Lifting the blinkers - life outside London
As one would expect, house prices are also lower outside the capital. Exorbitant property prices in London consign many junior solicitors and barristers to years of rented accommodation until they are able to save the substantial deposits required to make a first step onto the property ladder. In contrast, the regional pound buys a lot more bricks, mortar and surrounding land - again another lifestyle issue.
This piece is not intended as an exhaustive review of opportunities in the regions, nor is it going to portray a provincial solicitor's working life as a 9 to 5 bed of utopian roses. Work-related stress, long working hours and traffic congestion still blight the lives of lawyers in the regions as they do in London but are perhaps a less frequent occurrence than is the case with their City counterparts. The intention is simply to give a flavour for regional life and to give an overview of some of the principal players in the legal market in the main commercial centres outside London.
