Life of Newly Qualified UK Lawyer

Tag: annual leave

  • The Night Before: Returning to Word After Annual Leave

    The Night Before: Returning to Word After Annual Leave

    The Night Before: Returning to Work After Annual Leave as a Solicitor

    There’s a special kind of Sunday Scaries that hits different when you’ve just had a week (or two, if you’re lucky) off. I find it hits hardest when you have been able to take the full two weeks off in one go. One minute you’re sipping cocktails, reading novels you’ll never admit to your colleagues, and pretending you’ve forgotten what an email is. The next… it’s 9pm, your suitcase is still on the floor, and your brain is running through all the horrors that Monday could bring.

    Sound familiar? Let’s break this down and let me furnish you with a few tricks to make the transition back to the office a little less soul-crushing, whether you’re in the legal field or not – I think it is fair to say this will strike true for most!

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    The Emotional Rollercoaster

    1. The “Inbox Dread” Stage

    You don’t even need to open Outlook to know. The unread count will be there, waiting. Like a digital monster crouched behind your login screen. And even though you had a perfectly lovely time away, you can’t help but wonder if half the profession has collapsed without you. Spoiler: it hasn’t. (Probably.)

    1. The Sudden Productivity Panic

    You’ve just remembered: that matter you swore you’d “pick up after holiday” is now after holiday. Cue lying awake at midnight, mentally drafting attendance notes, while your partner reminds you that whispering “land registry” in your sleep is not normal.

    1. The Existential Reflection

    Why am I even doing this? Maybe I should just move to a Greek island and open a beach bar? I was so much happier not checking emails for a week. (This phase usually lasts until about 11:30am Monday, when you remember you quite like getting paid.)

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    How to Survive the Night Before

    1.	Set a Gentle Landing

    Don’t roll into Monday with back-to-back deadlines. If you can, block out the first hour to just read through your emails and get your bearings. You’ll thank yourself later.

    2.	Unpack More Than the Suitcase

    Empty the mental suitcase too. Write down the three biggest tasks you know are waiting. Getting them out of your head makes them far less intimidating.

    3.	Inbox Triage

    Yes, there will be emails. No, you don’t have to reply to all 274 of them before lunch. Skim, delete, delegate, and prioritise. Remember: not everything that says “URGENT” is actually urgent.

    4.	Keep the Holiday Spirit Alive

    Bring a little of the holiday back with you. Coffee in your favourite mug, lunch outside if it’s not raining (…so, not often), or even setting a holiday photo as your background. It’s a small reminder you’re more than your billable hours.

    5.	Plan Something to Look Forward To

    Whether it’s dinner with a friend mid-week, a swim before work, or simply a nap worthy of a toddler — give yourself a mini “holiday” moment to soften the crash landing.

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    Final Thoughts

    Returning from annual leave as a solicitor can feel like running into a tidal wave of tasks, deadlines, and client demands. But with a little preparation (and a sense of humour), you can keep the Sunday Scaries from taking over. Remember: the inbox will always be full, the diary will always be busy, but your sanity is worth protecting.

    Besides, it’s only a few weeks until your next annual leave request, right?

    ⚖️ Solicitor by day | 🚢 Cruising the seas and navigating the law | Sharing legal tips & travel tales | 📲 Follow my journey on Instagram | Threads | TikTok | BlueSky |

  • The Day Before Annual Leave: A Solicitor’s Survival Guide

    The Day Before Annual Leave: A Solicitor’s Survival Guide

    The Day Before Annual Leave: A Solicitor’s Survival Guide

    There are few feelings more glorious than that “last day before holiday” buzz. You can almost smell the sunscreen, hear the clink of ice in a glass, and feel the warm breeze — until reality smacks you in the face. Because you’re not just you… you’re you the solicitor, or in my case – a private client solicitor. And there are those few clients that still think you should be at their call any time including when you are on annual leave. This just adds got the stress of the 24 hours before annual leave which is less “relaxed packing” and more “triage unit in a war zone”.

