To ask if there’s any lawyers out there and if I will lose my job

[Thisiis]

I’m just exhausted. I almost meet the financial target. Usually 20k off it which is nothing compared with the 350k I’m supposed to bill. But since juggling things with a toddler, drop off etc illness I just can’t keep up well. I just about get to the end of the week.

I can’t not work as I’m a lone parent. I also sent do part time and I’m not trained in anything else especially for the pay. I’m so stressed and sad and constantly feel I’m not enough in any area of life.

It's not likely you'll get your target reduced due to having a child. How far off are you, or will you be, do you think?

Is this a role where you're billing hours and physically can't hit the hours target due to your other commitments, or is it not hours based but you're not performing the role well enough?

Edit to add that you have my sympathy - it can be really tough trying to hit targets like that when you have a young family and limited support.

@Thisiis I'm a solicitor and on mat leave with my first baby. I really sympathise, I had a horrible pregnancy and really thought I'd get fired. People who work in jobs that don't have financial goals don't get it. My DHkept telling me to take time off sick when I was super sick and I kept telling him I can't. Yes, if I dropped dead someone would cover. But if it's just illness, someone would cover but then I'd also lose my job. The stress is immense.

There are loads of jobs in law though (in big cities). If things aren't going well, consider moving and starting over or go in house. Hours will still be long in house but there's no target and usually still better than law firms.

Honestly I would go in house asap, it won't get any better. Unless you can afford to pay someone to take up the slack eg a nanny/housekeeper

My dh did it a couple of years ago after years of misery and stress, he's like a new man, so relaxed and happy. I do appreciate it's easier said than done and you will take a pay cut, but your life will be so much better.

The pressure that’s put on solicitors in my firm to meet targets is horrendous. It’s like the mafia every time the bosses do a monthly review. One solicitor recorded his meeting with them to use as evidence of harassment at one point (before he gave up and left due to the stress).

I have specialised in legal private practice recruitment. My advice

• look at a smaller firm or a strong national with a great flexible working culture. They really do exist
• look in house but accept some in house have similar demands. As with practice it’s about the in house team you join.
• Accept you can’t have it all. In order to achieve a better balance you may need to accept lower pay. It really depends on your current earnings vs PQE.

Honestly, there are law firms and law firms. Some are so much better in terms of demands/flex than others. Speak to a recruiter who really understands the market - a good one can really help! Good luck!

Why aren’t you meeting it? Is it because you don’t have enough work, in which case are you responsible for generating your own or is work allocated to you? Or are you doing the work but not time recording properly? I only ask because I was shit at time recording and could completely forget what time I started something and lose big chunks of the day.

Echo what others have said really. Time recording made me so miserable. I moved in house and it is so much more relaxed in that sense. If you can do in house I would recommend it while having small children.

I left somewhere after 6 months when they put the billing targets up which would mean I had to bill for 8 hours a day. Impossible with all the admin and having to leave dead on 5pm.

Went in-house which was so much better. Law firms are mostly horrible toxic pressurising environments to work in, particularly when you are juggling responsibilities for a young child and exhausted. I felt like I was in a Victorian mill having to churn out legal documents. Horrible. And you are only working to make already rich people much richer. Fuck that.