Sometimes it pays to work for free
My grandmother once told me a rags-to-riches story about the son of one of her friends, who worked his way from unemployment into a lofty position at a major car manufacturer.
After the Second World War, with British peacetime industry creaking back into life, the man found himself jobless and with few prospects. He had fought from 1940 until the end of the war, although without rising to any position of seniority; but in any case, he did not want to stay in the Army. He had quit school early, had never been to university, and had few qualifications to speak of.
Weeks after his return from France, he walked into his local car plant and asked if he could work for free. Unsurprisingly, the foreman said yes, so he set about doing odd jobs on the factory floor – for six months. After that, he was paid minimum wage for another year doing the same work, but still he stayed late when they were men short or when the cars were due to be rolled onto ships for export.
The owners of the plant must have cottoned on to the fact that this guy was not of the usual nine-to-five breed. After 18 months of work at the plant, he was bumped straight into management – with suit, tie, and no doubt bowler hat to match. From then on, he rose steadily upwards, until he retired into the countryside on a considerable salary.
Grandma had an audience of two when recounting this story at the end of last summer: me, and my unemployed brother. It must have had an impact on him, because he’s since lined up some work experience in schools before he starts a teaching course later this year.
This week, news reaches the Gazette that junior lawyers being told to work for free ‘or else.’ Clearly there are differences between my grandmother’s story – which is more about individual self-motivation – and law firms getting students to do what can at best be described as extended internships. But I think there is a lesson in her story.
Regardless of economic uncertainty and dried-up job markets, companies – including law firms – will always favour the most committed worker out of two otherwise equal candidates. Someone who shows a gritty, grafting and dogged character and will work for nothing will outdo most others – especially those with the mindset that a completed law degree or training contract guarantees an easy ticket to partnership. It is undeniably frustrating to hit potholes on what was once a smoothly paved career path, but sometimes there is little option but to take what work you can.
Unfortunately, the good intentions of those who offer themselves for free work can be abused. Well-meaning firms that are in genuine economic difficulty can be excused for offering what work they can, but those seeking to profit from the goodwill of others should be exposed. Hopefully, the latter are in the minority, and a resolute work ethic, like that of grandma’s car man, will eventually be rewarded.
Comments
Point taken about hard work
Point taken about hard work and determination.
I worked hard all through my studies and further studies and training contract where I worked for a low wage. I qualified and I ended up redundant.
If I work for free now (aside from the fact that I de value all I have worked for and qualified to do) who will pay my debts back, my rent, my food etc etc
People need an income.
In a world where your LPC and
In a world where your LPC and Degree fees amount to thousands of pounds (and are mostly paid for by loans) how on earth is the average solicitor/ student able to work for free? I qualified last year having worked incredibly hard for many years and for minimal wages. I also completed many years of pro bono work... isn't it about time the legal profession helped its newly qualified solicitors and encouraged law firms to start recuiting again and to pay the wages that so many people deserve??
Experience is not a currency
Absolutely, we live in an era where companies are bartering work for "experience". As the commenter above mentions, experience doesn't pay the rent. Experience is not a currency!
Yes, bring back slavery
What an inspiring article.
I agree it is time to bring back working for nothing, otherwise known as slavery.
Some say it has never gone away in parts of this world but now it is just the ticket for the solicitors profession, according to this article.
I am glad to read that slavery has gone upmarket. It used to be working class. Cotton pickers and sugar cane workers. It was not really European except under the Greeks and the Romans and for a brief revival period in the 1940s. Now it is middle class. Who would have thought it. Slavery is being gentrified.
Of course, you will be leading by example by agreeing to receive no salary for the foreseeable future but you will still pump out the work and pay for any libel suit if things go wrong.
PS. I find your article grossly offensive and unacceptable from someone whose wages are effectively paid by the profession. It also shows astonishing naivety. My experience is that employers who pay nothing take everything for granted and do not value those who they are exploiting. Far from leading to a golden future, such exploitation will lead to ruin. A crucial question for future employers will be how much were you paid? If the response is nothing then the new employer will take his cue from that and decide that you are a completed push over and valueless.
