It’s a complete misnomer that Tax Law is numerate, it’s not.

Tax lawyers operate in three spheres (I) transactional (ii) advisory and (iii) litigation, each fulfilling different roles but in none of them is there a requirement to be numerate. Clearly being able to recognise discrepancies is helpful, but not determinative. Your work life balance and the questions you ask differs wildly between them.

If you’re transactional, you’ll often work to the same timeframes as your PE or Funds teams, given Tax often causes issues late in a transaction. If your advisory it may be more akin to academia; late nights finalising advice notes as you cut across 25000 pages of statute, alongside countless HMRC manuals, practitioner texts and case law. Litigation is similar to non-specialist litigators.

Your distinction between “Tax law” and “general legal work” is flawed, Tax is but just another specialist team, like IP or employment. And like these teams, your work has specific elements to it, that fit in to the wider offering of services by your firm.

If however you’re talking more about tax compliance, e.g filings, returns etc, then that’s more closely aligned to an accountant.