Non-comercial legal experience - bad?

[j3llyfish]

Hey guys!! Long-time stalker, first-time poster. I graduated in 2022 and after battling the UK job market, got a job at a family law firm last year (business support more so rather than technical legal work). I have recently had another job offer at a firm that has a few specialities but mainly deals with family law.

I was excited to be able to gain some form of field related experience, even if it is sort of admin, but wonder if this is going to impact me negatively if I ultimately WANT to do commercial law, but just haven't broken in yet. Would appreciate any advice. I don't want to end up with 2 years of family law related experience. I can talk about my experience smartly and focus on the transferable features to commercial law, but I wonder if this is going to put me in a bad position. Really appreciate any advice - thanks!

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hey guys!! Long-time stalker, first-time poster. I graduated in 2022 and after battling the UK job market, got a job at a family law firm last year (business support more so rather than technical legal work). I have recently had another job offer at a firm that has a few specialities but mainly deals with family law.

I was excited to be able to gain some form of field related experience, even if it is sort of admin, but wonder if this is going to impact me negatively if I ultimately WANT to do commercial law, but just haven't broken in yet. Would appreciate any advice. I don't want to end up with 2 years of family law related experience. I can talk about my experience smartly and focus on the transferable features to commercial law, but I wonder if this is going to put me in a bad position. Really appreciate any advice - thanks!

This is not going to be an issue. You will be developing a lot of transferable skills and knowledge and a lot of people come from other careers with no connection to commercial matters or law. You will have the connection to law with this role.

You may just want to think about how you can show your pursuit/interest in commercial matters through other activities, such as extracurricular activities, hobbies or through activities like virtual work experience programmes/attending careers events etc. Having this evidence alongside your work experience is likely to be complementary and demonstrate the evidence firms are looking for when it comes to an interest in commercial matters.

 

[Andrei Radu]

Hey guys!! Long-time stalker, first-time poster. I graduated in 2022 and after battling the UK job market, got a job at a family law firm last year (business support more so rather than technical legal work). I have recently had another job offer at a firm that has a few specialities but mainly deals with family law.

I was excited to be able to gain some form of field related experience, even if it is sort of admin, but wonder if this is going to impact me negatively if I ultimately WANT to do commercial law, but just haven't broken in yet. Would appreciate any advice. I don't want to end up with 2 years of family law related experience. I can talk about my experience smartly and focus on the transferable features to commercial law, but I wonder if this is going to put me in a bad position. Really appreciate any advice - thanks!

Hi @j3llyfish and first of all congrats on your first post - that's always the hardest ! As for your question, the short answer is no, it is unlikely that this will have any negative effects on your chances of securing a TC at a commercial law firm. If anything, it will be helpful in that you will have strong experience to motivate your why law reasoning - which you can then supplement with other experiences for the why commerce part. As you also mentioned, you can also gain many transferrable skills. I would also argue that this will enable to tell a more compelling why commercial law story, as you will be able to explain how you have explored other fields as well and thus are in a position to make a more informed judgement.

The only caveat to this is that the non-commercial legal experience might be something you could be asked a lot about in the interviews, in particular as to why you are trying to move to a different field and what about the family law working experience is different from commercial law. As such, I would advise you to prepare a really convincing answer for that. It will also be useful if you can get some experience with commercial law before through law firms events and Forage Virtual Internships.

 

[j3llyfish]

This is not going to be an issue. You will be developing a lot of transferable skills and knowledge and a lot of people come from other careers with no connection to commercial matters or law. You will have the connection to law with this role.

You may just want to think about how you can show your pursuit/interest in commercial matters through other activities, such as extracurricular activities, hobbies or through activities like virtual work experience programmes/attending careers events etc. Having this evidence alongside your work experience is likely to be complementary and demonstrate the evidence firms are looking for when it comes to an interest in commercial matters.

Thank you for the advice - and that's very reassuring to hear

 

[j3llyfish]

Hi @j3llyfish and first of all congrats on your first post - that's always the hardest ! As for your question, the short answer is no, it is unlikely that this will have any negative effects on your chances of securing a TC at a commercial law firm. If anything, it will be helpful in that you will have strong experience to motivate your why law reasoning - which you can then supplement with other experiences for the why commerce part. As you also mentioned, you can also gain many transferrable skills. I would also argue that this will enable to tell a more compelling why commercial law story, as you will be able to explain how you have explored other fields as well and thus are in a position to make a more informed judgement.

The only caveat to this is that the non-commercial legal experience might be something you could be asked a lot about in the interviews, in particular as to why you are trying to move to a different field and what about the family law working experience is different from commercial law. As such, I would advise you to prepare a really convincing answer for that. It will also be useful if you can get some experience with commercial law before through law firms events and Forage Virtual Internships.

Thanks for your response & advice! I do anticipate that will be a talking point - honest truth is that was the first job I got, law-related and I needed money lol, even if that's not what I wanted to do long-term! I suppose I will need a better answer than that.

I will definitely prioritise having solid examples to demonstrate an ongoing interest in commercial law. I did do a few back in 2020-22 that were commercial, is it worth doing something more recent as we are almost in 2025? I slacked massively with TC applications once working a full time job.

 

[Andrei Radu]

Thanks for your response & advice! I do anticipate that will be a talking point - honest truth is that was the first job I got, law-related and I needed money lol, even if that's not what I wanted to do long-term! I suppose I will need a better answer than that.

I will definitely prioritise having solid examples to demonstrate an ongoing interest in commercial law. I did do a few back in 2020-22 that were commercial, is it worth doing something more recent as we are almost in 2025? I slacked massively with TC applications once working a full time job.

I do think it's worth doing some more experiences, as ideally the story you will want to tell is that you have become more and more interested in commercial law the more you were exposed it throughout the years. Also, you want to show a strong interest at the present moment to justify the change of fields.

As for your honest answer to that question, I think it's a bit of a risk to say that in an interview but is something you could consider if you have a particularly good connection with the interviewer and if the atmosphere is relaxed. People do not generally expect you to have your life and careers goals all figured out when you were only finishing your teenage years. Moreover, some interviewers definitely like candid candidates. That said, I would try to develop a more 'classic' interview response besides that and make a call in the interview room as to which you will use.

 

[j3llyfish]

I do think it's worth doing some more experiences, as ideally the story you will want to tell is that you have become more and more interested in commercial law the more you were exposed it throughout the years. Also, you want to show a strong interest at the present moment to justify the change of fields.

As for your honest answer to that question, I think it's a bit of a risk to say that in an interview but is something you could consider if you have a particularly good connection with the interviewer and if the atmosphere is relaxed. People do not generally expect you to have your life and careers goals all figured out when you were only finishing your teenage years. Moreover, some interviewers definitely like candid candidates. That said, I would try to develop a more 'classic' interview response besides that and make a call in the interview room as to which you will use.

Thank you - really appreciate hearing your perspective