Students studying law are often asked a familiar question: “What type of lawyer do you want to be?” Embedded within that question is an assumption that a law degree exists primarily to produce practising solicitors and advocates. Yet after speaking with Dr Douglas Bain, a senior lecturer known to generations of Aberdeen law students, it becomes clear that this view is far too narrow.
Over the course of our conversation, Douglas reflected on a career that has taken him from housing work within the third sector, into legal education, and ultimately into academia. His story challenges the idea that success follows a carefully planned route. Instead, it demonstrates something far more reassuring: a law degree is not a destination in itself, but a foundation upon which many different careers can be built.
Careers Are Rarely Linear
When students look at lecturers, it is easy to assume they always knew exactly where they were heading. Douglas’s story suggests otherwise. Before entering legal education, he worked with a housing charity, often finding himself in court on behalf of community members. It was those experiences, rather than an early ambition to become an academic, that first sparked his interest in law. After completing Aberdeen’s accelerated LLB, he progressed to an LLM, then a PhD, before eventually joining the Law School as a lecturer.
Even then, academia was not necessarily the original plan. Douglas explained that the aftermath of the 2007-08 financial crisis significantly reduced opportunities for traineeships, forcing many law graduates to reconsider their options. Rather than viewing this as a setback, he reflected on it as an example of how careers often develop through circumstance as much as careful planning.
One of the strongest messages from the interview was that unpredictability is not something to fear. Douglas recited, borrowing from Doris Day’s “Que Sera, Sera”:
“When I was just a little girl I asked my mother what will I be? Will I be pretty? Will I be rich?
Here’s what she said to me:
Que sera, sera.
Whatever will be, will be. The future’s not ours to see.
Que sera, sera.
What will be, will be.”
The takeaway:
Your career does not need to follow a perfectly designed roadmap. Opportunities emerge, interests evolve, and circumstances change. Sometimes the path you never anticipated becomes the one that suits you best.
A Law Degree Opens More Doors Than Most People Realise
The central theme running throughout our discussion was the sheer versatility of a law degree.
When asked what he would say to students who conclude that legal practice is not for them, Douglas’s response was immediate: an LLB remains immensely valuable.
He pointed to careers in housing, charities, consultancy, accountancy, human resources, corporate management and academia as just some examples of where legal training can lead. Throughout the conversation, he repeatedly emphasised that studying law develops ways of thinking that employers value across countless industries.
While universities often discuss employability, law students quickly become familiar with the idea that legal education opens numerous doors. However, that is not necessarily obvious to prospective applicants making decisions at age sixteen or seventeen.
Douglas’s own career serves as evidence of the doors a law degree can open. His law degree did not simply qualify him for one profession. It equipped him with knowledge, analytical skills and credibility that could be applied across multiple sectors. Douglas described an LLB as “the emblem on the bonnet of a Rolls-Royce” - a widely recognised mark of quality. His point was not that law graduates are trained for a single profession, but that employers often recognise the analytical rigour and discipline required to complete a law degree. This reputation helps explain why law graduates can be found across sectors ranging from business and charities to consultancy and public service.
The takeaway:
Choosing law does not mean locking yourself into one career. In many ways, it provides the opposite: flexibility.
Law Teaches You How to Find Answers
Many students spend significant portions of their degree worrying about how much information they need to remember. According to Douglas, that concern misses the point. When discussing the skills that distinguish law graduates from graduates of other disciplines, he repeatedly returned to one idea: knowing how to find information is far more important than trying to memorise everything. Beyond academic ability, Douglas also stressed the importance of networking, encouraging students to “network industriously” and build professional relationships throughout their time at university.
Alongside networking, he highlighted the ability to navigate large volumes of complex information, approach problems systematically, and work both independently and as part of a team. These are skills that extend well beyond legal practice.
Douglas compared legal research to navigating an enormous information system. Law students are not taught every rule, case, or statute. Instead, they are taught how to identify the right “entry points” into complex legal problems and work systematically towards an answer. As he explained, the importance of finding the right word and how they act as keys to unlock an entire area of knowledge that would otherwise remain hidden.
