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I was often subject to unreasonable pressure at firms I worked at in the past and there wasn't much evidence of the partnership board caring about the well being of their employees. When made redundant from one firm I was rather disconsolate but a nice partner (salaried) I knew in my department said that the only difference between me and him was that he was entitled to six months notice instead of my three months. That put things into perspective. When I left that firm the department gave me and my wife a lovely send-off party and I realised that the whole of my department were under huge pressure from other departments to make more money; I was just the "last in, first out" casualty of that situation. As a post-script, not long after I left a lovely female partner friend in that department committed suicide (she was walking like a zombie when I left, due to intolerable work pressure in part) and some years later the managing partner of the firm had to step down after being reprimanded by the Law Society after getting a Solicitor in that department to draw up a Will for a relative without the relative being separately advised. Despite often being in despair over how I and others were treated, I resisted any pressure to get me to do improper things or to work till I dropped and that attitude lost me my job on more than one occasion. However, I soldiered on and have now been a partner in the same firm for 20 years. We are a nice firm; we don't make millions but we are a happy ship and we listen to each other. My advice to any young solicitor today would be to get the work/life balance right and if that means earning a modest (but decent) living then you have probably got it about right; and don't be afraid about reporting wrongdoing at your firm to the SRA. Sure, you might lose your job but why would you want to work for a firm like that anyway?

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