More Law - more choices, more information

The law and the legal profession are changing, that's not in doubt. Indeed, for a sector and set of institutions commonly held to be stuffy, conservative and prone to progression at the pace of a glacier, the changes that the legal profession has seen in the last few years can only be described as flabbergasting. The biggest shock of all was the Legal Services Act 2007, which was designed to fundamentally shake up the legal profession and modernise the regulation, practice and business of law, not to mention the individuals and organisations that inhabit the legal landscape. Combined with the ways that modern businesses and the global economy are developing, not to mention how (and how well) legal services are funded, the profession has been changed forever.

For someone contemplating a legal career in the 21st century, the available options and opportunities are less clear. The traditional routes into practice (ie, a training contract to become a solicitor, a pupillage to become a barrister) remain, but have ceased to be the exclusive ways forward. The forthcoming Legal Education and Training Review may well begin the consignment of these routes to history. It is important to consider new methods of recruitment, at various points related to age and education - not just of graduates. Apprenticeships straight from school are just one of many options that are gathering pace - the fact that the Higher Legal Apprenticeship has just launched, in National Apprentice Week, bears testament to this.

In the meantime, the rise of chartered legal executives and paralegals is the most notable phenomenon as legal businesses establish new ways to efficiently and cost-effectively deliver legal services. Put simply, there are likely to be fewer well paid, fully qualified generalist 'lawyers' as you would know them in the traditional sense (be they barristers or solicitors), but instead many more 'lawyers' in the new sense of individuals involved in delivering legal services as specialists in certain practice areas and types of task.

So what does this mean for LawCareers.Net? We refer you to the newest section of the site, More Law. In this section, we bring together all the 'other' options that we think you should know about. We have big sections on chartered legal executives, a growing section on apprenticeships, paralegal information and alternative careers for those with a legal education, not to mention information on pro bono schemes and diversity initiatives within the profession. This part of the site is bound to grow and develop as things change, so we strongly advise you to have a look, see what’s available and keep checking back. And if there is something that you want to read about but isn’t there, please let us know and we’ll try to add it.