fellow lawyer help

[gh97]

hi all,

Just needed some room to vent/shoulder to cry on.

I'm a nearly one year qualified corporate lawyer in the north east. Salary is great at circa £40k.

However I am utterly miserable in my job and feel sick every morning going into work - the clients are horrible and demanding, and the work and pressure is relentless.

I have no idea what else i want to/could do and just feel miserable and burnt out.

Just looking for some friendly words really and also interested whether any fellow lawyers on here do/have felt the same

[dslippy]

You have my sympathy. It (being recently qualified) is all in the dim and very distant past for me.
I can only say that it is traditional to beast newly qualifieds to see what they are made of. You just hope of more to come in behind you and take the pressure in turn.

Make sure that you take and make the best of most of your holidays.


Good luck.

[gh97]

thank you DS, what's your story? Did you quit as a lawyer?

[atticus]

I am sorry to read this. Please DM me. I have tried to DM you but not sure it has worked.

[atticus]

Please let me know if you have been able to read my DMs. The system seems very buggy.

[gh97]

Hi Atticus, I have had messages come through but they are blank! thank you for reaching out

[gh97]

I thought it may be a good idea to share my experience here in the hope it will help someone.

I have never experienced any mental health problems/anxiety etc before but for the past three months or so I have really been struggling - i wake up every day with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach which does subside once I get to the office.

For background i am nearly a year qualified as a corporate lawyer. My work is good and I get good feedback in my reviews. I am based in the NE at a decent firm but am constantly doing city hours and not getting home to 7ish each day. Recently I have found clients to be extremely rude, pushy and entitled. I get that's part of the job but I just cannot believe how clients think they are your only client when I am juggling hundreds of files (mostly with little support).

When I was training I was very much motivated by the money but as I've got a bit older I've realised that that doesn't matter that much to me any more - all that matters is the health and happiness of my family and partner. I would happily exchange the money for something far less stressful.

I'm at a cross roads now and don't know what to do. I am told I'm very good at what I do and that, together with salary both now and future earnings, is stopping me from doing something new. I also have no idea of what else I could do. I would ,love to start my own business (not being chained to a 9-5) appeals to me, but I don't have any ideas.

Stuck in a rut I guess and want to sort this before it gets out of hand

[dslippy]

Atti, I have trid to message you but your settings are to refuse acceptance of messages.

GH97,
I simply came to an age when retirement from practice was natural and proper.

[DE DOGS]

Hate to say this as it may cause concern amounting to BLOOD on the CARPET. My thoughts are if you don't enjoy the job change it, but I`m retired without problems.

[atticus]

DeDogs is right, at least in that something has to change.

First step is to see what support your firm can provide. Speak to team leaders, more senior associates, HR.

If you are not getting support from your firm, then you need to move. Trust me, there are firms out there that are lovely places to work, including in corporate law. All firms are not the same.

I have been there myself, not sleeping on Sunday nights because I have been dreading Mondays. It can sap your self confidence. I have also seen lawyers come out of horrible firms that drained their self-belief and then blossom because their new firm gave the right environment to do so.

In terms of immediate support, there are junior lawyers sections of national and local law societies.

My credentials : I left practice a year ago after 38 years in commercial litigation, insolvency, spending the lasr few years in corporate and commercial law. I now teach students at a University.

[atticus]

dslippy I have changed PM settings. hopefully it now works.

[R0b]

I can only echo What Atticus has said above.

Corporate (as well as litigation and real estate) is probably one of the most challenging and difficult departments to work in and with clients demanding more for their money and many law firms caving to their every need, I am not surprised you are feeling burnt out. I also think that for many young lawyers or those that are on the path, they are largely attracted to the salary and don't realise how demanding it can be until the training wheels have come off and you are right in the thick of it. Unless of course you work in London in which case you experience that from day 1.

There has definitely been a shift towards protecting the mental health of lawyers and ensuring they have the right support available but if you don't feel that you do, you should definitely speak up and try to seek help both in terms of your workload and mental health.

I'm also based in the north east but work in-house for a global business. Although I worked initially as a paralegal in a few law firms for a short period, I took the unusual step at the early stage of my career and qualified in-house. I was attracted to an in-house role largely because I wanted the ability to take on subject matters that might be outside of my comfort zone but also the satisfaction of seeing deal through to the end.

In-house roles used to be seen as a transition at the latter of one's career but it is becoming a popular option for lawyers of all PQE. I love my role, I have flexibility and support from other team members, largely work 9-5 with some days working fairly late until 6pm sometimes 7pm or 8pm if needs must but that it definitely the exception than the norm. Most importantly, there are no billables which I think takes a huge weight of your shoulders. Granted, I would not say an in-house role is 'much easier' than traditional law firms as you have to contend with demanding employees and leadership wanting everything at the drop of a hat but also navigating the politics can also be tricky. On the whole, I would not go back to private practice - perhaps if there was something that was incredibly enticing but I can only put that down to money as I don't believe there is anything else that would make me want to leave in-house.

If you still want to practise law then I suggest you consider moving in-house. Salary is not as great as you might find in a traditional role but it is starting to catch up and the fact that more businesses are offering remote working roles you might not be any worse off, but in fact could be better off. Having said that, you will find that international businesses, particularly US companies tend to value their lawyers better than their UK counterparts so you might find the salary offering is higher than usual but not always. Promotional opportunities are not as readily available as you might find in traditional law firms because in-house teams are generally flat structured unless you work for a huge international company but I guess that depends on how you look at it. There are less people to compete against in-house but also you will be exposed to work that might be beyond your usual PQE so you may learn things much faster as well as improve your drafting skills.

My credentials aren't as good as Atticus' and I'm 5 years PQE but feel free to reach out if you have any questions or if you want to some advice or to just talk then I'm more than happy to meet up for a coffee (or tea in my case).

[atticus]

Well said Rob. And your contributions are no less valid than my own.

[gh97]

thank you so much all for your kind words.

Rob, in-house is definitely something i am interested in and i think corporate is a sector well suited to that.

Salary isnt too much of an issue for me - 5 years PQE in PP should see me at £50-£60k. I'd be happy with that in house with less increases in the future. WFH coupled with no billable recordings would also suit me down to the ground. I guess i need more PQE under my belt to make the shift however.

[R0b]

I think you'll find that many businesses are now looking for junior lawyers in the 1-3PQE range so its not necessarily experience they're looking for. My experience from doing numerous interviews for in-house roles are more focused on the personality of the individual, willing to go outside their comfort zone and pick up matters that may not fall within their expertise - in-house teams tend to have strict budgets so you may likely end up becoming more of a general practitioner advising on multiple subject areas because it's whatever comes through the door - as well as the ability to give commercially focused advice, which is certainly the one thing I still find lacking when I instruct outside counsel for advice.

If you're serious about it, reach out to some local recruitment firms and see what they have available, many are happy to pass your details out to their colleagues in other offices for remote opportunities depending on far you are willing to expand your search area. In-house roles in the North East are few and far between and rarely come up so you might only see a couple of job adverts every 6 months though you'll probably find more vacancies towards Leeds/Sheffield/Manc/Birmingham areas.

If you're not happy where you are, get out of there while you can before it's too late whether that's in-house or another firm that is more relaxed and open. You should also consider the option of re-training into a different subject area as you are still in the early stages of your career so shouldn't be too much of a difficulty so long as the right firm/business is willing to invest some their time.