Let me set the record straight...

I recently read an article about the high suicide rate amongst young lawyers. A good mate of mine forwarded me the article via e-mail, and the contents of the article intrigued me.

A few days later, I "googled" the topic and my search query received a lot of hits.

This got me thinking about my life as a young lawyer. Although I do not agree with the idea of taking one's life, I can appreciate how all the stress, pressure, anxiety and pushy clients can drive a young lawyer absolutely nuts. Add to this a lack of regular social activity (more or less leading to feelings of loneliness and depression), long work hours and having to constantly battle with office politics - and there you have the life of a young lawyer.

Nothing annoys me more than when a non-lawyer makes insensitive and often unjustified comments about the legal profession. For example, some of the articles that I "googled" contained statements such as:

"It is no secret that they will be obliged to abandon any thought of a reasonable social and family life - though I do not accept the exaggerated claims that young lawyers are having to work 16 hours a day, seven days a week... Much of what they do, many of the sleepless nights spent preparing mountains of paperwork, are unnecessary, though the hours, of course, attract large fees. Contracts and other documents have grown in length and complexity not as result of legal necessity but because the new technology makes it so easy to copy, expand and multiply - at a price."

1. It is not an "unreasonable claim" to say that young lawyers work up to 16 hours a day, seven days a week. I myself have done this on several occassions - obviously not by choice, but out of necessity. I doubt the author of this article has ever come across a pushy major client who wants everything done yesterday - if the work isn't done immediately then you can kiss your job goodbye.
2. "Preparing mountains of paperwork" that are "unnecessary" - obviously the author of the article doesn't understand that the "paperwork", in most instances, is required by legislation to be prepared or if not, the "paperwork" must be generated to keep the client better protected against future legal risks.
3. "Contracts and other documents have grown in length and complexity not as a result of legal necessity but because the new technology makes it so easy to copy". A good contract should ALWAYS take into consideration ALL possible risks associated with a transaction so as to determine what can or cannot be done in the event that the transaction gets out of hand. At the risk of generalising, though in most instances, contracts are lengthy because all possible risks are taken into account and documented, NOT because technology "makes it so easy to copy". Surely this author doesn't think that all lawyers play trigger-happy with the photocopying machine?

And another example:

"In addition to money, lawyers crave the status and importance they place upon themselves and their profession."

This may be true for some young lawyers. But certainly for me, and for a lot of my lawyer mates, this is not the case. I have previously mentioned that young lawyers, contrary to popular belief, do not receive massive pay-packets at the end of each week. Further, there is little status or importance placed upon young lawyers amongst other legal professionals and especially by senior members of the legal fraternity. What must be understood is that a law degree, like every other degree, takes 4 to 5 years to complete. It is NOT easy to start from scratch - to go back to university and study for another 4 or 5 years to obtain a degree completely unrelated to one's original degree - all the while receiving little or no income. Hence the reason why young lawyers simply do not just "quit" the profession.

Non-lawyers often have misconceptions about the lives of young lawyers, and I do not blame them. TV shows, movies, newspaper articles - these mediums highlight a different side of the legal profession. Often it does not portray the difficulties and pressures that come hand-to-hand with being a lawyer. When I was studying law at university, I sported many misconceptions about the profession myself. But once I started practising law, I quickly learned otherwise.

I think the following quote brilliantly captures how I feel about being a young lawyer:

"The long hours... the responsibility of telling people the correct answer...If I miss something there is a tremendous cost to being wrong".

Nothing sums it up better than that.