1 September 2009
Ask Grad Girl: Soon2BWeeGrad
There has been a slight delay in the Ask Grad Girl segment, mainly due to the fact that no one has been asking her anything!
If there is anything that you would like to know about what it’s like to be a law graduate at a top tier firm, don’t be afraid to email us (greengrads dot australia at gee mail dot com) or hit us up on Facebook and Twitter.
(Don’t stress if you can’t think of an awesome cheesy-corney alias, we will help you come up with something!).
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Hi Grad Girl,
What happens when you stuff up at work? Are the big firms as crazy hardcore as they sometimes come across? Lets say you’ve made some complete stuff up, and your supervisor has to do a whole bunch of extra work to avoid a major crisis for the client. What happens to the wee graduate in those circumstances?
Soon2BWeeGrad.
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Dear Soon2BWeeGrad
Judging by your letter, I’d say you have just the right amount of hyper-neurosis required to be a great graduate (and eventually, a great lawyer) at a top-tier corporate law firm. And my “just the right amount”, I of course mean “way too much than a normal, average, happy person”.
Here’s the truth: generally, yes, the Big Firms are pretty much as hardcore as they come across as. If the issues in your questions really concern you, I honestly suggest that you think about working in government, or going to a wee small firm, or moving to a commune to grow organic vegetables.
But if you’re totally ready for working in a Big Firm…. let’s look at your real question: what happens when you stuff up at work?
I appreciate that you said “when you stuff up”, not “if”.
Because, as the zygotes we are, yep, we know jack; and nope, none of the extensive training we have done at law school and will do throughout our career actually prepares you for working. The only way we actually learn is by effing up. I personally have learned a lot this year!
I suppose the answer really depends on the people you’re working with. The main thing to remember is thatthe people giving you the work should generally expect you to eff it up, and should have already calculated “fixing the grad’s mess” into their budget. I bet there’s a billing code for that, actually. If not, there should be one.
The other thing to remember is that (partly/hopefully because of the above), the work you get probably won’t cause an actual huge crisis. There are of course the horror story of the baby lawyer who missed the TOTALLY KEY CLAUSE when reviewing that TOTALLY KEY DOCUMENT in a due diligence that caused X Pty Ltd billions, but meh, I think they way they look at it is that the partner should have checked it, and they’re responsible.
The partner is, I suppose, like the insurance company that charges abnoxious premiums year after year, knowing they one day will have to pay out for the freak accident that wipes out half the state. The firm/partners will pay you a pittance compared with what clients pay for your work so whatever mess you may cause will probably be recovered already.
So the bottom line is that you must just accept that you are completely crap. Because you then don’t need to think you’re completely perfect and don’t need to worry about having to be so. You just keep doing what you’re doing and eventually may just enjoy coming in and doing 13 hour days, 6 days a week to check off numbers and filing stuff or do research on a point of law that does not, will not and never will exist, knowing you may never see the thawing of the the “pay freeze”.
You know you love it.
xoxo
GradGirl
PS: is it just me or have my advices gotten progressively more depressing since I started? I need a fricking holiday.
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