To think that a solicitor is not a key worker?

[Sandiepatterson]

Grrr, three sets of parents at our school are solicitors. Not family lawyers dealing with courts but plain old private client wills and trust lawyers. They most definitely could WFH but no, they've ALL sent their kids to school.
AIBU to think they are being unreasonable?

I’m over the bitter phase , really
Seeing what Covid is like (fucking awful) I’m relieved to be home and safe , relieved my kids are home
We are making adjustments so I can work and homeschool , I’m knackered but resigned

I’m truly grateful if the genuine key workers who are working in at risk environment , I’m not saying that to be a virtue signalling wanker
I genuinely am . So many people are risking so much to keep things going
I feel guilty all the time

But the professional services and sahp who send their kids in because they can , because they can exploit a loophole are in my opinion shady as fuck .

Nothing will ever persuade me that a Soliciter needs the same support as a doctor , nurse , teacher , bin man , bus driver , supermarket delivery driver
Nothing

And there are some major class and gender issues coming up too

Everyone is a keyworker in that no one can down tools for the foreseeable in order to devote oneself to homeschooling.

Jobs are continuing as normal.

Parents without school places are having to double job, which, in some cases, it’s totally unmanageable.

I don’t blame anyone for exploiting the ‘key worker’ definition to get a school place, but this arbitrary distinction between key and non key is both ridiculous and discriminatory and we shouldn’t be putting up with it.

Nothing will ever persuade me that a Soliciter needs the same support as a doctor , nurse , teacher , bin man , bus driver , supermarket delivery driver

But do you know anything about what some solicitors jobs actually entail?

If you are representing someone in a court case remotely, can you really have a five year old in the room while you do it?

If you are helping someone in a nursing home draft a will, how do you do that with small children to look after?

@Arnoldthecat

Everyone is a key worker now as apparently not only does the state aka the taxpayer have to feed your child but it also has to provide childcare facilities (schooling) so that mummy and daddy can continue to coin it in working whilst exporting child care bills to the state. Thats the long and short of it in many cases,pure greed.

Dont let anyone kid you,its dog eat dog. Always has been,always will be.

Those people "coining it in" as solicitors are tax payers too. Whilst I haven't had need to use "key worker" status, I can see how colleagues have.

For the record yes I am a solicitor and have done well and don't apologise for it. I haven't had anything handed to me other than the free education I received in a not so great state school having come from a working class background.

On a more general note, as other have said it's pretty sad people are attacking eachother based on their own prejudices as opposed to actual knowledge of the industries they're taking about.

But do you know anything about what some solicitors jobs actually entail?

Make the same adjustments that everyone else does
Make sacrifices , be flexible , work remotely , use technology

Why are some people OK to do this and some not ?
We will be in this shit forever at this rate , seriously

Make sacrifices , be flexible , work remotely , use technology

Did you actually read the examples I gave?

You can do all those things and still not be able to do your job with small children around.

How would you address my examples?

I saw your examples and have zero desire to get into a vitriolic spat with you, believe it or not

But the brutal facts are millions of people are managing to have a meetings with clients and legal meetings from home . Admittedly I can see if you are a single parent it’s more challenging
But people legally use childcare
People can
Manage their work with their partners
People can share with the client that they are home and apologise for noise

I saw your examples and have zero desire to get into a vitriolic spat with you, believe it or not

Who’s looking for a vitriolic spat?

I’m asking you if you think you can represent someone in a court case with a five year old in the room? Or travel to nursing homes with children in tow?

You can’t actually answer that, can you?

As for partners, they may be non existent, be in a similar position, work out of home all day, be disabled and unable to care, etc, etc.

Childcare is pretty well impossible to get hold of in some areas.

I have no skin in this game, btw, I’m not a solicitor.

People can share with the client that they are home and apologise for noise

I don’t think this cuts it in a court hearing, do you?

Or works when you bundle the kids out of the car to visit a housebound client who has no access to tech?

This thread is amusing me because op is taking on solicitors in a battle about key worker spaces - solicitors are trained to win arguments so good luck op.

But YABU

This is rubbish. I'm a solicitor and I am happily taking a keyworker space at school for my DS. I specialise in child protection. The content of what I'm listening to, speaking, viewing on my screen should not be viewed or heard by a 4 year old unless I want to cause some serious damage! Conducting a court hearing with a parent crying in the background at the thought of their newborn baby being adopted and never seen again all whilst 4 year old DD screams in the background "Alexa play baby shark" for the 10000 time will not go down well! Neither will discussing rape, FGM, forced marriages, murder etc with a 4 year old running around! Our work has gone through the roof during lockdown - people don't simply stop abusing their kids because the country is in lockdown. Who will do the work if I'm too busy homeschooling abs responding to constant snack requests and pestering from a reception age child? Try to tell me that's not critical! These threads need to stop - so many people talking about things they have no knowledge of!

Yes I'm sure people paying ridiculous amounts of money per hour and are likely dealing with something shit like a relative's death would just be delighted to hear children squawking in the background if they call.

