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The pace of business over the last 30 years has definitely made it a hugely more stressful job.

When I started articles in the early 80's there was no e-mail, no fax, not even a dedicated phone number for each fee-earner.

If you answered a letter with 5 days of getting it that was OK.

Normal 28 days before exchange and completion.

In litigation you could sit on writs and cases for literally years, and do nothing if that's what the client wanted.

Drinks at lunch-time, after work were normal - often with Solicitors in other firms in the town/city which I don't believe is the case now.

No appraisals, no legal aid audits, time recording was making a simple hand-written note on the file and then getting a secretary to do a 'count-up' at the end of the case.

Financial pressures were also much less - conveyancing still was very profitable and subsidised everyone else, and you could even make an OK living doing legal aid work - you could self-authorise 2 hours of free legal work under the green-form scheme, and full legal aid for any type of civil case was usually easy to get.

I think it's unfair to criticise the current generation - the profession/job has simply changed out of all recognition.