Rumours of Solicitors Offices Letting go their Secretaries

pampers1

Hi can somone tell me if the rumours are true about large law firms letting secretaries go. I find this a bit surprisinga and I was thinking maybe it started off with one or two firms letting go Trainees when they qualify but not secretaries. Has anyone else heard this and if so where are these places are they well known firms etc.?

Amazotheamazing

Based in Limerick, at least one of the larger firms has left a good few legal secretaries go.

bills

Heard of a firm letting solicitors go in galway city! One of the larger firms in Galway, small compared to Dublin no doubt. I would say it very much depends on the type of firm & the work thay do-if mainly conveyancing, then your job may not be very secure.

Milk & Honey

Especially ones who wear black trousers to work! Traditional workplace attire is now returning to solicitors offices as the recession bites and they can be more fussy.

dats_right

pampers1 wrote: »

Hi can somone tell me if the rumours are true about large law firms letting secretaries go. I find this a bit surprisinga and I was thinking maybe it started off with one or two firms letting go Trainees when they qualify but not secretaries.

Why not secretaries, what is so surprising? If firms are aren't generating the same amount of work/fees of course staffing levels will be reviewed and those that are easily dispensed with, especially non-fee earners such as secretaries are vulnerable.

The legal profession is badly affected by the slow down in the economy and bust in the property market so jobs at all levels have been lost and will continue into the forseeable future to be lost.

pampers1

Milk & Honey wrote: »

Especially ones who wear black trousers to work! Traditional workplace attire is now returning to solicitors offices as the recession bites and they can be more fussy.

I don't get that!! What's up with black trousers!!

I have a friend who was let go from a firm in Dublin, she also heard that it's happening everywhere.

Milk & Honey

pampers1 wrote: »

I don't get that!! What's up with black trousers!!

Apparently secretaries traditionally wore navy skirts. The bosses felt powerless to insist on it when staff were difficult to find. Now that things have changed workplaces are becoming more formal. A girl I know was told privately by one of the apprentices that the senior partner had expressed his feelings on the matter at a meeting recently.

Milk & Honey

Don't worry about the black trousers thing-wear what you like. In this day and age women should not be dictated to on what they should wear in the workplace, especially by MEN - the skirt is probably just a sexual fantasy thing anyway.

Eoin

Milk & Honey wrote: »

Don't worry about the black trousers thing-wear what you like. In this day and age women should not be dictated to on what they should wear in the workplace, especially by MEN - the skirt is probably just a sexual fantasy thing anyway.

You go girlfriend. *snaps fingers like Tyra*

Edit: if you think for a second that blokes get more latitude in what they wear, I think you are mistaken.

BeansMeansHynes

I haven't heard anything about firms in Cork. I know compared to this time 18 months ago when I moved down to Cork there were a huge amount of Legal Secretary jobs out there but now there isn't that much out there.

Things have really quietened down where I work. It is only a small office and deals in more than just Conveyancing alone so hopefully my job is safe!!

Amazotheamazing

Milk & Honey wrote: »

Don't worry about the black trousers thing-wear what you like. In this day and age women should not be dictated to on what they should wear in the workplace, especially by MEN - the skirt is probably just a sexual fantasy thing anyway.

Are you being serious? Why do you assume a senior solicitor would be a man by the way?

A solicitor has to look professional at all times (sometimes, looking professional is the most professional thing about him or her). That culture is generally going to be replicated throughout the industry. A client will (inevitably) judge a firm in some way on how the staff present themselves. It's shallow, but it's how people make judgments.

Tbh, it's a bad time to be qualifying in the legal area if you intend to work in Ireland.

Jo King

From today's Sunday Independent

"YOU know that recession has really scared the bejaysus out of everyone when sales of ties edge upwards.

Tie Rack, purveyors of all things spotty and stripey, reported a 10 per cent jump in tie sales in the last quarter compared with the period before. And a recent Gallup poll showed that the number of American men who wear ties to work dropped from 10 per cent in 2002 to just 6 per cent last year.

Scruffy people are the first to be sacked, which may explain why people in HR are always immaculately turned out. Open-necked shirts offer less protection to the axe."

Looks like it is time to smarten up.