Unpaid work experience
Hello, I work for BBC Radio 5Live and am doing a piece about unpaid internships and the Graduate Talent Pool. If anyone would like to tell me their experiences, just off the record at first, I'd be really grateful - please get in touch via charlotte.pritchard@bbc.co.uk . Thanks a lot.
totally right
Anon at 15.04 is right.
chances are any firm that won't pay you anything at all is not somewhere you would want to work.
There are far too many partners in law firms who will take, take, take and give nothing back.
gratitude is old-fashioned and out of place in our profession these days. so is the old concept of a gentleman's agreement. there are hardly any left now.
If you work for free, they'll take the work and then kick you out the second you push for more.
sounds like an extension of the old wheeze used to get LPC graduates in as paralegals on the clear understanding it will lead to a TC but then not giving them one and saying "nothing was set in stone" or that you "misunderstood". I understand that was good for at least a year of quality, cut price employment.....
"the labourer is worth the price of hire" I'm sure I heard that somethere.
Anyone with any common sense - if the firm offer you work for free for anything other than a work placement run, dont look back and make sure you tell your mates about how tight they are.
best to all NQ's and paralegals trying to stay afloat!
as grandad once said to Del
as grandad once said to Del Boy in an episode of Only Fools and Horses: 'There's a moral to this story, but for the life of me I can't think what it is'
Daddy says I'm going to be a para-legal (whatever that is).
Daddy just called and said it was time for me to do some work. Daddy is an investment banker, you know. I got a third in the old law degree and that was copying Oophy Podkin’s coursework. He’s ever so clever, you know. I did the old LPC five times. Got through in the end. Internet is deuced clever for getting good answers on my coursework.
Can’t work out why I can’t get a job in the bally profession but Daddy has sorted all that. Start with Con, Ripoff and Ripoff on Monday. No pay, but I’ll do a bit of the old para-legal (whatever that is) and my trust fund will pay for my keep.
Jim, Daddy’s chauffeur’s son, did a law degree at London. First Class Honours. Then the LPC. Distinction first time. Said didn‘t want to be paid peanuts or nothing. Went into the Police. Needs the money you see. Daddy thinks he’ll be a Chief Constable in the end.
Ahmed, my old childhood mate, son of our local pharmacist, did sciences. He’s our local GP. Top bloke. Have a bevvy with him every Saturday. Told me couldn’t do the law, as needed something where he would be paid for helping people. He’s got his MB with a first. Could have got an LLB with a first. Top all rounder, is Ahmed
Still, it’s the law for me. Para - legal (whatever that is) then solicitor (if Daddy pays Mr Con enough). Partner in the end. Gawd its going to be fun. I’m just the man for the profession and when I get into scrapes (I always get into scrapes). Daddy will bail me out.
Anon 15:59. The moral of this tale is "If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys" (in this case a posh monkey). If you pay noithing you get nothing (of value). It is also that you cannot expect poor clever people to work for nothing and you cannot survive as a profession without attracting the best.
Daddy says I'm going to... for President of the World!
Great read... keep up the great work.
It's what the profession lacks, a fusion of humour and realism!
There must be a balance
There must surely be a balance between working solely for your pay check and the reason (whatever that may be) that you decided to become a lawyer in the first place. I don't think it is right to work for a law firm for free while they benefit from any profit generated through your efforts - that is down right exploitation. I am however a believer in pro bono work and feel that it is more than ok to occasionally help another person out when they desperately need the help but wouldn't otherwise be able to afford the service.
Working for Free?
Never work for free.
But there is a case for reversing the risk.
Let's say you are out of work but confident
in your own ability.
Say to a chosen employer (by chosen I mean
one you really want to work for and respect).
"I'll work for you for 3 months.