In a world where information is increasingly accessible, the ability to identify reliable sources, analyse competing arguments and reach reasoned conclusions becomes incredibly valuable.
The takeaway:
The most important thing law teaches is not necessarily legal knowledge itself. It teaches you how to think, research, analyse and solve problems. Those abilities remain useful regardless of where your career leads.
Access to Justice Starts with Access to Education
A theme that emerged repeatedly throughout the interview was accessibility. Douglas is heavily involved with the University’s Access to Law programme, which exists to support widening participation and create alternative pathways into legal education.
Speaking about the initiative, he was quick to recognise the contribution of colleagues such as Mitch Skilling, whilst highlighting the programme’s broader purpose: helping people who may not see law as a realistic option realise that it can be.
The significance of this extends beyond university admissions.
Access to justice depends upon a legal profession that reflects the communities it serves. If talented individuals are discouraged from studying law because of grades, background, financial barriers or confidence, then the profession risks excluding voices that could make it stronger.
Throughout the interview, Douglas consistently challenged the idea that one disappointing set of results should not define somebody’s future. His advice to those who think law is beyond their reach was remarkably simple: get in touch.
He stressed that alternative routes often exist and that Aberdeen’s admissions processes allow flexibility for applicants whose circumstances may not be reflected fully on paper.
The takeaway:
Access to justice begins long before someone enters a courtroom. It begins with ensuring that legal education is genuinely accessible to people from all backgrounds.
Life Experience Can Be a Strength, Not a Disadvantage
As a mature student, Douglas entered legal education with experiences that many of his classmates did not yet have.
He spoke about the practical challenges of returning to study later in life, including financial planning and adjusting to learning alongside much younger peers. Yet he also highlighted the advantages that came with greater discipline, resilience and preparation.
This point feels particularly important at a time when many people worry that they have missed their chance to pursue a particular career.
Douglas’s journey provides a powerful reminder that there is no single timeline for success.
The takeaway:
Experience gained outside education is not time lost. Often, it becomes one of your greatest strengths.
You Don’t Need All the Answers on Day One
Perhaps the most reassuring lesson from Douglas’s story is that careers rarely unfold exactly as planned. He pointed to former Aberdeen law students who have gone on to manage independent businesses and pursue careers far removed from traditional legal practice. These span from bookshops to farms, demonstrating that the skills developed through legal education have value far beyond the profession itself.
Douglas’s own journey reflects the same theme from his time completing Aberdeen’s accelerated LLB, imagining a future in legal practice and instead, a combination of prior experience, changing interests and wider economic circumstances led him toward academia. Returning to education as a mature student after years of working was daunting, and was anything but conventional, but well worth it in the end.
His message was clear: one setback, one unexpected diversion or one change of plan does not define your future.
The takeaway:
You do not need your entire career mapped out before starting a law degree. Opportunities emerge, interests evolve, and circumstances change. Success is often less about predicting where you will end up and more about remaining open to the possibilities you encounter along the way.
In Summary
Douglas Bain’s career challenges several assumptions that students often make about legal education.
It challenges the belief that careers must follow straight lines. It challenges the idea that law only leads to legal practice. It challenges the notion that one disappointing result determines a person’s future. And perhaps most importantly, it challenges the misconception that law is only for a particular type of person.
Instead, his story highlights the value of adaptability, curiosity and openness to opportunity.
Throughout our discussion, one message remained constant: a law degree is far more than vocational training. It is an education that teaches students how to think critically, navigate complexity, build relationships and solve problems.
Those skills create opportunities in law, but they also create opportunities far beyond it.
For current and prospective students, that should be reassuring. You do not need to have your entire future mapped out before starting a law degree. What matters is remaining open to possibilities, developing transferable skills and recognising that your background, experiences and perspective all have value.
Because as Douglas’s journey demonstrates, a law degree is not simply a pathway to one career.
It is a foundation for many.