time BPTC. (2pm–3pm)
Robert McPeake joined The City Law School in 1983. He is a barrister and principal lecturer on the Master of Laws course. (3pm–4pm)
