The Unloved Lawyer: Why am I still in the law?

If you have read my previous blogs about the challenges of working as a lawyer, you might be wondering why I am still in the law if I found the hours and conditions so overwhelming and, at times, toxic.

The years of studying and student debt aside, I love the law and it’s that simple. 

I have now learned how to manage my stress from my experiences, so this time I will share with you some points of acceptance that I have come to so far.

1. Accept that you may have 10 things on your to do list for that day, but there is more chance of being struck by lightning at your desk than getting them done. Otherwise all you are doing is setting yourself up for failure before you have even logged on for the day.

2. Accept that you do need to take breaks from your desk during the day. You are not superhuman – unless for religious reasons, not only do we need to drink water and eat during the day to function and concentrate, but there is also nothing wrong with taking a few minutes to enjoy a cup of tea, a chocolate biscuit and drift into a quick daydream about a holiday you’d like, for example. 

I no longer admire those lawyers who operate like robots. For a long time I worked with a lawyer who drank and ate nothing during the working day. Initially I thought they were a machine and wished I could do that – but why? Is it because they were perceived as having a greater work capacity and therefore were able to generate endless fees? However, dehydration just isn’t cool. Being so hungry that you can’t concentrate is also not cool.

Recharge!

3. Accept that taking holidays is necessary to recharge. We are literally beings that are made up of energy. We just aren’t plugged into the wall to charge, unlike our phones or laptops. If you are out and your phone runs out of battery, you can wish it to come back to life all you like but that phone is off until such time as it’s plugged in. We need to recharge too.

A doctor client of mine told me that the body really needs a break every 10 weeks. That’s not unreasonable, is it? It’s enough time to get your workload in order, prioritised and for client expectations to be managed. 

If you think about it, would you ever challenge your dentist, doctor or optician for taking a holiday? At worst, you’d find it inconvenient and think it in your head, perhaps, but you would never say “Really? You’re taking a holiday?” Neither would clients or other professionals say that to you. And – before you say it – I don’t want to hear the line “But I’m too busy to take holidays!” No, you’re not. Your firm, your colleagues and the law in general will go on without you and that is the reality of it. 

A very special former colleague once told me: “If you don’t have your health, you don’t have anything.” This was at a time when I was in a very poor state of health, and they were right. Burnout is now frequent, but it too is not cool. No one wants a frazzled solicitor. Yes, the lead up to a holiday is frantic and so is the return, but it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take your holidays. As others have said, you will never be on your deathbed and wish you had worked more.

Friends and colleagues

4. Accept that your work colleagues are, generally speaking, not your friends. Or, at least, not your true, genuine, “to the grave” friends that you can rely on no matter what. Of course, you can socialise with them outside of work time, and you can remain friends when you or they leave the firm, but your work colleagues are similar to your family – you didn’t choose them and you have to spend a lot of time in their company whether you like them or not. 

I would qualify this by saying I have met some truly wonderful people whom I would class as friends, but I have met some truly horrific people too. The typical law office will have at least one genuine person – more if you’re lucky. But, generally speaking, it can be more like “Where’s Wally?”, where you aren’t so much looking for a man in a red and white striped top as rather the office bully, the office narcissist, the office backstabber etc. Just be careful who you trust and with the personal information you give to your work colleagues, as not everyone’s intentions are as pure as they seem.

Teach it?

Considering that some of the above situations are pretty endemic in the law, it would seem to me beneficial for this to be covered in some way in the Diploma, if for no other reason than to prepare would-be trainees for the shift they are going to experience on leaving the comfort blanket of university. Perhaps this is something for the Law Society to consider going forward.

The Unloved Lawyer is a practising solicitor