To leave criminal practice...or not.

Hi, need some help here.

Gained my law degree and become a paralegal in a Criminal Defence Firm. I have been doing this for two and half years now. We have been through an extremely difficult few months where I had too much work and not enough support to do the work so I decided to apply for a different area of law.
I applied for and been offered a job in a firm and would be a conveyancing paralegal.
I've accepted the job and leave my current role shortly. The issue is, now I'm having serious doubts as to whether I want to leave crime. I have worked on some really high profile cases, enjoy the client contact and am often praised as to how well I do my job in the crown court department - In principle I run the department and am the go to person for anything crown court related.
I have a feeling I am making a huge mistake as I love working in crime. Not one person has said to me it's the right decision to do conveyancing and everyone has questioned why that area as knowing me they think I'll be bored within days and I should stay, progress and qualify in crime as can see I'll do well in this area.
I, on the other hand, feel how do I know when not done anything other than crime to know whether it's the career area for me. I am actually dreading leaving crime now but feel so confused as to whether to leave and try conveyancing or stay and try progress in crime. At the point I decided to leave and offered the new job the current place has brought in additional staff now and asked me to stay which I declined.
I have no idea what to do, any advice would be appreciated.

Reply 1

Jasy

One consideration to have is "what is your long term goal?". To be honest, I can't imagine you want to be a criminal or conveyancing paralegal indefinitely and therefore you need to class your role as a stepping stone to e.g. a training contract.

As you know, the criminal 'scene' is struggling from a financial perspective and therefore long term prospects in that area are unlikely to be prosperous (not much money and lots of work). Similarly, conveyancing (and here I presume you are talking about residential work) is also struggling from a price squeeze with fees being driven down by CMCs and the like (think estate agent and conveyancers in one). In short, therefore, neither area is likely to provide you with a) decent money and b) long term prospects.

On the assumption that you want to progress from a paralegal, have a think about:

a) What area would I want to work in long term?
b) Which firm and/or area would best facilitate my long term goal?