I am 26, and I have spent the last 18 months working at a law firm, after joining when my previous firm merged with them. I was a trainee solicitor before the merger and was taken on on that basis.
When I joined I was told that due to the merger, the firm would sign off on my previous six months’ of work experience. I have worked for the last eighteen months and passed my SQE exams on the basis that I would be signed off this week and I would be joining the roll.
They have now, in my last week of my training contract, said that they won’t actually be signing off on this work as they didn’t physically see me do it. They have the files, they can see the work, but because they didn’t see me do it they won’t do it.
That means that I will not be qualifying as a solicitor this week, and that I have wasted the last two years of my life. I am six months short on work experience. They won’t allow me to carry on.
I have another job lined up out of the law, so I am not overly concerned in the immediate aftermath of this, but I am very upset that all my hard work has come to nothing.
The partners of the firm have also started being incredibly rude to me after I handed in my notice. I was informed that there was no job for me at the firm, two months before the end of my contract. This came after sixteen months of flawless appraisals from all of my supervisors. Everyone I had come into contact with was under the impression I’d be getting a job in a certain team. This team was banking on me joining. They were not told I wouldn’t be working for them until the day I handed my notice in.
I feel so, so gutted. Even though everyone I have worked with has said this isn’t on me, I feel like it’s a reflection on me. There have been other things, like the other trainees were paid differently to me, I have been studying outside of work while they got paid study days etc.
I just want to let loose in my exit interview now. It’s really sunk in that I’ve been treated badly and exploited by the firm, and I have nothing to show for it now. Literally nothing. I’m hoping they’ll be signing off on my 18 months with them, but there is no indication of this at the moment.
Do I just go balls to the wall and let loose on how I feel? I know it could sever ties with the firm, but I don’t really care. I don’t want to work for them again and I feel like someone needs to be aware of how people are treated.