Aspiring lawyer questions revealing past in adult entertainment on training contract applications

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By Legal Cheek on

7

Full disclosure?


An aspiring lawyer with a background in the adult entertainment industry has turned to the message boards of Reddit for advice on whether to disclose her past career in her training contract applications.

“This is not a troll post,” wrote the Reddit user, explaining that she worked in porn for 18 months to support herself while studying for her LLB but has since left the industry.

“Should I disclose this during applications for full transparency, especially to prevent the (admittedly small) chance of it coming out later?” she writes. “Further, irrespective of whether I do or I don’t, will it likely harm my prospects of having a successful legal career?”

Regardless of its authenticity, the post has attracted around 130 responses from users offering their advice on her dilemma.

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The general consensus is that this particular work experience won’t prevent the original poster from enjoying a successful legal career, with some commenters sharing surprising anecdotal experiences.

One user commented that they once worked with a lawyer who had a “pretty long” career in the porn industry, adding: “Didn’t seem to hurt their chances, and they worked for a well-known firm.” Another shared, “You’ll be fine. I have a colleague who is actively a stripper on weekends, and she’s fine”.

Many other users offered messages of support, reassuring the original poster. “For what it’s worth it wouldn’t change my opinion on hiring you if I needed a solicitor,” one wrote.

Surprisingly, this isn’t the first time an aspiring lawyer with a background in the adult entertainment industry has sought advice on Reddit’s message boards.

Last summer, Legal Cheek shared the story of a former porn star turned paralegal who apparently landed a training contract, though it’s unclear if they revealed their past career.

7 Comments

Future trainee

L.C. repeating articles?! Havent we already seen a post like this on here…

I’ve never farted in an elevator

Let’s be real. It may not be illegal to have a history in the adult industry but it will matter and people will react. It’s a bit like farting in an elevator. Is it illegal? No. Will you ostracise yourself? Potentially.

Jasper

I’d better remove that from my CV. I thought it was an impressive fart, lasting for 3 floors of The Shard.

Alfred

Cost benefit analysis. Does the risk of disclosure being detrimental to your application outweigh the benefit of being fully transparent ? Yes, unfortunately, whether that is justified or not. Most firms have hundreds of applications for any one TC position, and so any small thing that could be perceived negatively can be the reason an application is discarded. Better to stay quiet, get the job, and deal with any potential risks later imo.

Yes Woman

Very much second this. Omit now, disclose never.

Older & wiser

I do know a lawyer who was in exactly this position.
There was a lot on info on her both openly on the ‘net and behind paywalls. It was racy stuff.
She didn’t openly publicise it in the firm but never hid it and in fact was very proud of it all.
It was interesting when it came out that the women generally laughed while the men were seemingly horrified.
It didn’t appear to damage her legal career but I did wonder what would happen if someone used it against her in a dispute.
On balance, I’d say keep it quiet.
More traditional firms or clients might take exception, whatever they say in public.

Rockwell

Many firms would run a facial profile check with the database providers as part of due diligence.

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