NQ Solicitor - Changing Area of Specialism after qualifying

[Kalimakhtar]

Hi all,

I was hoping to get some insight into those who have either qualified, or due to qualify, namely around changing area of specialism as an NQ without having sat in the area of law.
I am due to qualify soon, about 8 months out, and want to be as open as possible. With being open, I want to explore option of applying for an NQ role in an area I have not got experience in, but have begun undertaking courses as such to supplement knowledge and gain a wider understanding.

Would this be achievable? I have read online that it is possible and have seen posts of those who have done so in the past. How would I need to navigate this?
For context, I have sat seats in Property (resi and commercial), Family, Private Client (Contentious and Non-Contentious), with my final seat to be confirmed. It is either in Clinical Negligence or a repeat seat. I am interested in Construction Law or Competition Law at the moment.

Grateful for any comments (please be nice in advance)

 

[Jessica Booker]

Something like construction might be a possibility given you have done a real estate seat.

Moving to something like competition though is likely to be more tricky because none of your seats are directly connected to this area - you really need some corporate experience to put you in the best position to take on competition work if you haven’t done a competition seat.

Competition also tend to be quite a popular area to go into - generally I would say that supply exceeds demand for NQ roles and I can’t remember seeing someone qualifying competition without either a competition or corporate seat.

It can happen but it is exceptionally rare. If you ultimately want to try and qualify into one of these areas the best way to do so would be to gain experience in that practice area, and if you cannot achieve that because of the restrictions of the options of your training contract you need to try and secure further seats that are as closely related to the area that you want to qualify into instead.