Hi Auntie Em,
I’m midway through the Legal Practice Course (LPC), having just reconvened after the Xmas break, and, to tell you the truth, I wish I was doing anything but this.
I don’t want to be a lawyer. The trouble is I don’t know what else to do with my life. At university I studied history, then did the law conversion course because I didn’t know what else to do, and now I find myself on the way to becoming a solicitor. I find the law so boring.
I don’t have a training contract lined up, but then I don’t want to be a solicitor…but what else can I do? Basically, I’m lost.
Jack
Disclaimer: Auntie Em has never worked in a law firm. But she is an aunt and has a psychology degree. As a teenager, Auntie Em had a dream predicting 9/11.
Dear Jack,
A young man, let’s call him Jack, starts a new job. The caretaker hands him a broom and says “the floor needs sweeping.” “But I’m a law graduate,” protests Jack. “Oh I see,” says the caretaker. “Give it here. I’ll show you how to use it.”
My point, Jack, is that you’ve got to start from the bottom. Unless I’m mistaken, the LPC contains a lot of dry theory, and the actual job you get to do at the end of it will be quite different from what you’re doing now. If you start something else, it will still involve a lot of boring and hard work before you progress to more interesting stuff.
But deep down I guess you know this. Are there other reasons for your aversion to the law? Do you think it could be related to fear of responsibility and growing up?
You got into your current situation, I imagine, by getting a ‘meh’ degree, then floating into law without much consideration. It seems this is the first time you’ve given your choices much thought. So, in some ways, your current worrying represents progress.
Maybe you really don’t want to be a lawyer. But the reality is that at the moment you just don’t know, which isn’t to say you can’t sense something isn’t right.
All you can do is keep asking questions. Finding what you don’t like is a gradual process. And it’s no bad thing, because it’ll help you realise what you do like. If you come to the conclusion that this really isn’t your thing, you can’t force yourself to do it for the next 40 years. But you’re not quite at that point yet. Be patient. And listen to some Take That.
Keep going, and good luck.
Auntie Em
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