Out of 274 occupations surveyed by the government, ‘solicitor’ is in the top 50 most satisfying.
An attempt by the Cabinet Office to quantify happiness among professionals has delivered a boost to solicitors, who it turns out are quite happy.
Despite the legal aid branch of the profession being hit by savage cuts, and the corporate branch being enslaved to huge billable hours targets, life for solicitors is actually way better than it is for, say, publicans, who finished at the bottom of the list of 274 occupations.
Solicitors also narrowly beat their longstanding safe-career-choice rivals accountants, who came in at 45th place in the happiness list. What is more, solicitors’ average earnings (£44,787) beat that of their accountancy cousins too, who pull in a mere £37,850 annually.
Also listed in the Cabinet Office’s happiness rankings was a group of lawyer called, somewhat confusingly, “Legal professionals”. With average earnings of £75,399 a year, the category seems to be a hybrid of high-end City lawyers and commercial barristers. They came in further down the happiness scale, bagging a relatively lowly 108th place in the list.
The UK’s happiest professionals? Members of the clergy, followed by chief executives and senior officials. The full happiness list is here.