You pay me my living costs. of £200 a week.
If you don't like what you get that's ok I'll be gone at the end
of the three months.
If you like what you get - take me on, on my terms.
My terms are living costs plus 50% of all profit
I generate."
In for a penny in for a pound.
The alternative of course is to set up a website,
get it highly ranked for solicitor in x town
and just get as many leads in as you want.
Either do the work yourself or send the leads
to the law firm of your choice.
Raga to riches
I would have thought that the whole point of the original story is that it is the exception and not the rule. And quite rightly so!!
There is no way that trained people should be expected to work in a private business for nothing. However in the current market people have to be realistic about their salaries. Pro bono work should be different as the basis of it should be that without the free advice the client would go unrepresented because of lack of funds.
Learn to earn
I'm a solicitor at a small legal aid firm.
A few month ago, a young LPC graduate started doing work experience at the firm.
Truth be told, she more or less ended up doing paralegal work.
She worked Monday - Thursday. On Fridays, she did similar work experience at another firm.
She had originally agreed to work in such a manner for 3 months.
At the end of the 3 month period, as per the original 'agreement', she thanked everyone for the experience and that it was now time for her to leave.
Imagine her surprise when, on her final day, she was offered a full time position with a training contract (something that she had not even asked for!)
Why? Because all the fee earners were very impressed with her abilities and she had proved her worth during the 3 month period.
I suspect that this 3 month period turned out to be a very good investment for the young lady.
The firm had previously taken on full time staff in similar roles who 'looked good on paper' but proved less than able.
Moral of the story: Don't think a few pieces of paper entitles you to a solid career.
While there are of course firms looking to exploit, equally, there are firms who simply cannot find decent staff and are hesitant to go down the 'trial and error' route because of costs.
If you really think you're good enough, put your own money where your mouth is and go out to impress.
I started work for a firm
I started work for a firm after my LPC on informal work experience, initially termed 'summer work'. I would have been willing to work for free or petrol money but the senior partner at that firm was not willing to pay me anything less than a fair wage from day one. He later told me that he pities people who apply to him offering to work for free, and never replies to them, because they should not be devaluing themselves that way. I tend to agree.
I worked there for two years, first doing paralegal work and then after six months as a trainee solicitor. I qualified and am now a solicitor. It all started by being willing to work on flexible and informal terms NOT FOR NOTHING and proving my worth by consistently producing a good volume of quality work.
I would suggest that once a firm has a non-qualified with fee earning capacity working for them for free they have little incentive to change that arrangement, and are the kind of firm that will continue to take take take your work for as long as you are silly enough to stay there. It will be very dangerous for the profession if this kind of unpaid working is allowed to become the norm.
To all potential trainees: You don't need to work for nothing, and if you can afford to, why are you bothering to become a solicitor anyway? I think James' grandmother's tale, although most enchanting, is anachronous and we simply do not live in that kind of world any more. Keep searching and eventually there is a training contract for everyone who is worth one, and there are decent firms out there who will not make you work for nothing and give nothing in return.
Quan Je Puis
Great story from your Grandma, very entertaining indeed. I understand her concept but see if you understand mine. A one year access course where you take the equivalent of two years A-levels; a three year law degree; A 12 month LPC and still not guaranteed a training contract, 2 years further training and still no guarantee. So that’s 7 years sacrifice to become a commodity, an asset to this country with the intelligence to make a difference. Well this is my story...I know people who have no GCSE's; struggle to read and write their name; close to no common sense and are earning 40k + per year. That's right, as fat, overweight, no morals with no class, car salesmen. I think too many people; underestimate the hard work that goes into studying law. Think back to when you first qualified after 7 years...would you have wanted to work for free? Let me answer for you ...NO! I can understand a month, 2 months in order to obtain a training contract but anything more, says you 1) Have been born with a silver spoon in your month or 2) You've not got the academic ability to command a fair wage. A very contonversial piece to say the least ! Why don't you just say to Law students, 'Give up guys ! pop into your local warehouse and see if there is any free labour you can do for them, or further still, why don't you go and sign on the dole !' I'd rather live by the motto 'Quan Je Puis'
need of an income
In response to "Point Taken about Hard Work", I agree that an income is of course, very much the main reason why people go to work in the first place. People go to work to earn a living. If someone, i.e. a paralegal is working for free, they might be doing it at another's expense such as a parent or a partner who would be bearing the brunt.
