I've been considering applying for postgrad law over the past year-ish, so whenever you post asks I'm here sitting up straight and sliding my glasses right up my nose to read the answers. What just struck me to ask was, I feel like law is portrayed as super stressful (incl. by a couple of lawyers I was a receptionist for), do you think it is? Being a legal receptionist was definitely the most stressed I've ever been in my life LOL.
I think the whole ‘law is super stressful’ thing is sort of like how Cam students love to complain about being busy – it’s partially true and partially an exaggeration/stereotype that everyone likes to play into.
I think transactional seats especially tend to be a bit stressful because things do just crop out of nowhere with strict deadlines (non-transactional seats can also definitely be stressful, but they tend to be more predictable). The other thing is that often the law team often gets given documents at the end of the client’s day and need to have them ready for a meeting in the morning…which means late nights. And lots of late nights in a row make people more susceptible to stress.
Honestly, I think a lot of it has to do with the firm’s, your department’s, and your principal’s attitude. Some firms (stereotypically the American ones here in London) fully embrace the intense-vibe and that’s part of their ethos. Some depts (stereotypically PE depts) are more into that vibe. And then within depts, different principals have different vibes – my principal is really chill, he likes nature, he’s really against ‘face time’ culture where you have to be in the office for hours on end. So even though my dept is maybe more on the stressful end, my principal is really chill and I know he won’t add on any unnecessary stress.
So honestly, is it the chillest job ever where you’re going to happily work 9-5 every day? Definitely not. But its reputation is also partially exaggerated and people like to play up to that. The other thing is that it really does vary based on the type of law you’re in – there are certainly areas that are chill, even within corporate law (*employment*).
