Alternative Careers for Wills & Estates Lawyers

[Edelweiss38]

Hi everyone,

I was wondering as to what kinds of alternative careers are out there for junior Wills & Estates lawyers.

I see my colleagues in corporate and litigation fields leaving their Bay Street firms to pursue careers such as corporate in-house counsel and government counsel for various reasons (i.e. better work-life balance, etc.), which are not really applicable for those of us exclusively practicing estates & trusts law (solicitor side).

I would be very grateful if anyone could share their insights and thoughts as to the kinds of non-traditional roles available for Wills & Estates solicitors.

Thanks!

 

[Chief Keef]

I'm just an articling student so I don't have the experience myself, but I've seen many lawyers became "Estate and Trust Consultants" at various big banks.

[Mountebank]

A trust officer or management position with a trust company is probably the main non-practicing role W&E lawyers end up in. The trust officers I've dealt with have generally been former solicitors, but I've never really made inquiries into that career path so can't say more than that.

There are also some offshore private client/trust roles for those coming from high profile firms.

Further to what @Chief Keef posted, there are some personal banking counsel roles out there with the big banks that relate to Wills & Estates, but I don't know how often they really hire exclusive W&E lawyers for those jobs.

[Aureliuse]

You can try your hands at family law, there are many respected senior family law counsel who started out in estates litigation. However, family law is not for everyone given the emotional and psychological baggage that come with every file.