When I started off I did a lot of free, as well as low paid paralegal work quite enthusiastically to get a foot in the door. My training contract, which was like "gold dust" in the 1990s was also at the minimum salary - £10,850 per annum in those days. I was only able to do this as my parents were kind enough to support me.
Following this I was able to find suitable well paid jobs to support myself and was doing well for a number of years. Thinking that I was reaping the reward for the hard work at the preliminary stage of the profession - until the credit crunch came. Suddenly everything I had worked for seemed like it was being swallowed down a black hole.
I was out of work for almost a year, making job applications in vain and almost at the point of being in financial ruins. Finding lower paid admin jobs etc. was difficult as I was considered "over-qualified". However, forced to persevere, I eventually found a low paid admin role in the end. Although, not sounding too glamourous the job helped to get me out of the red. Surprisingly this has led to other exciting career opportunities, albeit non legal so things are now looking up.
The whole experience has taught me what it takes to survive the tough times and that adaptablity as well as the ability to work hard is the key. So there is definitely a lot of truth in the spirit of grandma's "rags to riches story".
If training contracts were
If training contracts were gold dust in the 90s, then what do you call them now? the Boson-Higgs particle?
It's "Higgs boson"
"Boson" is a kind of particle, not the name of a scientist. Yes, I know I should get out more.
I've met someone more
I've met someone more pedantic than me! Yes you're quite right, it's called the Higgs boson.
What an utterly ridiculous article
So the author recommends that we all just pop ourselves down to the underpass near Waterloo station, with our suits and our shiny shoes and settle down for the night. The next morning we take a rousing wash in the fountains at Trafalgar Square before popping round to our firms for the next installment in an 8am to 8pm day with the upshot being zero pounds, zero pence reimbursement? What a wonderful existence!! It will be like we're all together in a showing of Oliver Twist.... "Please Partner, can I have some more gruel as I haven't got two pence to rub together".
12 months on from being let go on qualification, I have found the answer for me is away from Law and certainly away from London. Pretending everything is OK is not the answer, nor is advocating that people tough it out during a major downturn. The collective offerings of the governing bodies has been notable in it's total silence and there has been insignificant assitance to help those who have been cut adrift.
Isn't it easy to write "work for free" when you are being paid to write it?
Join me, I found an awesome
Join me, I found an awesome cardboard box just outside Elephant & Castle tube. It's mostly soaked with urine but it provides good cover from rain. The neighbouring family of rats keep to themselves, the Tube is literally 30 seconds away and local shops are within walking distance. Rent is 3 rocks of crystal meth a week, payable to me. I only ask for a reference from your last 2 employers and that you have a good 2:1 degree, at least a Commendation on your LPC and significant work experience and/or demonstrable interest in the areas of practice of my firm.
Tragi-comedy
Lots of comedy on this blog string. High quality comedy but it is tragi-comedy, for it represents a terrible truth. After years of working hard and accumulating debts prospective trainee solicitors and newly qualified solicitors are being pressurised into doing work for nothing.
It seems that the response to falling profits is to destroy the next generation. I would expect nothing less from this current crop of selfish partners. Baby boomers who were given free education and who were able to rise to the top of the profession from humble backgrounds but who clearly couldn‘t give a monkeys about the future of the profession. They have “pulled up the ladder behind them”. There are exceptions, like the man from Manches but they are few and far between.
