Huge increase in bullying calls made to TSG helpline

Trainees: reacting to harassment by avoiding work altogether

Calls to the Trainee Solicitors Group (TSG) helpline have more than doubled over the last year, with a substantial number of callers reporting bullying or harassment from superiors at work.The helpline received 410 calls in the ten months to 30 April 2001, compared to 170 in the previous ten months.

The majority of callers were looking for advice and guidance on how to obtain training contracts.

The next most common difficulty was trainees experiencing problems with their workload and supervision.In 16% of cases, callers said they were experiencing some form of bullying and harassment at work, and many of those admitted to absenting themselves from work to avoid the situation.TSG chairwomen Theeba Ragunathan, a solicitor at London firm William Sturges & Co, said: 'Bullying is a problem for many young solicitors, and it is often hard for them to admit that they have a problem.' She said the best solution was to talk to someone at the firm about the problem, but added: 'If the person doing the bullying is the trainee's immediate superior, it can make it very difficult to report and to be believed.'Victoria MacCallum