10 non-legal careers you can do with a law degree
You’re just about to do your LLB (Hons) Law Degree and take the first step towards a long and successful legal career. Or, perhaps, you’re already a qualified solicitor with aspirations to get your master of laws in intellectual property, because you see huge potential to find long-term success in a very dynamic legal field.
The problem is – though you love the subject of law, you’re not sure if just being a legal professional is going to fulfil you in the way you imagine your career should. So what to do?
Thankfully, there’s good news on the horizon! Having a law degree, whether undergraduate or postgraduate, can qualify you for a great many careers that don’t require you to wear a wig, impress a judge, or read thousands of dusty old books and reports. Check out 10 non-legal careers that you can do with a law degree.
Politician
The skills you need in politics are varied and many, but you can be assured that having an analytical mind, an ability to interpret text, and the ability to argue difficult points effectively will be huge assets. And, on a law degree, those skills are exactly what you get.
Entertainment agent
Being able to organise schedules, book events, get the best jobs, and probably most importantly of all, negotiate the highest payment for your client, is the bread and butter of great agents. A law degree, and especially an online law degree, trains these skills to a very high level.
Investment Banker
If close analysis and interpretation of data, highly pressurised environments and high stakes, and the possibility to make a lot of money appeals to your professional sensibilities, your legal experience might just provide you the fortitude to switch career and join the world of investment banking.
Chief Operating Officer
The COO of any company has to be a master of all trades, simultaneously able to envision global sales strategies while overseeing office culture, finances, and, you’ve guessed it, the legal status of company operations at all times. Legal prowess is invaluable at high corporate levels.
Civil rights investigator
There are jobs that operate very much in parallel with the legal system, but are not constrained by the agendas of established city firms. A civil rights investigator will lend their legal knowledge to charity, aid, and humanitarian organisations, and will work in some very challenging environments.
Content writer
One thing a legal degree will force you to become excellent at is accurate, concise, and brilliantly expressed written language. There’s no escaping it. So, if you find you have a flair for the written word that needs expressing, becoming a content writer should pose little to no problems at all.
Corporate trainer
As a legal graduate, you have the theory and possibly the practical experience to be able to operate at a high level in most companies. Therein lies the opportunity to pass on your knowledge to those who have taken a different path in the world of business. And trainers can earn a lot too.
Journalist
Once again founded on the phenomenal writing skill law graduates attain during their studies, journalism also incorporates courage, investigatory powers, and a moral obligation to write what’s right. Maybe the law and journalism have more in common than we realise.
Editor
The role of an editor comes in many forms, be it of the written word, film, television, radio – basically anywhere that needs the close selection of quality over what can be discarded. Legal training easily provides an advanced nose for the poignant facts, and the useless material.
eDiscovery consultant
Becoming an electronic discovery consultant will put you at the forefront of developments in law where electronic information must be made available for legal scrutiny. You could find yourself being a founder of protocols that form our, as yet, rather undefined ‘Internet law’.
So, you can see, hope is not lost. If you find yourself wanting a background in law, or wanting to get away from one, then you have no reason to worry that a career in law is what you’ll be resigned to.
Really, a law degree is a powerful and respected qualification that opens doors all the way up to the top. Check out our law and criminology pages for some great legal degrees delivered fully online.
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