Published on March 23, 2018 by Wing Han Chan

With careers departments pushing vacation schemes and pupillage from your very first year at university, it can often seem that there is only one career path for law students. However, this is far from the case. If you’ve changed your mind about law, you may be wondering what you can do with a law degree under your belt.

There are a diverse range of jobs out there and a law degree equips you well for a significant number of them. Here’s a look at ten jobs that you can do with a law degree.


If you want to find out more about what qualities you need to be a lawyer – as well as the qualities developed by a law degree – take a look at our What Makes a Good Lawyer page!

See What Makes a Good Lawyer

The Civil Service Fast Stream

The Civil Service Fast Stream offers graduates an accelerated career path to leadership with supported development.

Around 700 graduate vacancies are offered each year in a variety of different civil service departments, ranging from the diplomatic service to the government social research service. Successful applicants complete a number of job placements and move between a variety of different departments and agencies.

Recruiters look for an attention to detail, the ability to work under pressure and an ability to think critically. These are all qualities that are developed during a law degree.

Tax Consultant

Taxation is another field for which law graduates are well suited.

Tax consultants offer advice to businesses or private clients on their tax liabilities and cost-effective tax solutions. Each year’s budget introduces new tax legislation, so a background in analysing legal changes is extremely useful.

Additionally, they look for evidence of problem solving, persuasion, gaining the trust of clients and organisational skills, all of which are vital transferable skills during a LLB degree. This means that tax consultancy firms actively seek to recruit law students.

Moreover, your law degree can exempt you from some of the exams tax practitioners sit to gain the professional qualifications needed to become a tax consultant, so you’re already on the way there!

Publishing

This is a career you might not have considered.

Many publishing houses, especially those with specialist legal publications, look to employ law graduates as researchers. For example, The Lawyer Portal often recruits law graduates to publish legal articles or blogs. They are thought to be a good fit for the role given that a law degree equips you with research skills and the ability to absorb large amounts of technical information and convey it clearly and succinctly.

There are also opportunities available within publishing houses’ intellectual property and rights departments for those that are qualified.

Management Consultant

What is a management consultant? This is an individual who provides advice to others on the management of a company or organisation, in simple terms.

A law degree provides you with a range of skills that would suit this career as you need good research skills, so you can quickly acquire an in-depth knowledge of the industry and business of your client.

Moreover, analytical skills are essential to a management consultant being able to understand the way in which a business operates and how it can be improved.

Compliance Officer

A compliance officer is responsible for a company’s financial conduct and ultimately ensuring that it complies with the relevant regulations and its reporting obligations.

Compliance work is available at a range of different finance organisations and a legal background is definitely a plus!

>> Interested in the financial side of things? Take a look at our free guide on How to Become a Banking and Finance Lawyer!

Insurance

A loss adjuster is a key example of an insurance role available to law graduates. Loss adjusters are used by insurance companies to verify insurance claims. This involves visiting crime scenes and sites where accidents have taken place, investigating claims, gathering information, evaluating damage and conducting interviews with policyholders.

Many of the skills developed during a law degree transfer well to this role such as an attention to detail, good negotiation skills and an analytical outlook.

Chartered Accountant

As a chartered accountant, you’ll provide advice, audit records and provide information about financial records. This role therefore requires a grasp of legal concepts as well as maths and so a law degree can prove handy.

There are also opportunities to complete similar programmes to the law firm training contracts in which you work for a company, study and take assessments across a few years – for example, the graduate programmes at Big Four (i.e. PwC, EY, KPMG and Deloitte) accountant firms.

This career offers you a choice of future workplaces, including private practice firms and the not-for-profit sector, and tends to involve better working hours than at a City law firm!

>> One of the world’s most successful lawyers started out as a chartered accountant – read his story on our blog post Top 6 Successful Lawyers (and How to Follow in Their Footsteps)!

Politics

Many law graduates go on to pursue a career in politics, either as an elected official or as a member of their support team. This can involve policy development, speech writing, PR and a range of other activities.

Arguably, many of the skills that you acquire during a law degree prove useful to this career such as public speaking, problem solving and the ability to analyse legislation and its efficacy.

>> A political career needs good networkers, and we have the blog post to help those of you who still need some networking help: How to Network: 12 Pro Tips for Standing Out

Human Resources Officer

As a human resources officer, you develop, advise on and implement policies relating to the effective use of staff in an organisation. This can include employee recruitment, training and development, the provision of compensation and benefits, the implementation of disciplinary procedures and conflict resolution.

This role therefore requires good interpersonal, organisational and negotiation skills. These are all qualities that are developed during a law degree.

Licensed Conveyancer

A licensed conveyancer is a property law specialist who works on behalf of clients buying or seller property. They are ultimately responsible for the legal matters, administration, finance and queries involved in a property transaction.

Again, like being a tax consultant, if you already hold a Law Degree, you will be qualified for exemptions to certain licence examinations. For more information about the exemptions, please visit the official website of Regulating Property And Probate Lawyers.

Legal Secretary

A legal secretary is responsible for providing administrative support to lawyers and other legal professionals. This can include tasks such as drafting legal documents, scheduling appointments, managing client files, and communicating with clients.

A law background would be your biggest selling point to a career as a legal secretary because you will be better equipped to understand legal terminology and concepts, which can help them draft legal documents and communicate effectively with clients and attorneys. 

Marketing

Law firms and legal departments need to market their services to attract clients, and marketers help them to develop and execute marketing strategies that promote their legal services and brand awareness. 

Therefore, a law background can be tremendously beneficial in developing content for marketing materials, such as blog posts, articles, and white papers, that demonstrate thought leadership and expertise in the legal industry. 

Education

Law graduates can pursue a variety of roles in the education field, including A-level Law teachers, university law professors, and LPC/SQE/LNAT/Bar Training courses lecturers. In these roles, they are responsible for teaching students about legal concepts and principles, as well as helping them develop critical thinking and analytical skills. 

To become a teacher, you’ll need to do a teacher training course to achieve:

  • Qualified teacher status (QTS); or
  • QTS with a postgraduate certificate in education.

A law degree is an advantage as it provides a deep understanding of legal concepts and principles, as well as the ability to communicate complex ideas effectively. Additionally, law graduates will be able to draw on their experience in legal practice to provide real-world examples and insights to students.

Conclusion

Whether you become a teacher or an accountant, a law degree is an impressive starting point and there are viable avenues for law graduates who don’t want to qualify as a solicitor or barrister. 

So, it’s clear that studying law doesn’t pigeonhole you into a career in the legal industry. There are so many options worth exploring and the above examples should act as a good reference. Do your research, get some experience and speak to people in the various industries to try to ascertain what it is you’ll most enjoy. 

The possibilities are vast. Good luck!

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