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No matter what stage of your undergraduate you’re at, you likely don’t yet know what your specialist area of law is going to be. With such a huge range of areas within law, it can sometimes be overwhelming to decide which one’s for you. This is a discussion to try and point you in the right direction. 

There’s more to law 

When many consider law careers, they usually only think of solicitors and barristers. While, of course, these are two of the most popular avenues within law, they’re far from the only options available. Many students go into their law degree thinking that they’ll follow one of these routes, but later find that they don’t feel these roles suit their strengths. Other careers such as being an arbitrator, legal executive, lecturer and more are available to law graduates. Finding which law pathway suits your individual skills is a great first step to decide which section of law you want to go into.

Your aims 

To find which part of the law speaks to you, it’s essential you first decide why you have an interest in law. Do you love a particular subject or area already? Are you passionate about making a difference to individuals? These are the key questions to ask yourself when deciding which part of the law suits you and your aims. If you’re passionate about helping individuals, family law or civil litigation might be for you. If you’re more interested in the stereotypical law career, criminal law either for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) or a firm may be suited to your skills.

Your university performance 

Perhaps you’ve found a skill through some of your studies thus far. University study is a common way for students to develop an interest in a particular area of law, as they can get a taste for different areas of law through varied modules. Modules often don’t give enough breadth for most students to pick out an area of focus for the future but, if you’ve done exceptionally well in a module or have found the content particularly interesting, it may be a great place to start.  

From the classroom to the courtroom 

If one of your modules has stuck out to you, then the next step may be to look at the prospects of specialising in that area. Rather than looking at the jobs first and working from there − as I discussed originally − you can work backwards and find the jobs that suit the area of law you’re interested in. The law sector is wide and vast so you’ll be able to find multiple jobs in the area that interests you.   

Although the choice of path can feel overwhelming, due to how vast law is as a subject, it’s more beneficial to think of this as an advantage. No matter what you’re interested in, there’s a place in the law for you and your strengths.