I have seldom met such grotesque ingratitude from people who, themselves were given privileges. I suppose the nearest comparison is the old leadership of the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc. Those who rose to prominence in those countries usually came from humble backgrounds but enjoyed enormous privilege. Their standard mantra was that they were building communism for the future generations. Instead, they were building an unsustainable system which would ultimately lead to collapse and great hardship for many people. Bear this in mind when you are told to work for free with the prospect of riches at the end.
There will be no riches because the Legal Services Act 2007 means that large non-legal corporations are soon going to cherry pick the profitable work.
There may be no riches in the city either, because of outsourcing.
Read the blog postings in this string carefully. The happy people are those who have left the profession. I did this myself and found that there was a whole new world out there which had passed me by. I have now done three jobs and two of them had nothing to do with the law. This was profoundly liberating. I now do a job where I use my legal skills but am not burdened by ridiculous SRA Victorian ideas. I am not young and rose comparatively high in the profession. One of the jobs I did was absolutely menial but I have probably never been happier when actually doing the job. I only left it because it was badly paid and the employers were dire but at least they never expected me to work for nothing.
Mr James Dean clearly sees merit in working for nothing but has equally clearly been paid for this article.
I think it is time for the people who work on the Gazette to get out into the real world of the solicitors firm. I want to see every journalist working on the Gazette in work placements in a wide range of firms. Then they might start to understand the current plight of the profession and write some sensible reports rather than this insulting drivel.
In addition, I want journalists on the Law Society Gazette who make mistakes, treated like solicitors who make mistakes. Named and shamed. If you have libelled someone by mistake and the profession has paid out on your behalf then you should be named and shamed. Has this happened in the past ten years, I wonder? We have a right to know.
Rachel, does this sound a bit harsh to you? Are you going to pull this post? Or are you going to give us details of any libel action against the Gazette in, say, the last ten years and the amounts paid out and the person who wrote the article and the name of the editor at the time.
Does this feel uncomfortable? If it does then perhaps you are starting to understand the plight of thousands of solicitors who make mistakes in this country, often inadvertently.
Once you and your journalists start understanding the plight of every day solicitors and trainee solicitors then I think that insulting articles, such as this, will become a thing of the past.
By the way, whatever happened to the minimum wage or is that a working class concept that should not be applied to middle class professional, such as solicitors.
It is not in the public interest for us to churn out thousands of LPC graduates who are surplus to requirements. It is morally abhorrent and will lead to such disillusionment that the destruction of this profession will become not just a luxury but a certainty.
No profession means no Law Society Gazette and then perhaps Mr James Dean will finally have to emulate the man in his story and work for free.
Wow, you completely upstaged
Wow, you completely upstaged the author of the original article. You write better and make a better point than him. I love you.
Re: Tragi-comedy
Yes you are absolutely right on this.
The Law Society has not discouraged entrants to an overcrowded profession (if that is what it still is) claiming market forces rule. But naturally it is not so keen on market forces when its authority is undermined by the provision of legal services by non solicitors ( or could this be that it sees loss of income for itself?)
Those who want to become solicitors should realise what a cut-throat profession it is. Certainly if they do not realise that doing work for nothing is the road to being exploited, that is what will happen -both by employers and clients, not to mention the many providers of "services" to lawyers (e.g. alleged training courses which actually teach nothing).
Prospective entrants should take a hard look at what is happening and probably seek a more fulfilling job elsewhere-the monetary rewards are unlikely to be less but the stress and liability will be.
Alternatively they could work for that ultimate in bureacracy the SRA-no judgment needed just do as you are told and tell solicitors they have got something wrong. No doubt the pay and conditions are good (but then the profession isn't told- they just pay).
Working for free
The comments by anon on 14th Feb rang a chord. I am now retired but when I was in practise I used to receive lots of applications for training contracts. I had no opportunities in my small office but I always replied and I invariably suggested that they do unpaid work for, say, a month in their holidays. In my opinion it gives a potential employer a real insight into the person concerned and if you cannot tell a 'good-un' in 4 weeks you should not be in charge of recruiting! Many tried out my advice and found that it often worked. The investment of their time for free often paid dividends in getting work.
