Are you an unfulfilled lawyer?

This is for you

I used to be where you are now.

My story started in the back of my dad's car when I was 3 years old.

I saw someone pull up alongside us in a black sports car and asked my dad who it was.

"It's our solicitor" he said.

"I want to be a solicitor then" I replied.

And that was it.

For the next 18 years I repeated on loop the line "I want to be a solicitor" to anyone who would listen.

The truth was I didn't even really know what a solicitor was, and the running joke in the family when I was a kid was that I couldn't even pronounce it properly.

But that didn't matter, because everyone I told that I wanted to be one responded with joy and happiness, which is all that mattered to me.

By the time I got to university and started my law degree, I'd been telling myself and everyone else that I wanted to be a lawyer for so long that I'd never questioned it.

It looked good on LA Law on the TV after all, so that was good enough for me.

The first existential crisis I had in life came when I was 19 and in second year of uni.

A young lawyer from Eversheds came in to give us a talk about how to get a training contract and I'll never forget what he said.

"When you come for an interview you'll be asked why you want to be a lawyer, and there's one answer they won't accept..."

The pause felt like an eternity.

"They won't accept the answer that you've always wanted to be one. You have to be able to explain why."

It was like someone had hit me over the head with a bat.

My world started spinning as I realised for the first time that I wanted to be a lawyer because my dad told me that a black sports car was owned by their lawyer.

If he'd told me I could do plenty of different jobs when I grew up and still own a sports car, it's unlikely I'd be sitting in this room in the middle of a law degree.

It also struck me that the whole story was probably bullshit, because there was no reason for my parents to have a lawyer when I was 3. It's not like they were big business people who had their own lawyer. They would only have used a solicitor when they were moving house, which wasn't happening when I was 3.

For the first time in my life I felt lost.

I didn't know what to do so I asked a trusted uncle what he thought.

He said "Son, nobody enjoys their job, so you might as well do something that makes you rich."

I looked around me and realised he was right. I didn't know anyone who enjoyed their job, so I might as well carry on and become a rich lawyer.

Which meant I just carried on blindly following the path laid out for all lawyers.

I got my degree, followed by a distinction in law school and a training contract at DLA Piper after a year working as a paralegal in Freshfields in London.

I had loads of fun as a trainee. Working hard and playing hard.

But once I'd qualified and the world became more real, I slowly became less and less happy with what I was doing.

I was good at it, but it didn't fulfil me in any way.

I moved to Addleshaws after 2 years, before deciding the way forward was to take control of my own destiny and set up my own law firm when I was a fresh faced 29 year old.

Looking back now it seems insane, but at the time it felt absolutely right.

I built my own boutique firm from scratch, which was enthralling at first.

But as the years passed and the pressure of life increased, I slowly became more and more depressed.

At my darkest I became suicidal, spending my Sundays in the office with a bottle of wine planning how I could end my own life without anyone knowing it was suicide, so that my family would be spared the embarrassment and my high-priced life insurance would still pay out.

It was at that point I realised something had to change, so I decided to rip it all apart and start again.

I sold my firm, paid off some debts with the proceeds and began dedicating my life to understanding why I'd become so miserable and depressed.

The past 6 years have led me down many rabbit holes, learning all about human behaviour and why we are the way we are.

I recently realised the time, energy and resources I've spent studying humans would be enough for a degree and a masters if I'd gone down a traditional route.

The result of all that work is that I've completely transformed my own life.

I now feel peaceful, content and fulfilled, and I do more and more of what I want to do every year.

I also help other people to do the same thing.

I've worked with former professional footballers, ex-Olympic atheletes and coaches, top CEOs, business owners and people from all walks of life.

They all say the work I do is unlike anything they've seen anywhere else.

Importantly for you, the work I do is tailor made to help people who are just like me.

People with the same mindset and the same way of thinking.

My work doesn't expect you to blindly follow woo-woo nonsense or pumped up motivational talk.

It's all logical and takes you through everything you need to know in a step-by-step basis.

Crucially, I can help you no matter what you want to do with your life.

You don't have to want to pack it all in and change everything like I did.

I've worked with other lawyers and helped them to become more fulfilled, peaceful and content while staying in the same place.

My work is bespoke to you, so works no matter what you're looking for.

If any of that resonates with you and you'd like some help there are a couple of options.

If there are any spaces available you can speak to me about private one-on-one coaching.

Click here for details.

Or if you don't want to invest that much money in figuring out what's next for you, I also run a small coaching group designed just for lawyers like you.

Again, the work inside the group is designed specifically around what you need, and I create content that helps you with the problems you're facing.

That group is £600 per month and runs for 6 months at a time.

In the group you get online videos to watch when suits you best, plus weekly group calls with me where I answer your questions, as well as connecting with other like-minded people who are going through the same challenges as you.

If you're interested in joining, just put your name and email address in the form below and I'll come back to you as soon as I can.

If you have any problems with the form, just send an email to questions@paul7cope.com