These threads need to stop - so many people talking about things they have no knowledge of!

Exactly

I've heard solicitors dealing with property conveyancing are snowed under at the moment

That’s true, but they aren’t critical workers - they aren’t covered by the Law Society’s guidance.

That’s why the OP’s post is so stupid. There’s very specific guidance from the Law Society about which legal practitioners count as critical workers, and it’s a relatively small percentage of them. Solicitors as a whole haven’t been given a blanket critical worker inclusion.

keyworkersarepeopletoo Well said and my utmost admiration to you. Child protection work I did as a trainee has stayed with me over 20 years later. I bet your neighbours and other school mums don’t know what you do exactly either.

Thanks @Dixiechickonhols. They definitely don't know what I do and that's why these threads annoy me so much because there are so assumptions and judgements being made

I am a solicitor and I deal with Wills and Probate.

I have not taken a key worker place for my DC because I am able to deal with my work in the evenings and weekends. It isn't ideal but I can work around homeschooling etc.

I do not understand those who can work flexibly taking a KW space just because they don't want to have to homeschool and then work but I do agree that those dealing with contentious (court) matters absolutely can't work with children around.

I am fortunate though that my employer is understanding and is not forcing anyone to take KW places.

Fwiw I am busier than ever. So far this year our enquiries for Wills are up 30% and we are having to deal with far more probate matters than usual which is a struggle as banks and other companies are taking a long time to respond to us plus the probate registry is taking more than 3 times their usual lead time to process applications.

People saying just apologise for interruption have clearly never had to deal with a distressed person and build rapport in order to take instructions and advise. Or do advocacy in a court or tribunal. The courts are snowed under - everything stop while a 4 year old interrupts is not in line with smooth running of justice. Hence Govt and Law Society being clear some are keyworkers. Not people trying it on officially recognised keyworkers.
People reporting delays to work the whole system courts, land registry, probate registry etc are subject to huge covid related delays.

@Sandiepatterson

Grrr, three sets of parents at our school are solicitors. Not family lawyers dealing with courts but plain old private client wills and trust lawyers. They most definitely could WFH but no, they've ALL sent their kids to school. AIBU to think they are being unreasonable?

Dh is a private Clive solicitor and specialises in wills and probate amongst other areas of this part of law.

Wills were pretty key in lockdown 1 for a lot of people. Dh attended bedside (death bed) signings, wills for front line nhs workers, etc.
He has dealt with probate for a lot of people since March from all walks of lie]fe. Probate needs sorting after a death and can't just be left for months really.

Some of these things cannot take place from home and need face to face contact. He has to have some highly sensitive conversations over the phone.

They are certainly key workers, that's for sure. Whether they could work from home with a child around is dependent on the clients they are dealing with at the time. It's likely they cannot do all of their work from home, that's certain. Dh is currently working from home 3 days a week. However the other two days he needs to be in the office of having client meetings there or elsewhere, often in hospitals, hospices or in people's gardens.

Whilst we don't have a school aged child so it doesn't affect us, I can see why they may need to have some time without a child present in order to deal with these essential matters.

It may be that you don't necessarily understand the nature of their job that makes you think they shouldn't be key workers.

The fact that you call is 'plain old private client' tells me you have no real understanding of the job tbh.

Fwiw none of dh's department have children at school and are juggling wfh and work in the office with childcare alongside their partners.
I do know of one other solicitor in this specialism who's child is in school part time, 2 days a week, to allow them to go into the office to deal with difficult face to face client meetings and urgent will and probate matters, including contentious probate issues,

death bed wills are reasonably rare

Actually they aren't at all.
Dh has done several in recent months. Covid means he has done even more than normal. But even before covid they weren't actually a rarity.

I'm a wills solicitor and am keeping my primary school aged child at home with me while WFH.

However not all clients have it want to do meetings remotely and therefore I will be sending my child to school one day next week.

It's a one off, I am not taking up a place. I think this is justifiable.

@HermannlovesPauline

This thread is amusing me because op is taking on solicitors in a battle about key worker spaces - solicitors are trained to win arguments so good luck op.

But YABU

Ha! Next episode .... Barristers! YABU.

The example dixie cite are totally fair and reasonable , and were not what I believe OP was discussing
No one thinks that a harrowing family law consultation should occur in this way

And some other arguments posted have been successfully navigated by the private sector

And yes . Our kids are on screens all day and their homeschooling is suffering . That’s the brutal reality
And we do have calls interrupted , and everyone gets it . We are all in the same boat

My concern is that if people can’t be flexible , or accept some slipping of standards we are going to be in the same situation come 12 months

And to be clear it’s not that people
Resent key workers
Au contraire
It’s that people resent a handful of people taking Advantage of a hastily written definition that might need refreshing as we enter into month 10 .....

And fully acknowledge that some scenarios people have shared are critical , totally

Lots of solicitors work can be done at home though...most will work is not death bed...and is computer/phone. I know many that wfh on first lock down who are now choosing or being made to go to the office...