Profession welcomes mature students into ranks
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Many people in their 50s are just getting round to thinking about retirement. But Last Cawthra Feather trainee Steve Willey has other ideas. Willey, who bagged a training contract with the Yorkshire-based firm aged 56, is looking forward to qualifying as a solicitor specialising in employment law in March 2011.
Before securing his training contract Willey managed to carve out a more interesting CV than most. After dropping out of an English degree he joined a management trainee scheme at a major supermarket. He then worked in a bank, then for its trade union, which sponsored him to study law part-time at the University of Kent.
“As a mature student you take studying more responsibly,” he says. “The only downside is that, as I was studying part-time, I couldn’t get fully involved with the non-academic side of student life.”
After gaining a first-class honours, Willey volunteered at the Citizens Advice Bureau before being taken on as a paid employee. He later joined an employment consultancy where he worked until 2006.
Willey applied to work at Last Cawthra in 2007 and, after starting his LPC, the firm offered him a training contract. Willey is completing the LPC at the same time as his training contract, which is no mean feat.
“The hardest thing is the sheer physical and mental effort of combining a full-time job with study. At 8.30pm, when you’ve been away from home for over 14 hours, it’s extremely tough to get your head around a complex legal matter,” he admits.
But Willey is determined to complete his training contract even though his fellow trainees, who are on the traditional path and joined Last Cawthra after finishing the LPC, will qualify several months ahead of him.
“I hope people like me will be much more common in the legal profession,” says Willey. “Society’s concept of age has changed - 50 is the new 30.”
Willey is part of a growing band of 50-somethings who are embracing law as a second or indeed third career. As The Lawyer reported earlier this month (8 June), one of the City’s oldest trainees, Mary Smillie, qualified with City law firm Bird & Bird aged 50. And proving that age is an advantage in the workplace, the lawyer completed her training contract ahead of schedule thanks to the experience she had gained in her former life as technical director of pharmaceutical company Teva.
Smillie, who has qualified into the firm’s IP practice, says: “I’m 50 but I still have a good number of years to give. A lot of my younger colleagues are dreaming of partnership, but I’m not thinking about that because I really enjoy the job I do.”
The story of Smillie’s success in a challenging market for trainees triggered a flurry of supportive comments on TheLawyer.com from fellow mature trainees and law students. One reader, Sophia, wrote: “Congratulations Mary and all the very best in your new role! I thought myself quite an oddity when I qualified aged 42 in September. It’s great to see my little club expanding. Maybe other firms will take note of your achievement and broaden their thinking a little.”
And it is not just the LPC that is attracting applicants in their 50s. Top vascular surgeon Anthony Douglas-Hamilton is preparing to be called to the bar after competing the Bar Vocational Course (BVC) aged 69.
Douglas-Hamilton claims he was well equipped to handle the research and accuracy elements of the BVC, even though technological advances caused him problems to begin with.
“One thing I’d never come to terms with is computers, as I’d always had a secretary type my letters. I had to start from the beginning and learn how to use things like legal search engines. It was quite a steep learning curve,” he admits.
Aspiring lawyers face endless hurdles in entering the profession, but as Willey, Smillie and Douglas-Hamilton prove, age need not be one of them.
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Readers' comments (15)
Metallica | 23-Jun-2009 11:20 am
Very well done!! Mature candidates are the way to go. You wouldn't believe how many trainees I have seen who have no common sense, no maturity and no manners. You never get those traits with mature candidates who provide more value to a business in terms of expertise and personality.
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Adrian | 25-Jun-2009 11:03 am
I am heartened to see such instances of mature graduates entering the profession, it gives me hope! I am 37 and have always wanted to enter the legal profession, with current commitments and my own software company it's not likely to happen anytime soon but hearing that the door is never closed makes me more determined to make my dream happen, however long it takes.
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Metallica | 25-Jun-2009 3:07 pm
IP and IT law would be good for you Adrian.
It'll be good if you start to build your contacts now before doing your conversion course. Perhaps join The Society for Computers & Law. Network, get to be mates with IP/IT private practice lawyers and in-house lawyers. By the time you apply for a training contract, you'll need every resource available because the competition will be tough. A firm will be impressed if you have a wide network. A wide network = contacts = potential clients = £££.
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Dawn -Law student | 27-Jun-2009 1:20 pm
Congratulations to Steve, it fills me with hope and encouragement to hear stories such as this. As a mature law student age 47 approaching my final year on the LLB, I now feel more determined than ever to look forward and be hopeful of gaining a training contract and becoming a solicitor. Well done.
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Sue Jackson | 18-Jul-2009 10:28 pm
These comments are so heartening to read. I have just finished the LPC aged 43 and am due to start my training contract with Anthony Gold this September. I too have volunteered for the past 2-3 years with the Citizens Advice Bureau and thoroughly enjoyed my time there and learnt so much.
Older candidates have so much to offer in terms of maturity, life experience, experience of dealing with problems and people that can only benefit the legal profession overall - not to mention other professions such as medicine.
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Martin Lloyd-Penny | 24-Jul-2009 12:00 pm
This is a great example of why experience counts. We are providing a service for mature lawyers and I hope that this encourages our candidates many of whom think that being over 50 is the end of their career.
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Mark Sheard | 2-Sep-2009 10:44 am
In an inspirational moment I decided to think about this. I am 47 and specialise in securing telecoms deals for clients but have no idae how I would go about becoming lawyer or the feasibility at my age. Google led me here and it has given me some food for thought. Thanks. If anyone has nay gudiance that would of course be appreciated.
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Katy | 4-Sep-2009 11:12 pm
Goodness- well done to all. I am 28 and have a business degree and I am currently doing my masters whilst working in sales for a medical company full time. I am considering a law career, althoughpeople keep telling me i'm too old!!! and that its too competitive unless you attend Oxbridge.
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Sue Jackson | 7-Sep-2009 9:46 pm
Believe me, 28 is not too old (from where I stand). When I first when to a careers adviser saying I was thinking about doing law, the reaction I got was that law was very old-fashioned and conventional, I got really put off. From my experience, depending on which firms you target, I really think things are changing. I really believe law firms are after people who can communicate well (both orally and written) and have good business sense - of course as well as academic knowledge. Definitely not just Oxbridge.
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Navid sardar | 18-Sep-2009 3:26 pm
Having just accepted a place on the GDL at the BPP next year, Mr Willey's story has provided a much needed fillip to my quaking 41 year old ego. i'm embarking on the quest for funding, scholarships and diminishing training contracts with an unhealthy vigour from somebody of my age.
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