Anyone there?

I would like to hear from former employees within the legal profession who have walked away from the 9 - 5 grind.

I would like to know how, when, why, where, and how much?

Quote from The Dude from the film of The Big Lebowski:-

"Is this a work day, I hadn't noticed."

That's all.


EDIT - NOT JUST LEGAL - I WOULD LIKE TO HEAR FROM ANYONE WHO HAS ESCAPED THE OFFICE GRIND

Rant of the day

Could someone please tell me what is the point of Law Fairs.

Given that there are not enough law jobs to go around in the first place what is the point of law firms going to law fairs and pretending that everything is great. Who organises these law fairs? The universities? Law schools?

I see hoards of twenty year olds carrying posh bags with well known big law firm logos on? What is the point of this when the market is saturated and there are no bloody jobs to go around? And how as a lawyer do you stand at your table/stand/etc and pretend that...........well just pretend!

For a moment I thought about standing outside and giving these students and hard dose of reality. But I didn't. They probably wouldn't have even listened. And why would they? If these students see the biggest and well known law firms at this law fair wouldn't they be entitled to assume that their services would be in demand as a Lawyer?

That's all.

Hope

I have to admit that I am not in a very good place at the moment mentally and emotionally. I have so many hopes and dreams. Before I can get to my dreams I have to get back on the road to my destination. I need to re-start the journey.

Another door was closed to me today for work. I am sick of recruitment agencies, sick of temping. I need some stability. I need a job so I can enjoy my journey to my dreams. At the moment I feel that I am existing and not living. I will admit to being secretly envious of people who have found their niche in the working world, have steady decent paying jobs with prospects. Whats wrong with me? Why does it always seem like a struggle?

I am really worried for the future. The longer I am out of work the more difficult it is going to be to get back into work. These issues are beyond my control. I am doing everything I can and more to find work.

Update

I have signed on for unemployment. Its not much. £60 quid a week.

I did apply for some non legal temping work just to get out of the house and for a bit of pocket money. I didn't get anywhere with this. Hmmm strange.

The Bank of England has recently made a cut to interest rates of 2%. So this will mean that we will mean that we are a few hundred quid a month better off as the mortgage payment will be reduced. This plus the dole money will give us approx £400.00 per month extra.

I am looking at 2 job possibilities. One is due to start in December. The other will start in January 2009. They are both locum jobs. Perhaps they will both come off or none of them will come off. Also DH needs someone to help him out with his caseload as one of his staff is leaving at Christmas. I have offered my services as a locum. Not a great move to work with your husband but it will only be short term until he finds a permanent replacement. DH has said that if he doesn't find someone on a permanent basis by Christmas then I can go in and help him out for a few months or so. Actually I quite fancy doing this for a while if I can. DH has the luxury of working in town and his commute is a 2 minute walk and he comes home for lunch every day. I am so jealous of this. So it would be nice to work in town again.

I have decided not to look at working in London for now. I need to make a go of it here. For my own peace of mind I think I need to stop the locum work and find permanent work. I will definitely have to take a pay cut maybe at a rate of 40 - 50% gross. I'm not happy about this but its an example of how terrible the legal market is over here. Apparently there are even more law graduates this year than ever before. I read somewhere that more people are going into law seeing it as a secure industry as opposed to banking. What a joke.

For my health and temper I need some stability now. My focus seems to have changed. I need to have a life until The Escape. If I am earning less money then I will not be hit with 40% tax. So would I really be earning much less anyway? I have realised that running from one gig to another in an attempt to stash away as much cash as possible is not good for me mentally. This attitude was typical of my black and white thinking again. I have come to appreciate that my all or nothing thinking is a symptom of my codependency issues.