Hi

I am an English-educated and trained solicitor and have done my training contract with a City firm and am currently a +1PQE. Due to the recent recession, unfortunately I was not given much choice in where I would like to qualify to and now I feel like I am stuck doing something I have no interest in. As with anything, applying for new jobs in this market is difficult particularly as I have the "wrong experience". I cannot see myself doing this for the next 5 years and am seriously considering doing an LLM course which is "on point" exactly what I would like to do at a top law school in the US (Columbia / NYU namely).

I have a good set of experience and graduated well from a good school in London and have worked in London, Hong Kong and Singapore (currently). I have some language skill as well and have an international background (I am not English nor was I born in the UK).

My question is whether the LLM is worth the investment and risk (quitting my current job, no stable income etc) in my pursuit of rectifying this "wrong" career path. Or should I just stick to this dreary job and wait it out in hope that someone who offers the type of job I originally prefer would offer it to someone with the "wrong" experience.

Please advise.

Maybe your employer would consider holding your job for you for a year, especially since you are not going off on a jolly but would come back with an additional qualification and useful international contacts. Since they are currently putting trainees on hold etc they might appreciate the opportunity to cut costs while holding on to a qualified solicitor.

The longer you stay in your current field, the more pigeonholed you will become and in addition you might acquire family responsibilities etc that make it even more difficult to take the leap. I reckon go for it while you are young so that you don't get stuck in a field you don't like...

another option - if you're based in london - is to do a part-time llm with ucl/lse/kings/qmul in a specialised field, which might open some doors and allow you to attempt to change fields. you can do a part-time llm in 2-4 years, and the advantage is that you don't have to quit your job..good luck with your decision..

Thanks guys! Yeah I thought about part-time but (a) I just recently relocated to Singapore (working with the same firm) so that would not be viable (b) you need to commit 4 hours of seminar time per week (not including the actual studying). Distance learning I also looked into but they are not offered for the type of course I would like to study.

Agreed that the longer I stay in this field, I will likely be pigeonholed so may not be ideal as I do not want to be stuck doing this for the next 5-10 years.

Glad to hear that there has not yet been any negative views like, don't bother, benefit v cost not worthy etc which was the response I was expecting to hear.

If you could provide some more details (like what type of law you are interested or goals that you may want to reach with further education) then we may be able to point you in the right direction.

Good point mesix. I like to do a focus on regulatory and arbitration (namely financial services and competition). Arbitration as a minor focus. NYU and Columbia have pretty good courses on that. KCL is king for competition law but little else and the Competition diploma is offered by KCL as a distance learning but I know that competition practitioners study that while they are in practise and the courses are tough requiring some leniency given by the employers for associates on the course as well as leave for exams (in my case I have to travel to London to do so). My practise is insurance / reinsurance litigation in aviation. V specialised but not at all what I would like to do.