"This is a glass half-full situation. A previous career will not intimidate anyone; it will have given you useful transferable professional skills and connections.
If you choose to work on the high street (I did, with a previous career in Westminster-based politics) then you will be expected to explain why you have made that decision - whatever your background.
Firms will look at your electives, don’t forget, so if you apply to a high street firm having completed all available modules in international commercial law, they will probably be highly sceptical of your application.
Similarly, completing all criminal law modules and applying to a city firm specialising in shipping arbitration would be strange.
All firms will look for the best candidate for a position, and so if you have previous professional experience which matches with their work and client profile, that’s a benefit to your application; but it won’t be a disadvantage - at worst it will make no difference."
Jonathan Hodge – JLD Executive Committee Member