Burden of the past

Bryando

Hi,
For those who know me via here you will understand I suffer from mental health problems.

I have been offered a conditional place at university, provided a pass a course I am on. Had an offer for the Law degree (LLB):)

My Psychiatrist is happy for me to go ahead, but is telling me to go part time. Would add an extra year though and I would not get help with living costs. So.....

My biggest problem so to speak is having no clear direction. I have convictions for suicide attempts (Breach of the Peace) but the Law Society say the would not bar me. However ,I wonder if I would have any chance gaining a training contract though. Market is saturated with grads looking for a training contract. My convictions would need to be declared to the employer. Think I have a case in mitagation re the convictions. However up pops the head of telling an employer I have/had mental health issues.

I REALLY want to do something with my life, my illness has had me out of work for 7 years!! I loved working!

Not looking to earn mega money or have a flashy car etc. Enough to live off and save a bit. Quite fancy buying a few houses and renting them out for pension purpose. But that's a goal, distant goal.!

My partner /carer has basically helped me in my life, addressed a few things. Find my partner a HUGE help in my day to day struggle with intrusive voices etc.

I will be aged 28 this year and it depresses me, I have not go onto the path of a career. This due to the illness robbing me to be frank!

I quite fancy the Solicitor route, but as mentioned previously I do have a history! I had a major trauma that lead to the offending, the dates of offending are basically on or around the anniversary of the incident. 1 in one year, 2 in the next year. Just in reality will the applicant next to me with no convictions be favoured? This question just shatters me and leads me to think, why bother with uni!

Was said in the media that CRB checks were unlawful under the Human Rights Act. Just hope the decision means I will not need to declare them as they will be at least 10 years old!

The worse case is I go to uni after 4 years then do the Diploma to find I can't get a training contract. Be VERY depressing, probably hit me for six! In a way scared. Quite fancy being a lecturer, but again vacancies are fin on the ground. I don't think I need to declare my convictions for this role, 95% sure.

So should I just jump in and swim, who knows what is round the next corner? I really do want to do something as I say, but these reservations are annoying!

Counting_Pennies_2

My concern would be stress levels.

If once you have made it through the course you do get to be fully qualified, you are no doubt looking at a huge amount of stress.

How does stress play out with your troubles?

Bryando

My Psychiatrist says stress basically does not help my problems. But I just need to learn how to deal with it. Hence why been sent to a Psychologist, a reason. Any job has stress, I can't not go to work cause the stress could cause issue. I fell this can be managed if I am shown ways to.

suki1001

Congratulations on the offer of your place. If you were to spread your options at the end of the law course would that help - so you don't feel that your whole future relies on one path? I'm just thinking even if you were honest with a potential employer and your fears are realised - would it help to know there are other routes. Plenty of people who do law degrees do other things afterwards - there are lots of routes you can take. My sister did a law degree and ended up working at a film studio afterwards. She then worked in a legal department at an insurance company with a team of solicitors and so on. She really liked it. She never became a solicitor though.

Could your experiences actually be a benefit in some areas of law? I don't mean to sound like an idiot, but I hope you get my gist. If the law society have said it isn't a problem, then i don't see why it would be and by the time you're at the end of your course you may find it's not a barrier.

Yorkie1

You are right that the market is completely saturated with applicants for training contracts. If you do a 4-year LLB, followed by the year of solicitors' exams, that's 5+ years before starting a training contract (applications open from 3.5 years' time). I consider it unlikely that the market will have changed significantly in that time, plus the difficulties with legal aid mean that a lot of existing solicitors will find it harder to keep going with their present firms.

If you have no clear direction for your life, then I wouldn't pin all your hopes on being a solicitor at this particular time. By all means take the degree - it is a well regarded degree and has many transferable skills. By the start of your penultimate year you will have a much better idea of a) your mental health, and b) whether any particular areas of law interest you.

If you have been clear of relapses for all those years after starting studying, then you have a better chance of persuading an employer that you are as safe a pair of hands as the next applicant.

Have you investigated the CILEx route to being a solicitor?

Treevo

When you say 'intrusive voices', what do you mean? If it's something that would interfere with your ability to clearly represent your client's best interests, then you'll have to declare it. You don't get the option of hiding something when people are paying you to act on their behalf.

Why do you want to be a lawyer? It's a very stressful profession.

Counting_Pennies_2

Bryando wrote: »

My Psychiatrist says stress basically does not help my problems. But I just need to learn how to deal with it. Hence why been sent to a Psychologist, a reason. Any job has stress, I can't not go to work cause the stress could cause issue. I fell this can be managed if I am shown ways to.

Yes all work places do have stress but the law is probably one of the biggest stresses there are.

I have stress issues and if someone presented me with this type of role I would run a mile as you will be responsible for dealing with other peoples stresses as well as your own.

Have you seen a career counsellor to be absolutely sure this is what is best for you.

Carl31

Do you think the training and direction could help you mentally? You could do the training and reassess the career at the end of it?

Yes law is a stressful area, but with any profession, there are options when it comes to roles, you may find that there is something more suitable at the end of the training to persue as an actual jobb

lostinrates

Training contract hunting is extremely stressful (let along completing it) and you have already gauged the situations with a market saturated with grads and also with people who were made redundant during the difficult market in recent years.

Do have an inkling of what areas of law might particularly interest you?

Do you envisage being able to work full time in the future, for TC and beyond? The TC and career is challenging, I would tentatively suggest more challenging than the LLB. The reason I raise the time and stress factor here is that having watched my husband and a nu,her of our friends and go through this over the years I would now always suggest the full time course having secured a TC before the professional exams. That way the 'security' and much of the greatest stress of the next few years are out of the way. (My husband was a conversion student, so did two years full time) The stress of this has made many a person with life experience weep at times! In our situation my husband decided that the TC he first secured was not for him. In our situation, with a few more responsibilities this was a huge decision and gamble but has paid off for us over the longer term.

Only you and your therapist know whether that is appropriate for you now but also in future years, so I am reading your post with the least positive interpretation, to be realistic from what i have observed hoping very much the best interpretation is actually the case for you.


With reference to the particular stress of the career, it can be very, very huge. Depending opn the areas of law you might become party to knowledge of very disturbing situations, in either criminal or family law, or human rights law. In areas like corporate law the demands made of you, on your time and ability can be draining in the extreme, (my husband faced such an impasse as this last year and is an extremely emotionally robust soul). Other areas which might seem less stressful might actually leach at your faith in the world and leave you dealing with extremely difficult and self righteous clients. Please do consider very seriously the impacts of stress in this career.

Finally, I think it has to be considered that whatever the law society say you need to find a firm to offer you a TC under your circumstances, which of course they should, but whether they will is another matter. The LLB will be the easiest it is in your career for a while afterwards. I the route my husband followed it just gets harder and harder, and while it would be nice to think it will be easier when he makes partner, I doubt it ever will, the partners work hard long hours too.


I wish you the best of luck in your decision making.

Dunroamin

I know you won't get any maintenance funding if you study part time but can you carry on living on benefits if you do? I can't really understand the point of running up an additional £20K grand of debt just for the sake of graduating a year early, particularly as you'll be specifically going against medical advice.

lostinrates

Yorkie1 wrote: »

Have you investigated the CILEx route to being a solicitor?

All of yorkie1's post seems pretty good advice to me but this seemed pretty good. It's not always possible, some areas of law simply do not favour it, but it might be possible to get part time work pretty quickly and commence on this path, giving you an immediate impact of the fulfilment you seek along with the possibility to attain a qualification. I simply do not know enough about the CILEx to say more, but it would be worth looking into this to consider.