Articles From the Team
Taking the plunge - my journey into legal recruitment
Working hard for the dream
Work experience, a three-year law degree, a vacation placement, one year of the LPC, a two-year training contract – all gearing you up for that day when you finally qualify as a solicitor.
The above will sound familiar to most newly qualified solicitors. And for some NQs, you might’ve experienced a few years working as a paralegal in addition to the above!
I started my legal journey when I was 16; I secured some work experience at a firm in Manchester. Since then, being a lawyer was all I ever wanted to do and I worked extremely hard to achieve this dream. I qualified in 2015 and found myself working for a great law firm, and with colleagues who possessed a wealth of experience for me to learn from.
Fast forward to 2018 and I’m a couple of weeks into my new role as a legal recruitment associate at BCL.
So, what happened?
After the buzz – of finally qualifying – wore off, I found myself in a position where I was re-assessing my goals and drives. During this time I reached a stage where I decided that practising as a solicitor just wasn’t for me. Getting to this point was no walk in the park. In addition to all of the training, I had a couple of years’ PQE under my belt and to throw in the towel after all of that time, effort and expense was hard (to say the least).
Obviously, everyone asked me: “what was I going to do next?” I was eager to put my legal experience to use so legal recruitment seemed a worthy option. I recalled my contact with BCL Legal when I was a candidate (I was coming up to qualification and I was really impressed with their level of professionalism, knowledge and contacts). So, I got in touch.
The transition
One of the greatest aspects of my transition from legal practice to legal recruitment was BCL’s understanding of the gravity of making a decision to leave the law. This is down to the fact that a vast majority of BCL consultants have done it themselves. I genuinely felt that BCL was invested in my decision - everyone wanted to be absolutely certain it was the right thing for me.
With no prior recruitment experience, I was a little worried about the logistics of the move (despite so many BCL consultants having already done it), but so far, the training’s been second to none. There’s a really supportive culture and my manager is always on hand to answer my questions (of which there are so many!). I’m learning new things, speaking to new people and the days absolutely fly by. It’s only been a few weeks but I’m really enjoying my new role and have no regrets about taking the plunge!