I did that, spent a couple of
I did that, spent a couple of weeks in a firm where I worked my backside off for them trying to impress them and noticed they actually had an army of people like me working for free. Nobody was offered a job. They were clearly riding the wave of desperate students like me and using them to do their donkey work.
I guess the old 'there's merit in working for free' is too anecdotal to make it into a general statement. The author of this article should really re-write it and include a paragraph saying 'be ready to be exploited as well'.
"Good-uns"
If you can't tell a good'un from a CV and an interview, you need to change your hiring practices. 4 weeks of free labour before being offered a job? Can anyone think of any other business where that would be expected, or even acceptable? Pay peanuts, get monkeys: pay nothing, get nothing.
Good uns -
Any other business where you work for free for
four weeks? Yep...football...usually a 10 year
apprenticeship where you are not paid.
And not guaranteed a job...
And even if you are it's usually for
10 years max...
Peanuts for Monkeys...
...that reminds me, i was once offered peanuts for 40-hours work per week (literally)... presently i am on hazelnuts... what's next brazil nuts?
Perception & reality - legal career expectations
Hi James
Having read all of the comments (and in some detail too - twice) I think it is fair to say that the 'new generation' of solicitors / lawyers are already somewhat disenchanted with the legal profession and their future prospects.
The reality is that the combined effect of the global recession (and its aftermath), competition from client-centric major players, “DIY free legal documents providers” via the internet, virtual law firms, the ‘digital age, the ‘enlightened consumer’ and some 800 years of history due to come to an end when the reforms of the Legal Services Act 2007 come into full effect, will mean that the established and conventional legal career progression model will be challenged. Expectations ‘on both sides of the fence’ will need to be revised.
Clearly, the transformation of the way in which the world of legal business operates is now underway. Hitherto, there will be a need to embrace new skills and strategies.
I’m not sure that working for free whilst one is training / qualified / practising is the answer as most adult lawyers and lawyers2b have ‘flown the nest’, have debts due to their legal education or are already supporting families and have mortgages. Most will not be in such a privileged financial position.
Bottom line, Maslow’s basic needs tend to kick in i.e. food, water, shelter, before one has the pleasure of experiencing ‘self actualization’.
Reality check, one needs money to survive.
Furthermore, as a client of legal services/advice for some years now and my having just qualified as a solicitor (i.e. witnessed and experienced the educational and training process and client expectations in this era) I do believe that no matter what stage we are at in our legal careers this new decade will inevitably bring unprecedented challenges, the likes of which our professional services career has not previously witnessed, let alone equipped us to manage.
The legal profession is unlikely to return to the halcyon days when salaries and bonuses were continually plump. The digital age and the ‘enlightened consumer’ are here to stay. We might just need some additional strings to our bows so that whatever the future holds and wherever we decide to take our careers (whether in the legal profession or not) we have a few more skills (in addition to our technical legal skills) to help us make the transition.
You may find this article of interest - 'Tomorrow's Lawyer': http://www.entrepreneurlawyer.co.uk
BTW James - clearly, you have created a very successful blog stream, no doubt due to the sensitive topic that would invariably encourage passionate responses. The outcome, as I see it, is that the majority of the contributors to the blog have demonstrated that they are very talented writers and that there are definitely other careers to pursue where employers will welcome their intelligence and dedication. It’s a sad day when the UK legal profession pushes such talent out of its nest, the very talent that is required to revolutionise the profession so that it caters for the real needs of the 21st century client.
I wonder what the profession will look like 10 years from now?
Best intentions
Chrissie Lightfoot “TheEntrepreneurLawyer”
http://www.entrepreneurlawyer.co.uk
"...It seems that the
"...It seems that the response to falling profits is to destroy the next generation. I would expect nothing less from this current crop of selfish partners. Baby boomers who were given free education and who were able to rise to the top of the profession from humble backgrounds but who clearly couldn‘t give a monkeys about the future of the profession. They have “pulled up the ladder behind them”. There are exceptions, like the man from Manches but they are few and far between.
