Changing career from Lab work to solicitor. Whats life as a Solicitor like?

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StaroftheSea

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I am working in a laboratory and to be fair, it is a comfortable and peaceful job. There is no stress in the job, there are no real prospects of advancement, but I do not mind that. I have come to accept that. But it is highly likely that I will have to do shift work soon, and I do not want that. I think it will be difficult to get a good laboratory job elsewhere locally.

I am thinking of changing career and becoming a solicitor, preferably in a small country type practice where the majority of work is conveyancing. I have sat and passed most of me FE1s.

My question is:
Do most solicitors enjoy their job? Is the job very stressful and worrying? Between court appearances and dealing with peoples problems, do the bad times outweigh the good times as a solicitor?
 
although this post came from me, mikeljoe, it was written on behalf of a friend of mine. just in case anybody thinks i have a few careers on the go....!
 
Solicitors everywhere work long hours, get a lot of grief, find it hard to get money out of a lot of clients and also work in conveyancing has slowed down hugely. It is a very stressful job and definitely isn't for everyone.
 
Trafford said:
Solicitors everywhere work long hours, get a lot of grief, find it hard to get money out of a lot of clients and also work in conveyancing has slowed down hugely. It is a very stressful job and definitely isn't for everyone.
Click to expand...

The voice of bitter experience?
 
ang1170 said:
The voice of bitter experience?
Click to expand...

Sort of, yes! Lets just say I am looking at ways of backing out of it now. I have my FE-1s and have worked in law for 6 years. At this stage I've seen enough to discourage me from going further :)
 
It's a difficult question to answer. Like most careers there are both good and bad points. How these will affect you is dependant on your own strengths and weaknesses. Different aspects of the job will require different skills. If you want to be a litigator it will be entirely different from being a conveyancer. And if you want to be in a small country practice you will have to be a jack of all trades. I would suggest that your friend gets some work experience in such a firm, even if they have to do so on a voluntary basis. Remember that even with all exams passed your friend will not be at all useful to a solicitors office until they have experience. They might be able to type a bit with supervision, or photocopy certain things. It's a very confidential business. If they want to be a litigator head off to the local district court or sit in on some circuit or high court sittings. If they talk to someone half decent in the local clerks office they will give them a good idea of when something interesting will be on and something that they will be allowed to watch.
 
I have read the above thread. I have also read the interesting thread about finding a legal apprentice that is in 'ask about money'. To be quite honest about that thread, I have never read about such bad experiences before, and I feel very sorry for all those students who have worked so hard for years and have not got an apprenticeship nor a job which they deserve. Surely the students with law degrees and are amongst the most hard working! Yet so many fail to get the start they want or get a job that like. It is not nice to hear that after years of effort, there is no just reward for that effort! I also have heard some horror stories about the long working hours of (in particular) Dublin solicitors. Are there any solicitors out there who can say they really love their job? Is the respected profession of being a solicitor not all that it is made out to be?
 
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