Over a year ago we initiated a campaign to stamp out abuse of vulnerable trainees. As our reporter Ann Russell discovered in her exclusive investigation, abuse is still widespread. If you recognise your firm in the testimonies published anonymously here, it is time to sharpen up. The Firm is on to you...

To the untrained eye the legal profession appears to uphold the sanctity of justice in a society littered with dishonesty and corruption. However, beneath the flock of black gowns a culture of bullying and oppression is breeding. Young lawyers are struggling to find a solid footing amidst deep rooted hierarchies where a dog-eat-dog attitude is actively encouraged often to the detriment of their career progression.

At a time when law firms of all shapes and sizes are looking to limit their trainee intake, there is also a growing culture of deprecation in the workplace. 

“I had inklings at the start that things were not right. I was promised the world at my interview but none of it materialised. I soon began to realise that the traineeship wasn’t what it said on the tin,” one second year trainee from a medium sized personal injury firm told The Firm.

“Initially I wasn’t given any work so I would spend my days feeling like a spare part. It was very frustrating as I was more than capable of doing the work and very willing to learn from my senior colleagues. Unfortunately they wouldn’t trust me with anything substantial, so I was the recipient of all the odds and ends that other staff couldn’t be bothered with. I felt like an administration assistant rather than a trainee solicitor.

“I wasn’t given any sort of responsibility and had to approach another member of staff to confirm all of the minor decisions I made regarding cases. A young student came into the office for a couple of days a week and was given the same work as I was.

“Good cases were being thrown out because solicitors couldn’t be bothered to spend any time looking into them. Important cases seemed to be slipping through the net but when I raised the subject I was quickly silenced.

“I had a non-existent relationship with the firm’s senior partner. On the odd occasion that I saw him it was for a mandatory review or a reprimand about an error. I didn’t feel like I could speak to him about my situation.

“I couldn’t be an individual. In fact I was expected to become a company clone.”

Such treatment is not universal in smaller practices. One trainee who avoided the larger firms was given the responsibility that other trainees craved and as a result his legal knowledge and ability improved significantly.

“I didn’t apply to any of the large firms because I didn’t see myself in a ‘photocopy’ environment. I took a traineeship at a local Law Centre so that I could help real people,” he said.

“I was worried that I wouldn’t fit in and that the clients would find it difficult to trust me because I was a new-start. I work in a high pressure environment but I am given my own cases and have a certain degree of responsibility which makes it all worthwhile. I would be really depressed if I was pushing paper all day.”

At the other end of the spectrum another trainee was forced to leave his job after he was persistently belittled by his senior colleagues.

“I couldn’t take it anymore and had begun to question whether I wanted a career in law at all. It felt like I was working in a call centre,” he said.

“It made me feel awful. I felt like I wasn’t being appreciated or acknowledged and was constantly under scrutiny even although I was never given any responsibility. I never felt like I was part of the firm.

“They made it clear that they didn’t want me there and I didn’t want to waste any more time in a job that was so unrewarding. I wanted to feel like an asset but was repeatedly made to feel like a burden.”

These trainee testimonials suggest that maltreatment is a far reaching problem affecting more young lawyers than is appreciated. Cases of severe bullying are often undetected as trainees keep quiet in a bid to hold on to their jobs at a time when traineeships are scarce. Most trainees are too anxious to report instances of misconduct in the workplace for fear of provoking further harassment. At a time when action over junior recruitment is being taken in an effort to cut costs, trainees are forced to accept mistreatment to hold on to their jobs.

Recently some firms have offered deferment packages to future trainees in the hope that the economy will have stabilised by next year’s intake. Moreover large firms including DLA Piper announced they will take on just two out of eleven trainees in Scotland. As a result the pressures of the recession are making life even more difficult for current trainees who have to fight for their jobs and endure unnecessary oppression or face the probable alternative of being made redundant. Firms now have an even greater hold over their young employees.

A mature trainee from a small high street firm is now disillusioned with the entire profession after hastily accepting the offer of a traineeship that has brought him unforeseen misery.

“The firm haven’t met or fulfilled the promises they made to me in my interview. In fact they purposefully misled me. I think they just saw me as cheap labour.

“On my first day at the firm I was really looking forward to the new challenge and was ready to get my teeth stuck into some practical legal work but this positive attitude was swiftly beaten out of me.

“I became disillusioned quite quickly because of the hierarchical system that played out in my office. The setting is completely old school and I’m the office gopher who is generally looked down upon. At times I feel like I don’t actually exist; that I’m just another cog in the wheel.

“When I approached a partner with a query his response was “What the fuck are you babbling about?” I discovered this man has a 30 year history of harassment and decided to avoid him as much as possible.

“I’m constantly the subject of nasty and demeaning remarks and as a result I’m beginning to lose my sense of self-value because of the constant ridicule. I have tried to make complaints but these are ignored and merely encourage further harassment. Another trainee left the firm because of the oppressive atmosphere. I’ve now realised that I’m expected to keep my mouth shut and take whatever they throw at me.

“There are times when I’m in the office till 11pm just photocopying documents.”

A number of Scottish firms are clearly lacking in their training of young solicitors, and  promising legal minds are being discouraged from the outset. Moreover, highly qualified graduates who had the tenacity to obtain legal qualification are being subjected to mundane and monotonous tasks that fail to strengthen their legal competency.

The exploitation of the profession’s new talent is not an isolated problem but a burgeoning culture that has become embedded as the norm in some firms. To combat these widespread destructive attitudes within the workplace, firms must collectively help young lawyers to find a solid footing, to prevent more trainees from renouncing their chosen profession.