Many solicitors will concede in off-guard moments that given half a chance they would junk the law in favour of doing something very different.

There is the insolvency practitioner whose desire to be a restaurateur threatens to overwhelm him.

In a recent winding up involving a food business, he admits his interest went way beyond the strictly legal.

There is the criminal law practitioner who so fancies the idea of being a late night jazz presenter that he has developed nuisance status at his local radio station which he is powerless to avoid en route from the local police station.

And there is the City lawyer who 'would sell my mother' for a crack at cricket commentating.Life's circumstances mean that only a very few solicitors progress beyond the dreaming phase.

John James is one who did.Eighteen months ago, following close on 20 years as a partner with Birmingham firm Edge & Ellison, he made the break to try his hand as a business adviser.

Not a complete break, it must be said .

.

.

he has a five-year arrangement with the firm to do part-time marketing and training.

But his move signalled a decisive end to 20 years of fee-earning.Eighteen months on his portfolio of non-executive directorships has expanded to the point where he is earning the kind of money he did at Edge & Ellison.

The turning point for Mr James .

.

.

the experience which caused him to review his whole career .

.

.

was his appointment as chairman of Birmingham City 2000, a major drive to promote the city.

'That year was critical.

Until then I wasn't aware that there was anything else I could do,' he admits.

The high profile post was tailor-made for the gregarious Mr James whose belief in Birmingham's potential is total.

The job put him at the epicentre of the political power brokerage and he lapped it up.

He also took effortlessly to the constant glare of publicity.

At the end of the year, he was practically grief stricken.

'I was unprepared for the great sense o f loss and frustration.

I floundered for several months.' The City 2000 year crystallised for Mr James the career doubts which had nagged at him for some time before taking the chairmanship.

The problem was a conflict between time spent marketing and fee-earning.

'I was good at getting in work but I was less and less inclined to do it,' he admits.

In the flush 1980s, when Edge & Ellison was doing exceptionally well, that did not matter so much.

But when the recession hit hard and the firm started to tighten its belt, Mr James felt that his 50:50 marketing/fee-earning ratio would no longer stand up.'I realised that I might be coming under pressure.

It never translated itself into "you must do more work or you are going to be thrown out of the firm".

But it was clear that the firm's philosophy was changing and that there was no longer room for people who got work in .

.

.

however much .

.

.

and weren't prepared to do it.' The firm had also switched from the old lock-step principle of remunerating partners to one which involved performance pay and Mr James reckoned his income could drop.In any case, after the City 2000 year .

.

.

a post which Edge & Ellison fully supported .

.

.

he knew he could not possibly return to the traditional fee-earning role.

Yet, he was reluctant to leave the firm behind.

'I didn't want to leave Edge.

It was virtually the only law firm I had ever worked for and I had been a partner for near as dammit 20 years.

I was emotionally bonded to it.'Following talks with the firm's senior partners, Mr James arrived at a 'wonderful solution'.

While formally retiring from the partnership, he would supply part-time marketing and training services to the firm for a period of five years.

He does not use the word consultancy.

'We all know what consultancy means in these situations,' he adds wryly.

Remaining good friends with the firm which had been so much a part of his life is, he admits, 'incredibly important' to him.

He left the partnership on 30 April 1993 and apart from the part-time arrangement, he had nothing else lined up.

'I felt nervous', he admits 'but somehow I knew I would make it work.'The ball started rolling when the owner of a large books chain, in which Mr James had a small shareholding, offered him a directorship.

Mr James discovered to his delight what an asset the business skills honed over 20 years as a commercial lawyer could be.

'The ability to come in from outside and bring a perception that the [insiders] haven't got because they are too close to the problem is something I hadn't thought about,' he admits.But, once discovered, it gave him the confidence to approach two other companies for a place on their boards.

'It was an upmarket way of saying "gizz a job" but they were people whom I knew and had worked with and they said yes.' More directorships followed as his extensive contacts in Birmingham bore fruit.

Eighteen months on, he feels much more secure.

'I have satisfied myself that I have carved out a new career.

I am not an ex-lawyer just filling in time.

I am a professional director.' His ambition now is to become a director of a public company and he expects to bag that within two to three years.Another more burning ambition harks back to his Birmingham 2000 experience; he would jump at the chance of a job promoting Birmingham full-time.

There are no openings at the moment .

.

.

he was pipped at the post for two high profile positions in recent times .

.

.

but he has registered his passionate interest and is ready for the call if it comes.

He is also keen to try other thin gs.

A book perhaps, but more likely is a crack at script writing.

Central TV has already made approving noises about his idea for a thriller.Mr James' lifestyle has been transformed by his career shift and should give comfort to other lawyers on the brink.

'I am so free of pressure.

I now sing off my own hymn sheet.

It may be out of tune, but its my hymn sheet,' he says.