I have seldom met such grotesque ingratitude from people who, themselves were given privileges. I suppose the nearest comparison is the old leadership of the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc. Those who rose to prominence in those countries usually came from humble backgrounds but enjoyed enormous privilege...."
I COULD NOT AGREE MORE HYPOCRITICAL THROUGH AND THROUGH.....
Times they are a changing.
From what you have all written, I can see that it is no longer so easy to do a few weeks free work as it used to be. All I can say is thank heavens that I am retired, albeit with an Equitable Life Pension (another sore point of course).
Work Experience
I thought I would throw in a story from the floor, as it were.
I come from a working-class, single-parent family from a rural armpit known as Lowestoft, in Suffolk. The only career paths open to people my age are to go stuff Turkeys inside out at Bernard Matthews down the road, or to accept your benefit cheque each fortnight.
I paid no fees at university but had to work in primary industry every summer for five years to afford rent and food and tucked enough aside to cover the down payment on my fees for entry into the Inns of Court School of Law, where I took the highest-rated LPC in the country. The rest of the money was sourced from a career development loan. After finishing and without a training contract, I returned to primary industry and soon after, was offered a promotion for a year-round position, which I took in order to pay off the £10,000 I had generated in debt.
Whilst I couldn't devote my post-graduation time to working for free, my boss was sympathetic to my ambition and said that if I could line up a week at a firm, he would allow me to take the time off as many times as I needed to. In the subsequent 12 months, I sent letters on watermarked paper to over a hundred firms saying that I would do anything from make the tea upwards in exchange for a week's worth of work experience. In that time, I received two offers of work experience, which I both took and whilst neither firm was in the position to take me on, I was grateful for the experience and that they were willing to let me come and work for them and they were happy for me to come again, any time as they said I had been professional, easy to work with and useful.
My work project ended in December 2009 and I have six month's salary saved, I have offered my services for free to a second round of firms across the country and had only one positive response, where I impressed them sufficiently that they asked me to stay on for longer - but every trip to London, even staying with friends or relatives costs money that I have yet to recoup and as desperate as I am to prove to the world that I want a Training Contract and have been prepared to work every hour sent in order to get one, there will be a time when I am forced to give up on the profession because I simply cannot go on running myself into a financial hole.
In response to a comment on here earlier about people 'devaluing themselves' by offering to work for free, I say this: LPC grads contend for TC's and work with their own peer group, subsequent graduating years and the glut of qualified solicitors who were let go by firms during the recession already trained and able to earn fees - in such a context, the only way to ensure you get a foot in the door is to provide partners and those who make the decisions with 'something for nothing' and allow you to show them that you are hard working, committed and smart enough to get the job done.
That being said, if anyone here has a firm and fancies having me around for a week or a fortnight then please get in touch and I will send you my CV to see if you can find a use for me.
Haha the Law Society Gazette
Haha the Law Society Gazette has now become a classifieds blog for people looking for work... maybe that'll convince them there's something wrong with the profession?
To whom and from whom?
Working for free alongside other people who are trying to earn a living today is all fine and dandy provided that it's somebody else doing the pro bono.
For every one doing that, there are another hundred busying themselves by ensuring their pockets have better than the average lining. Certainly, members of the various legal profession are stereotyped, but it is only rarely unjustly.
Why not pay attention to the ones who recommend others explore the road of "take nothing, give much"?
It's good work, after all. Just remember that the ones who do it for the right reasons don't need to recommend it to others. They have neither the time nor the motivation to stand up and talk, but they lead by example.
Working for free..... yes why
Working for free..... yes why not....I dont care anymore, I dont even need to buy food (i go to my local casino and the give me free sandwiches because they think I am a rich toff)