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Wanting to be a writer and becoming a lawyer

I find law moderately interesting and don’t have an actual passion for it. I’d love to become a writer one day and generally love writing. Nevertheless, I plan to study to law, as it gives a better chance of finding a job, law career is certainly more stable than writing and the salary will be enough to sustain decent living.

As for now I feel like I could make it and become a pretty decent barrister. At the same time I’m afraid of making a mistake. This might be a stupid question, but do you think law is a good career filed for someone who’d rather be a writer? I know that there are different kinds of lawyers and writers and the question is pretty stupid, but still what do you think?
Original post by Nikitka
I find law moderately interesting and don’t have an actual passion for it. I’d love to become a writer one day and generally love writing. Nevertheless, I plan to study to law, as it gives a better chance of finding a job, law career is certainly more stable than writing and the salary will be enough to sustain decent living.

As for now I feel like I could make it and become a pretty decent barrister. At the same time I’m afraid of making a mistake. This might be a stupid question, but do you think law is a good career filed for someone who’d rather be a writer? I know that there are different kinds of lawyers and writers and the question is pretty stupid, but still what do you think?

I think if writing is your passion then a degree in English Literature would be more suitable - you could still convert to Law at a later stage
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ACE_DK
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The route to becoming a solicitor or a barrister can be quite long and certainly challenging. If your heart's not in it, it could be that much more challenging. So, as mentioned I would probably look into English literature course, and reassess afterwards.
Original post by Nikitka
I find law moderately interesting and don’t have an actual passion for it. I’d love to become a writer one day and generally love writing. Nevertheless, I plan to study to law, as it gives a better chance of finding a job, law career is certainly more stable than writing and the salary will be enough to sustain decent living.

As for now I feel like I could make it and become a pretty decent barrister. At the same time I’m afraid of making a mistake. This might be a stupid question, but do you think law is a good career filed for someone who’d rather be a writer? I know that there are different kinds of lawyers and writers and the question is pretty stupid, but still what do you think?


Hi - Sorry for this late reply, I've only just seen this thread. I am actually in the same spot as you. I want to be a murder mystery writer, but have thought about becoming a lawyer (barrister - specifically) to sustain a living whilst writing. It's a pretty rewarding career, I think, but if you want to do it definitely go for it. Just don't become a criminal barrister (they earn less than £15,000 per year because of pay cuts a couple of years ago). Any other law sector would do though. Good luck
@Nikitka There are quite a few barristers who are published authors. The non fiction authors are the best known, but there are quite a few barristers who have written fiction books as well. You clearly need to make sure that becoming a barrister is a realistic aspiration for you (it is a difficult career path at the best of times), and the lack of interest may or may not be an issue in that regard, but there's no reason in theory at least why you can't become a practising barrister and then work on becoming a published author later.

@JBH2003 Criminal barristers can make £15,000 when they are just starting out, but after the first two or three years (or less, depending on the specific situation), criminal barristers can and do earn far in excess of that. I know several criminal barristers who are roughly ten years call that make comfortable in excess of £100,000. They are particularly good and are also in particular good situations to succeed from a self employed perspective, but just to make the point that whilst initial earnings at the criminal bar can be low (and indeed low enough to drive a lot of people away from it), as your career develops you can make enough to live very comfortably. It all depends on the specifics.
Yes - sorry I should have said that earnings are low at the start of their career. I have thought about becoming a criminal barrister - do you recommend? Also, the people you know - did they go to private school? Iv'e been told state educated lawyers don't earn a lot of money and I come from an average working class family.
(edited 3 years ago)
Original post by JBH2003
Yes - sorry I should have said that earnings are low at the start of their career. I have thought about becoming a criminal barrister - do you recommend? Also, the people you know - did they go to private school? Iv'e been told state educated lawyers don't earn a lot of money and I come from an average working class family.

It's hard for me to flat out recommend becoming a criminal barrister. I am a barrister and thoroughly enjoy it, but it's not for everyone. It's probably not for the vast majority of people. You need to do your research as to whether it's a career path that appeals to you, and then decide whether or not it's a realistic goal for you and whether you're willing to take the risk of aiming to become a barrister but not making it.

Of the criminal barristers I'm talking about I know that one did go to private school and one did not. But once you have actually obtained pupillage and become a barrister whether you went to a state or private school is irrelevant as to how your career progresses. As well as those two I know of one barrister who is a very good friend of mine who didn't go to private school but now makes significantly more than those barristers, and indeed significantly more than me. I also know of a privately educated criminal barrister who is the same level of call as the criminal barristers earning over £100,000, but he earns significantly less than them. The reasons for all of those things have nothing to do with where those individuals went to school, and everything to do with a range of other factors that affect the income of a self employed person, including how good they are, how ambitious they are, how smart their career choices have been, the opportunities they've received and whether they've made the best of them, and to a degree how lucky they've been.

Being privately educated is not in and of itself something that makes your application stronger. Those who are privately educated tend to gain other tangible and intangible benefits, such as exposure to more work experience and other opportunities. But what doesn't happen is that the person reading your application sees that you went to a state school and marks your application down. Going to a state school is not in and of itself something that affects your application in a negative way or makes less likely that you will earn money at a certain level.

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