27 April 2006
Twiddling...
One of the reasons for setting up this blog was to give me a place to vent, whinge, and whine about work (more specifically the long hours and stress!). But, for the last month or so I haven't been busy at the office...shock horror - a lawyer who isnt busy!
I should back track and do some explaining here.
Im currently finishing off my firm's "graduate program" (our firm has a 3 x 6month rotation system for all its graduates). About two months ago I finished my second rotation which was in our corporate group. Loved the work, but unluckily for me, it was one of the busiest quarters we've ever had - it sapped evey ounce of life out of me. I worked 13 days straight at one stage. My longest working week while I was there was an 80 hour week. I know this may sound pretty tame compared to what some "hardcore" lawyers work (how scary is that statement), but these sort of hours are overkill for a graduate I think (plus we dont get paid enough to put that sort of hard slog in!)
Anyway, the pace in my new group is quite leisurely, to say the least. When I first started here it was great: got to leave at a reasonable hour, have lunch breaks, had enough energy to go out for a drink on Friday nights...it was quite great really, I was on a quasi holiday!
But now, everything is REALLY slow - there's not a lot of work coming in, and even when there is stuff to do, the lawyers arent all that into delegating. And I dont even like the practice area. I've got the trifecta happening: stagnating work flow, no delegation, and no interest.
So I'm getting super bored. And de-motivated. Bored and de-motivated is such a bad combination.
Plus its worse because in the space of a couple of months I've gone from crazy busy to twiddling thumbs. Well maybe not that bad, I've had bits and pieces of work to do, to keep me "looking" busy, but not a great deal of billable, and we know that lawyers live and die by the billable unit. Unfortunately, this is going to kill my budget figures : (
So for the sake of my sanity Ive decided that Im going to try bail before my time is up, and head back to the "land of plenty". It got to the point today where I was considering running upstairs to my old partner, getting on my knees and pleading "take me back!".
But I decided that would probably not be a good look.
I think I'll call him tomorrow.
I should back track and do some explaining here.
Im currently finishing off my firm's "graduate program" (our firm has a 3 x 6month rotation system for all its graduates). About two months ago I finished my second rotation which was in our corporate group. Loved the work, but unluckily for me, it was one of the busiest quarters we've ever had - it sapped evey ounce of life out of me. I worked 13 days straight at one stage. My longest working week while I was there was an 80 hour week. I know this may sound pretty tame compared to what some "hardcore" lawyers work (how scary is that statement), but these sort of hours are overkill for a graduate I think (plus we dont get paid enough to put that sort of hard slog in!)
Anyway, the pace in my new group is quite leisurely, to say the least. When I first started here it was great: got to leave at a reasonable hour, have lunch breaks, had enough energy to go out for a drink on Friday nights...it was quite great really, I was on a quasi holiday!
But now, everything is REALLY slow - there's not a lot of work coming in, and even when there is stuff to do, the lawyers arent all that into delegating. And I dont even like the practice area. I've got the trifecta happening: stagnating work flow, no delegation, and no interest.
So I'm getting super bored. And de-motivated. Bored and de-motivated is such a bad combination.
Plus its worse because in the space of a couple of months I've gone from crazy busy to twiddling thumbs. Well maybe not that bad, I've had bits and pieces of work to do, to keep me "looking" busy, but not a great deal of billable, and we know that lawyers live and die by the billable unit. Unfortunately, this is going to kill my budget figures : (
So for the sake of my sanity Ive decided that Im going to try bail before my time is up, and head back to the "land of plenty". It got to the point today where I was considering running upstairs to my old partner, getting on my knees and pleading "take me back!".
But I decided that would probably not be a good look.
I think I'll call him tomorrow.
09 April 2006
Hello cyberworld!
Ok, yes - this is another lawyer blog - or "blawg" as some like to call them.
I picked "Carte Blanche" as the title for my place in cyberspace for a couple of reasons:
1 When I was in one of my first law school lectures, one of my lecturers used the term "carte blanche". One of my (then new) friends misheard her and thought she said "cut blush". I think he may have even written it in his notes with the less than conventional spelling. We found it hilarious at the time.
2 The legal definition: "carte blanche (f), n. Blank paper given to person to write his own terms on; full discretionary power"(1). When law students start their studies, and to a slightly lesser degree, when they complete their studies, they have a "carte blanche" - they have a clean slate and have the ability to be anything they want to be, go anywhere they want to go, and do anything they want to do (within reason!) - the "world is their oyster" - one of my old study buddies from my Accounting major used to routinely tell me this whenever I used to have a whinge about my law degree.
When law students become lawyers, particularly if they are working at a large law firm, often their carte is not as blanche and they don't have as much "discretionary power" over where they are going. I don't think this is necessarily a conscious thing. And Im not saying that this happens to everyone. But it can.
How serious does that sound!
Anyway, I'm hoping this blog will help me vent any work angst (as well as anything good that happens!) and help me keep track of my, hopefully fabulous, career - sometimes those long days just become one big blur!
(1) Fowler HW, "Fowler's Concise English Dictionary", Wordsworth Editions, Hertfordshire, 1989
Lawyers love footnotes. Apologies if the formatting of this footnote is not up to scratch. I've been out of uni for about 3 years now and don't have much use for footnotes at work. I would have used my trusty Butterworths Student's Legal Dictionary for the definition, but it's at the office...
I picked "Carte Blanche" as the title for my place in cyberspace for a couple of reasons:
1 When I was in one of my first law school lectures, one of my lecturers used the term "carte blanche". One of my (then new) friends misheard her and thought she said "cut blush". I think he may have even written it in his notes with the less than conventional spelling. We found it hilarious at the time.
2 The legal definition: "carte blanche (f), n. Blank paper given to person to write his own terms on; full discretionary power"(1). When law students start their studies, and to a slightly lesser degree, when they complete their studies, they have a "carte blanche" - they have a clean slate and have the ability to be anything they want to be, go anywhere they want to go, and do anything they want to do (within reason!) - the "world is their oyster" - one of my old study buddies from my Accounting major used to routinely tell me this whenever I used to have a whinge about my law degree.
When law students become lawyers, particularly if they are working at a large law firm, often their carte is not as blanche and they don't have as much "discretionary power" over where they are going. I don't think this is necessarily a conscious thing. And Im not saying that this happens to everyone. But it can.
How serious does that sound!
Anyway, I'm hoping this blog will help me vent any work angst (as well as anything good that happens!) and help me keep track of my, hopefully fabulous, career - sometimes those long days just become one big blur!
(1) Fowler HW, "Fowler's Concise English Dictionary", Wordsworth Editions, Hertfordshire, 1989
Lawyers love footnotes. Apologies if the formatting of this footnote is not up to scratch. I've been out of uni for about 3 years now and don't have much use for footnotes at work. I would have used my trusty Butterworths Student's Legal Dictionary for the definition, but it's at the office...
