Parent looking for advice and information about law careers

[Truecoconut]

Hi. This is an unusual situation. I’m not a lawyer/Solicitor but my son is. He has finished his training contract but was not retained by the company. He qualified in corporate finance. He has spent the last year being my carer after a transplant surgery.
My issue is that he keeps telling me that I don’t understand how corporate finance works anytime that I want to speak with him about his job hunting. I really know zilch about it.
He has struggled to get a job in his area of qualification and want to suggest that he retains in another area that he’s interested in.
My question is whether this is possible? I don’t want to get into a chaotic discussion with him without understanding what is possible.
I’d be grateful if anyone could explain this to me please. I’d also appreciate it if anyone in similar circumstances would be willing to share their experiences.
I just want to be of help to him especially after he has looked after me for a whole year while I recover from the surgery.
Thanks in advance

 

[Andrei Radu]

Hi. This is an unusual situation. I’m not a lawyer/Solicitor but my son is. He has finished his training contract but was not retained by the company. He qualified in corporate finance. He has spent the last year being my carer after a transplant surgery.
My issue is that he keeps telling me that I don’t understand how corporate finance works anytime that I want to speak with him about his job hunting. I really know zilch about it.
He has struggled to get a job in his area of qualification and want to suggest that he retains in another area that he’s interested in.
My question is whether this is possible? I don’t want to get into a chaotic discussion with him without understanding what is possible.
I’d be grateful if anyone could explain this to me please. I’d also appreciate it if anyone in similar circumstances would be willing to share their experiences.
I just want to be of help to him especially after he has looked after me for a whole year while I recover from the surgery.
Thanks in advance

Hi @Truecoconut generally speaking, it is impossible to get a newly-qualified position in a practice area one has not experienced in their training contract. This is simply because not doing a seat in the area of qualification mean one will not have the prerequisite knowledge and experience to deal with the responsibilities of the role. Thus, if your son has only completed corporate and finance seats in his training contract, those are the only areas he will be able to work in as an associate.

Next, it is very difficult to secure an associate position in a practice area one has not qualified in. In essence, this would entail someone doing a number of seats at a firm in their training contract, choosing one seat to qualify in (say, corporate) and later on deciding to switch and then qualify in another seat they have previously done (say, finance). I have heard of it happening in a couple of cases, but these have always been highlighted to me as highly exceptional circumstances.

Furthermore, even if it were possible for your son to switch practices (which I doubt), it would likely not be advisable. The choice of the practice area to qualify in is often said to be the most important one in a commercial lawyer's career, as it impacts everything they do from that point onwards. As such, it is wise to pick the practice that is best suited to your long term interests and preferences rather than short-term considerations.

Finally, it is important to keep in mind that this is simply a bad moment in the market for associate retention in commercial law, particularly for corporate roles. It seems like law firms have significantly overhired in past years when the M&A market was hot and client demand high, while right now the markets are still generally quiet, so firms are correcting headcount figures by under hiring when compared to historical numbers. Nonetheless, sooner or later the corporate-finance markets are expected to pick up again, and your son will likely find a much easier time securing a role then.