Civil servant considering career change...

I'm posting here rather than in the university forums as I am trying to weigh up whether undertaking a part time LLB at 25 would be worthwhile in terms of the eventual career prospects. It's really difficult to decide whether to put my energy into advancing my existing career or into pursuing a career in law.

Existing career
I currently work within the civil service. My job is mainly akin to that of a costs draughtsman, i.e. assessing legal invoices submitted by claimants and making recommendations on what would be a reasonable amount for the organisation to reimburse for wasted costs. This involves a lot of reading judgments and other relevant case law/legislation, to inform my assessment of whether the instruction of particular specialists was justified. I also have a small caseload of complaints/Ombudsman/corporate stats work.

Previously I was responsible for co-ordinating High Court litigation on behalf of the same organisation, giving me lots of experience in administrative law. I briefed ministers on cases and also wrote summaries of recent judgments for internal circulation.

Have worked consistently since I was 18, in various agency jobs. I was also a director of the family business while my dad was ill.

Qualifications (somewhat non-mainstream...)
I did 8 Standard Grades at secondary school in Scotland. Results were 6 Credit passes and 2 General passes.
At 16 I wanted to be a music teacher, so I did a course in classical music performance at a conservatoire. I finished with MM in a BTEC National Certificate.
Following this began a degree in History but left due to my dad being terminally ill. I have no desire to finish my degree in this area as I don't think it would benefit my career.
I then joined my current employer and did a level two apprenticeship in Business Administration, which was completed in 2013.
My employer is paying for me to do some postgraduate modules which are directly related to my work.


From reading these forums it is clear that it is extremely competitive to get a training contract or pupillage, and many of the top firms are focused on recruiting those with the best A Levels and a first class degree from a prestigious university. It is not financially viable for me to study full time and I doubt I'd be accepted at any of the top law schools. I am therefore considering a distance LLB at Northumbria (nowhere local offers part time LLB courses). I know that the UoL international LLB has more prestige but I'm put off by the statistics on how many people get a first or a 2:i.

My hope is that I could complete my part time LLB within 4 or 5 years while continuing to build experience through my current employer. My area of interest at the moment is in administrative law, and I have already made a number of contacts at Government Legal Department who I could approach for advice. My manager has been very supportive and has encouraged me to do some shadowing within the internal legal team.

After I finish my studies I would like to either pursue a legal career within the civil service or work as a barrister. Do you think that despite only having mediocre academic credentials, if I graduate with a decent degree classification and gain more legal experience, I have a chance of success with either route?