In the legal profession there are many and varied careers – not all of them are obvious to start off with. When you first start off, at university, you might be on one degree course and then suddenly want to swap over and take law – it is a truly monumental subject and you won’t always know in what branch you will end up. When you watch tv programmes, you see on detective and crime thrillers, the solicitor called in to an interview with a suspect; later we may see a court case – criminal of course, with barristers for prosecution and defence. The former – prosecution barristers will have been instructed by the crown prosecution service – that in itself is a huge and greatly challenging career. There are also specialisms – such as patents lawyer – who represent clients obtaining patens and acting in matters of procedure relating to patents law. They need a sturdy knowledge of intellectual property law. Not every solicitor’s going to have that to offer.