The Unloved Lawyer: Not quite Boston Legal

Picture the scene: it’s second year of university studying law. I have some free time in between lectures, so I have taken the opportunity to watch one more episode of Boston Legal. It shows shiny glass offices with sliding doors and plush boardroom seats, not to mention all the beautiful, fresh looking cakes, pastries and snacks next to the state-of-the-art coffee machine.

I had visions of all law offices being similar – solicitors meeting on the balcony for a brandy at the end of the day to discuss the cases won earlier that day. It looked like such fun! I was in awe of these solicitors – in court, they could turn their hand and knowledge to any subject at the drop of a hat. As well as that, Denny Crane could win cases simply by showing up and saying his name repeatedly!

Television is rarely ever realistic, but with university life being all about having your head in the books, is it any wonder I looked up now and then to watch an idyllic version of what I hoped life in the law would be like?

Unaltered reality

The reality was buildings with significant cracks up the walls, where it was literally a case of painting over them. Offices full of papers piled high – GDPR breaches, trip hazards and fire safety risks galore. Passive aggressive anonymous notes in the staff areas stating that kettles should only be boiled with the amount of water necessary for one or two cups, and that all staff should clear up after themselves: “You wouldn’t leave your home in a mess, so don’t do it here!” Clients treated like faceless numbers and fees. Solicitors with unrealistic and unachievable fee targets on their backs – you had failed the second you walked through the door and were set up on a hamster wheel of chasing a target to please your bosses, trying to get up the career ladder and maybe being awarded a bonus. The criteria for achieving said bonus were never set out clearly; the bonus “depended on performance”, which is lawyerspeak for “we will decide what we want to give you based on undetermined factors but it won’t be the full bonus, no matter what you have achieved”.

Was I wrong to assume that real life as a solicitor would resemble Boston Legal? Absolutely. Did I expect to end up mentally in pieces after a relatively short time into my career in the law? Absolutely not.

Life as a solicitor is full of “unsaid” rules and assumptions that employers and partners are fully aware cannot be verbally expressed, but can be inferred, which are taken on board by trainees, newly qualified solicitors and those who wish to climb the corporate ladder. No one talks about this openly: it would be like lifting the lid on the secrets of a magician. For example, there is a strong assumption that the hours you should put in as a solicitor far exceed 9am-5pm if you want to succeed in your career. To this end, your work-life balance suffers as well as your friendships, relationships and your physical as well as mental health. Who has time to get in their 10,000 steps a day, attend a gym class or meet a friend for coffee when they have work to do to meet their targets?

What they assume

In many law firms – big and small, chains and independent firms – there is an assumption that you really should be working at weekends and taking work home when you do leave the office. There is an assumption that as solicitors, the law is our life and to take any time away from the office or from work is somehow something to feel guilty about or something we really need to justify. I have seen plenty of solicitors over the years actually emailing clients or other solicitors oversharing as to why they cannot see them that day or the next day. For example, “I’m terribly sorry, Mr Smith, but I can’t see you tomorrow to sign your will as it’s my father’s funeral. But I will see you at 9am the following day.”

As solicitors, we are assumed to be constantly switched on in work mode – even to the point that we are expected to answer legal questions that strangers ask us while we are waiting for a train.

It is my belief that these assumptions have been handed down by generations of old fashioned solicitors who had little regard for the wellbeing of their staff, but, more importantly, themselves. There was very little value placed on the wellbeing of staff for productivity.

This column is the story of the biggest unsolved case across Scots law in terms of modern life in the legal profession: Expectation v Reality. What you can expect are stories about intense work pressure, severe lack of sleep, steady decline of mental health and the biggest heartbreak of all: falling out of love with the law. But I’m still there…