Articles From the Team

What to do if you’ve fallen out of love with corporate law

Corporate law can be a challenging area of practice; from both an intellectual point of view as well as the hours, which can make personal life difficult.

It’s certainly the case that many of the corporate lawyers I speak to love the thrill of deal-making and accept that the sometimes inclement hours are a necessary evil in order to do what they love.

However, every now and then I speak to a corporate solicitor who – for whatever reason – has reached a point where they no longer wish to make the same level of commitment. Often, they love the people they work for and they enjoy the work itself but the impact on work-life balance has become too much.

It can be a confusing and difficult time as you try to work out what your options are.

In-house

For some solicitors, a move into an in-house role seems like the best move. This means stepping away from pure corporate work, focussing on general commercial contract law instead.

View our latest in-house legal roles.

SME and OMB clients

There’s always the potential to work for a firm that acts for smaller-scale clients. Working with SME and OMB type clients can lead to more client contact and engagement. Equally, the demands of such clients and the lower complexity of their deals can mean a better work-life balance or at least more control over hours worked.

Same tier, different firm. Will it be much of the same?

Some corporate lawyers dismiss moving to a firm of the same tier (or bigger) – believing they’re all the same. In reality, different firms and teams have different ways of managing their workload. Some work in the same team most of the time and others track individual capacity and move teams around. The impact can be at an individual level and it can make a world of difference.

Alternative structures

The growth of alternative suppliers of legal services has provided another option. The proposition and the work available with some of the new entrants to the market have proven popular with some. This can mean moving away from pure M&A and focussing on areas like corporate restructuring instead.

Legal recruitment

Around half of BCL Legal’s employees are non-practising solicitors so there’s always the option of stepping across into legal recruitment. After all – the job is still making deals – just a different type of deal.

There are obviously many other options – including moving away from anything to do with the legal profession all together.

So, if you’re a corporate lawyer who feels like they may have fallen out of love with the job – then get in touch. The right option is bound to be there for you somewhere!