Life of Newly Qualified UK Lawyer

Tag: legal blog

  • 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 |

  • What’s It Really Like Being a Solicitor in Northern Ireland?

    What’s It Really Like Being a Solicitor in Northern Ireland?

    Being a solicitor in Northern Ireland isn’t just a job—it’s an experience shaped by unique cultural, professional, and economic dynamics. Whether you’re a trainee just starting out or years into the game, you might have already noticed that the legal landscape here has its fair share of quirks, perks, and challenges.

    But have you ever taken a step back and really thought about what sets it apart?

    The Good Bits (and There Are Plenty)

    A Tight-Knit Legal Community

    Northern Ireland’s legal scene is relatively small, and that can be a real advantage. You’re more than just a number here—colleagues, counsel, and even judges tend to become familiar over time. This kind of close-knit environment can make building relationships, trust, and a professional reputation feel more achievable.

    Have you ever benefited from the closeness of the profession here—or found it a bit too tight for comfort?

    Diverse Work Early On

    Unlike in some larger jurisdictions, junior solicitors in Northern Ireland often gain broad exposure across different practice areas. In a single week, you might touch on conveyancing, wills, litigation, and family matters. It’s a crash course in versatility. This off course will depend on what firm you are training with. Some firms may not venture much into the realms of litigation or criminal law for instance.

    What would you do if you were thrown into a case well outside your comfort zone—embrace the challenge or panic first, learn later?

    Work-Life Balance Potential

    Shorter commutes, lower living costs, and less of the “always-on” culture of bigger cities can make balancing work and life more manageable here—if you’re in the right firm.

    How do you feel about your current balance? Could you imagine trading some prestige for more peace of mind?

    And Then, the Challenges…

    A Competitive, Strained Market

    Let’s not sugar-coat it—legal aid cuts, fee pressure, and an oversupply of graduates make the market tough. Smaller firms in particular can feel the pinch.

    What would you do if your firm began cutting back or restructuring? Are you prepared—or just hoping for the best?

    Mental Load and Burnout

    Solicitors in Northern Ireland face the same long hours, high expectations, and emotionally draining cases as elsewhere—but often with fewer resources. While support is improving, talking about burnout still feels taboo in many circles.

    How do you deal with the emotional toll of the job? Is there enough space to talk honestly about wellbeing in your workplace?

    So… Is It Worth It?

    The answer will differ for everyone. Some days, the work is meaningful, the pace rewarding, and the people around you make it all worthwhile. Other days? Well, we all know how those go.

    If you could go back to day one of your legal career—would you still choose this path? Or has it made you rethink what you really want from your work and life?

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

  • 🎩 The Conveyancer’s Survival Guide: Dealing with the Dreaded Difficult Opponent 🎩

    🎩 The Conveyancer’s Survival Guide: Dealing with the Dreaded Difficult Opponent 🎩

    Ah, conveyancing — the noble dance of property transactions. A world that involved land registry, client hand-holding, and the eternal wait for the missing management pack or forgotten searches! (I am off course not entirely innocent in this, but for the purposes of writing this post, lets assume I am perfect!)

    But nothing — and I mean nothing — tests the patience of a conveyancing solicitor quite like dealing with that solicitor on the other side. You know the one. They treat email replies like fine wine (must mature for 5-7 working days), CC their entire firm in every correspondence (OK a bit of an exaggeration), and will die on the hill of a missing “the” in the contract.

    So grab your de-caff tea, straighten your tie (or hoodie, no judgment), and let’s dive into the delightfully awkward ballet of dealing with difficult counterparts in conveyancing.

    🏠 The Curious Case of the Unresponsive Solicitor

    Let’s start with the classic: The Phantom. They vanish for days, only to return with a one-line email asking for a document you sent last Tuesday—twice.

    Survival Tip:

    Forward the original email with attachments and a cheery note like:

    “Just in case the document got lost in the property dimension 😊”

    Bonus points if you reference Mercury being in retrograde.

    📞 The Over-Talker

    These folks call instead of emailing. A lot. They begin with the weather, detour through Brexit (in the good old days, more likely this hot weather at the moment in the UK), and eventually meander their way to asking if the searches are back.

    Survival Tip:

    Politely steer the conversation like a canal boat captain. Try:

    “Lovely to catch up! Let’s pop it in writing so we’ve got a clear trail for both clients. I’ll follow up now.”

    Then swiftly hang up and run for caffeine.

    ⚖️ The Drama Queen (or King)

    They threaten to collapse the deal over something very simple and fixable with the appropriate indemnity insurance policy. They use phrases like “wholly unacceptable” and “deeply concerning” about something which in the grand scheme of things should not even being discussed by solicitors.

    Survival Tip:

    Channel your inner yoga instructor. Breathe in calm, breathe out sarcasm. Reply factually, not emotionally.

    And if it gets too much, remember: the delete button is only symbolic for your feelings. Not legally binding.

    💌 The Passive-Aggressive Emailer

    You’ll spot them by their signature move:

    “As previously stated…”

    Or worse, the triple full stop…

    Survival Tip:

    Match their tone? No. Rise above it, but with flair.

    Try:

    “Thanks for your email. Just to confirm, we’re on the same page here…” or gently remind them we are all working towards the same goal – sale/purchase of a house that everyone wants to complete.

    Sprinkle in a smiley face if you’re feeling spicy. 😊

    😎 Top Tips for Navigating the Conveyancing Jungle

    1. Keep Records Like a Victorian Archivist – Every email, every call. You never know when you’ll need to play the “well actually…” card.
    2. Use Templates – The best armour is a good standard reply. Saves time and emotional energy. I also use an app called TextExpander but there are alternatives – saves a huge amount of time for phrases, emails or text you use often.
    3. Celebrate Small Wins – Completion statement balanced? Reward yourself with a biscuit.
    4. Practice Legal Mindfulness – Repeat after me: “It’s just a house. It’s just a house. It’s just a house…”
    5. Vent (Responsibly) – Group chat rants are essential. Just don’t accidentally reply all. Talk to the legal secretaries, have a fellow colleague whom you can trust and vent too.

    🏁 Final Thoughts

    Working with a difficult solicitor is part of the great UK conveyancing experience. Like rain in July or overcooked tea—annoying, inevitable, and vaguely comforting in its predictability.

    So next time you find yourself staring at an email that reads like a Jane Austen rejection letter, just smile. Remember: You’re the reasonable one. The calm, capable, caffeine-fuelled legal wizard bringing people closer to their dream home—despite the chaos.

    Now go forth and complete! 🏡

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