    Let’s go through the stages I experience in the 24 hours up to the big event!

    Stage 1. The Inbox Clearance Mission

    The mythical dream is to “get everything done” before you go. The reality? It’s 5:45pm, you’ve been replying to emails since 7am, and your inbox somehow now has more unread messages than it did this morning. You’ve just sent an “I’ll deal with this when I get back” holding reply… and instantly get an “URGENT – NEED THIS TODAY” email marked high importance.

    And yes, it’s from the client who ghosted you for three weeks. Naturally.

    At the end of the day, there is only so much you can do. So, I do what I can – send that holding email and leave it there. If it is something that cannot absolutely wait, then I will ask a colleague to keep things “ticking” over in my absence but I find that most of the time, these matters can wait for a week or two, especially during the summer months, when most other colleagues and court officials are also on leave.

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    Stage 2. The Pre-Holiday Panic Call

    Without fail, the day before you leave, someone will ring you at 4:59pm with:

    “I know you’re going away, but can you just quickly…?”

    No. No, I cannot just quickly. “Quickly” in legal time means anywhere between 45 minutes and a full working day. But instead, you’ll find yourself typing like a caffeinated court reporter, muttering under your breath about how “this will definitely be my last-minute task”. Spoiler: it won’t be.

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    Stage 3. The Hand-Over Dance

    Every solicitor knows the awkward joy of the handover note. It’s like passing on the baton in a relay race… except the baton is on fire, the track is made of Lego, and you’ve “just remembered” a crucial deadline halfway through writing it.

    The trick? Make it detailed enough so your colleague knows what’s going on, but vague enough so if things go wrong, it’s technically a “grey area”.

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    Stage 4. The Pre-Leave Guilt

    Somehow, you’ll start feeling guilty for going away, as if you’re personally betraying the legal profession or that colleague who you have passed some cases over too by daring to spend a week somewhere that isn’t your office or the land registry portal. You’ll catch yourself saying things like:

    “I’ll have my phone if you need me!”

    Don’t do this. We both know you’ll be sipping something fruity on a balcony while pretending to read The Times app.

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    Stage 5. The Final Office Sweep

    You know you’re about to be gone for more than a weekend when you start doing “the sweep”:

    •	Delete any mysterious sticky notes that might incriminate you.
•	Check your desk drawer for snacks that may evolve into new lifeforms.
•	Turn off your monitor like you’re locking the front door of Fort Knox.

    And yes, double-check the out-of-office email. You can’t risk last year’s blunder where you accidentally left it saying:

    “I’m on leave until 2019.”

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    Stage 6. The Moment of Liberation

    Finally… it’s time. Laptop shut. Lights off. One last “have a nice holiday!” from the team. You step outside, take a deep breath, and feel the sweet release. For the next week or two, your only deadlines involve SPF reapplication and booking dinner reservations.

    Until you get that one email that says:

    “Hope you’re having a great time — quick question…”

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    Moral of the story: The day before annual leave as a solicitor is a high-stakes, high-speed marathon. But that first cocktail on arrival? Worth. Every. Second.

    ⚖️ Solicitor by day | 🚢 Cruising the seas and navigating the law | Sharing legal tips & travel tales | 📲 Follow my journey on Instagram | Threads | TikTok | BlueSky |

  • Tips to deal with coming back to work after a holiday.

    For me, a holiday is great and I love to cut work ties, relax and forget about clients and everything sitting on my desk. However, about two days before I know my break is coming to an end, I start to get that feeling! The slight dread and fear of what lies on my desk and in my email. Returning back after a long break can feel daunting, especially if you have a lot of work to catch up on. Having done it a few times, here are some things I’ve picked up.

    1. Schedule a buffer day.

    If you can, try to schedule a buffer day before you officially return to work. To me, this is a day where no meetings or calls are scheduled. It is a day which I can use to ease in, look through post, review colleagues notes on files and start to review emails. I can start to compile a to do list, schedule my diary and organise my desk. Trust me, if you can put in a buffer day, do it!

