Becoming a solicitor can be a rewarding yet challenging career. It takes years of training to become fully qualified, but the rewards are definitely worthwhile.

The question is, what type of lawyer do you want to become? There’s a lot of different paths you can take when you’re considering a career in law. Here, you’ll discover some of the different routes you can take as a solicitor.

Criminal law

There’s a substantial number of law careers you can get into, but criminal law tends to be one of the most popular. This is the area of law most of us think of when we think of lawyers, and it covers every type of crime such as burglary, rape and murder.

You can choose to become a criminal defence lawyer or a criminal prosecutor. You can also work on your own, or you could work for the Crown Prosecution Service for example. If you’re interested in defending or prosecuting accused criminals, this type of law would be well-suited.

Negligence

One type of law you might not have considered getting into is negligence. This covers negligence claims such as professional and medical. Becoming a medical negligence lawyer can be particularly rewarding. You’ll be helping victims of negligence seek the justice they deserve, while also encouraging improvement within the medical sector.

Property law

As a property lawyer, you’ll largely be working with the buying and selling of property. You could work for individuals, developers, public bodies or companies. This type of law career generally requires you to be great at negotiating. You could also be working on construction and planning laws.  

Insurance law

If you’re looking for a more specialised legal career, getting into insurance law could be a goo option. You’ll typically be used when disputes occur between insurance companies and policy holders. Like other types of law, you can choose to represent either companies or individuals.

Human Rights

Human right’s lawyers focus on discrimination, public justice, equality and prisoner’s rights. It centres around the Human Rights Act 1998, and many feel this is the most rewarding type of law career. If you want to actually make a difference in people’s lives, becoming a human right’s lawyer can be a great step. You’ll need to have great knowledge of regulations, alongside strong advocacy skills.

These are just a very small number of areas you can get into as a lawyer. You could also combine different areas for a more varied career. However, to start, it’s worth focusing on just one area of law you’d like to work in. Always consider the pros and cons before choosing the right area to begin practising.