My ex-mother-in-law (of a sort) had a cat which she reluctantly had to give away because of her ill health. When the cat reached its new home, it sat on the stairs and hissed at its new owners for about a week. That is basically how I imagined I would be going into a new department: sitting hissing on the stairs until I am satisfied no one is going to do me any harm. It didn’t turn out like that, though, and I am astonished at how quickly you can slot into a new job.
I was speaking to a fellow trainee earlier in the week, who complained about feeling like the new girl at school all over again. I know I am in a slightly different position because I am already familiar with more people in the firm, but, aside from feeling a little subdued on the first few days, I haven’t felt like that at all.
I don’t feel any more lost in this department than I did in the last. In fact, given that I completed the LPC in 2006 and didn’t have land law as an elective, I am surprised at how much information I have managed to retain on the subject.
One of the solicitors here said that you are either a property lawyer or you’re not and she reckons she can tell easily whether or not a trainee is likely to be suited to property. For me, the important things are whether you can successfully photocopy really big bits of paper and fold up really big bits of paper. I’m still struggling with those two.
Some things don’t seem to change regardless of which area of law you work in. Most will involve dealing with some government department or other and this can result in a certain amount of frustration. This week, I contacted a local authority to ask them to pull out something from their archives. After not hearing back for a time, I called to see how they were getting on. They told me that the file wasn’t onsite, but it wasn’t offsite either, so they would have to make further enquiries to find out where it had gone. I struggled to imagine what the third location could possibly be, but couldn’t bear to ask and, unsurprisingly, the file never showed up in the end.
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Otherwise, the big change for me has been moving office. This department is situated in a building I have never worked in before and wasn’t looking forward to because it always seems a bit small and quiet. However, after almost four years of sitting on the dark side, I have been released into what is referred to as The Penthouse, and I now spend my afternoons drowning in hazy sunshine. I have told my room-mate that I am going to mention this to her every single day and I think she is okay with that. I might e-mail daily photographs over to my previous supervisor to show him what life can be like. I think he’ll be okay with that too.
Read Irene’s biography here. For the full reel of blogs, click here.