    2. Check in with your team.

    During the first day back, check in with those who were looking after your files and other members of your team. This will help you to get up to speed on what’s been happening while you were away and to identify any urgent tasks that need your attention.

    3. Prioritise your tasks.

    Once you know what needs to be done, it’s important to prioritise your tasks. This will help you to focus on the most important things and to avoid getting overwhelmed. It will also help you identify which clients need that urgent call back and which can wait a little bit longer.

    4. Set realistic expectations.

    It’s important to set realistic expectations for yourself when you’re trying to get caught up on work after a holiday. Don’t try to do everything at once, or you’ll just end up feeling stressed and overwhelmed as well as making mistakes which you wouldn’t ordinarily make.

    5. Take breaks.

    Don’t be tempted to try to do everything at once and neglect coffee breaks or lunch. Believe me this does not help you, you end up not being able to concentrate, loosing focus and just not feeling great!

    6. Ask for help.

    If you’re feeling overwhelmed, don’t be afraid to ask for help from your team members or your manager. Don’t be a martyr! Get help, you will get to return the favour when they go on leave.

    Also, some side notes;

    • Use a to-do list to keep track of your tasks.
    • Set deadlines for yourself and stick to them.
    • Break down large tasks into smaller, more manageable ones.
    • Take advantage of technology to help you stay organised.
    • Don’t be afraid to delegate tasks to others.

  • Tips on preparing a handover before going on Annual Leave.

    Whether you are a bit of a control freak like myself or as laid back as they come, when it comes to that two weeks of annual leave in the summer, the feeling of dread can start as you begin to think about how to explain and handover cases and tasks to work colleagues to manage in your be to your own absence. However, never feel guilty about taking that well deserved break! Time off to recharge and have a complete break is essential for your health, both mentally and physically. The key is always going to be preparation before you leave and ensuring you set enough time aside to do this. Believe me it will be to your own benefit and will help your colleagues during your well earned break to deal with your clients and cases. Here are some tips that I have found useful!

    Plan and Communicate in Advance.

    The key to a successful annual leave is careful planning and effective communication. This is a bit obvious and I am sure you will have followed the procedures and steps your company has but make sure you check your company’s policy on requesting time off and make your request well in advance. This allows your team and supervisors to prepare and adjust workloads accordingly. Be sure to provide ample notice, especially if your absence might coincide with critical deadlines or important meetings.

    Prioritise and Delegate Tasks.

    Take the time before your leave to assess your current workload and identify tasks that need immediate attention. Prioritise your responsibilities and consider delegating non-essential or routine tasks to trusted colleagues that you know will do the things and do them well so you do not have to worry about them. By distributing the workload, you ensure that nothing falls through the cracks while you’re away and prevent a backlog of work upon your return.

    Create a Detailed Handover Document.

    To provide clarity to your colleagues who will be covering for you during your absence, create a detailed handover document. Include vital information such as ongoing projects, important contacts, deadlines, and any specific instructions or guidelines. Make sure it’s easily accessible and clearly organised, so your colleagues can quickly refer to it if needed.

    Set Up Automated Responses.

    Inform your colleagues and clients about your upcoming leave by setting up automated email responses. Clearly state the dates you will be away and provide alternative points of contact for urgent matters. This helps manage expectations and ensures that crucial communications are addressed promptly, even in your absence. If you can contact some of your clients before hand, especially those who you know require a bit of “extra” attention – it will save your colleagues any issues and you when you come back to pick up the cases again.

    Clear Your Desk and Organise Your Workspace.

    Before heading out on vacation, declutter your workspace and organise your files. This helps your colleagues locate important documents easily, preventing unnecessary delays. Dispose of any perishable items and remove items that may obstruct or hinder others’ workflow. A clean and tidy workspace also provides a sense of order and calm when you return.

    Ultimately, the separation you do before you go will ensure a smooth handover and proactive communication go a long way in ensuring a seamless transition, reducing stress, and allowing you to fully recharge during your time off. Remember, a well-prepared absence is a win-win situation for you, your colleagues and your clients!