We live in uncertain times, and with many job sectors tightening their belts, more and more people are finding themselves out of work and looking for options. One option available is re-training, and one sector where there are literally dozens of options is Law. There are many law courses available depending on which area of law you wish to get into. For instance, maybe you are a doctor looking to retrain, you may consider making medical negligence your specialty, or if you are fluent in other languages, maybe you will concentrate on shipping law.
If you have always fancied working in law, but you are uncertain if it will suit you, perhaps you could consider training as a legal secretary or Paralegal to give yourself a “feel” for the job before investing in the lengthy process of becoming a fully trained solicitor or barrister.
Being a legal secretary or paralegal is an ideal job to do alongside your law courses as it gives you hands on training in the various sectors of law, as you don’t need any formal qualification to start you off.
Once you have decided to start a law course the next thing is to work out how you are going to do it, you have many options available to you from going to a venue like your local collage or University, to “on the job” course where your tutor can come and visit you at your work premises, Open University or through companies like CLT who offer a wide range of options for your law courses and on-going CPD.
If you are considering a change of career direction, or are thinking about starting a law course, many companies are happy to talk to people about the sort of requirements they look for in new employees, and some will take on people who are interested in re-training either part-time or as a paralegal if they have the vacancies, leading onto a more senior position or full time work when you qualify.
Another option would be to look for a company that has an “in-house” legal team as these are more often looking for staff, your local recruitment agency may be able to find you some temp work either in a solicitors or in a legal department of a company, so it is worth giving them a call too and registering your interest. If you are already working and are trying to retrain whilst in your desisting employment, then maybe doing some voluntary work for your local Citizen’s Advice Bureau would suit you.