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As a child, the first thing you learn about lawyers – if anything – is that they wear a fancy grey wig, bang their gavels way too often and frequently shout "I object!" in a wide, open courtroom. But there’s so much more to the discipline than that. In fact, when you think about how many branches there are in the field of law, it becomes almost overwhelming.

As a new law student (or, in my case, a recent legal convert), you go from knowing next to nothing about law to wanting to know everything. The pressure is on to decide between becoming a barrister or solicitor, maintaining constant awareness of the commercial world around you, and applying to firms for vacation schemes and training contracts – leaving you exhausted before you even start.

In this article, I hope to remedy that fish-out-of-water feeling by providing you with a summative list of the options ahead of you to help narrow down the ever-increasing list of decisions you must make. Plus, in an attempt to make things easier for myself as an aspiring solicitor, I've decided to focus on the solicitor side of the profession. Specifically, we'll be looking at the 'where' of being a solicitor, that is where can you work and what can you do?

Public sector

As a solicitor in the public sector, your role would primarily be in the field of civil service. Government lawyers, who can be either solicitors or barristers, provide legal advice to government ministers and administrative staff. They provide legal counselling on the implementation and construction of government policies and decisions – from environmental policies to human rights issues, alongside acting on behalf of the government in court.

Private sector

Solicitors in the private sector can be found working for a wealth of firms, from the commercial to the high street and in-house.

If you're interested in working in a more tight-knit and smaller group of co-workers, a high-street firm may be right up your alley (pun unintended). If you haven’t already guessed based on the name, high-street firms can usually be found in high streets. They usually deal with providing advice for private individuals, and deal with a range of issues, from family conflicts to employment law (as well as immigration, personal injury and wills). As a high-street solicitor, you'd be working mostly with individual clients, as well as the occasional small business requiring legal support.

Alternatively, mid-size commercial law firms (eg, Macfarlanes LLP and Charles Russell Speechlys LLP) work, like their larger counterparts, mostly with business law and business clients. They tend to have more of a local and national emphasis, as opposed to the larger regional and international law firms, including Osborne Clarke LLP, Gateley and Burges Salmon LLP, which, in addition to focusing on business law, also deal with international clients. While regional firms have a few firms operating across a region, international firms (as you may have guessed) operate globally, with several offices dispersed in cities around the world. Specifically, international firms – dealing, as they do, with law and business on a larger, more global scale – may also be concerned with mergers and acquisitions, dispute resolution, litigation, real estate and finance. Examples of international firms include Ropes & Gray International LLP, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, and Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson (London) LLP. If you've got an adventurous streak, and would like the opportunity to work and live abroad, it may be worth sending in an application to an international firm with some, like White & Case LLP, offering their trainees a guaranteed seat abroad.

Find out more about the types of law firm out there via LawCareers.Net.

Of course, I can't write about commercial law firms without mentioning the magic and silver circle firms. If you prefer a busier working environment, a larger team, and bigger clients, this is the place to be. Examples of magic circle firms include Allen & Overy LLP, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, and Slaughter and May, and silver circle firms include the likes of Ashurst LLP, Macfarlanes, and Herbert Smith Freehills LLP.

Ultimately, where you want to build your career as a solicitor depends on your priorities and capabilities. Hopefully, though, this article has shown you the wealth of opportunities that lie ahead for you and has given you a taste of what being a solicitor involves to help you with your decision.