Unpaid Internships - taking advantage

LegacyUser

Hi, I not sure if this is the right forum to post in so apologies if not.

I am just here to find some advice regarding unpaid internships. I am a recent law graduate and there is a culture of unpaid internships in this field that I am feeling more and more annoyed about. I have interned in a large enough firm for 4 euro an hour while a student for a full 12 months and that is not including overtime (which I did a lot of). I understand that internships in law firms or any other job sector are great to get experience, but a lot of firms seem to take advantage.

When I did my internship I was doing a mixture of legal secretary work and trainee solicitor work, at one point the secretary quit, and I was the legal secretary for over a full month on this wage! It wasn't that I was learning and observing but I was doing work of value for the firm. I know people here may say if I knew I was being exploited then why didn't I quit but it is very hard for a student with no legal connections to quit. I had to move to Cork city to complete the internship which was also difficult as I am not from there.

Why I am annoyed is that I know this firm now has full time ''interns'' working for only 100 per week and I have heard of them staying there until 9pm at night. These are graduates and have completed law degrees and/or masters. The work load was so much that they took on an administrative assistant who is a non law graduate but they are paying him 10 euro an hour! I have also heard of these ''internships'' in Dublin City.

I am so angry at this exploitation but am petrified to do anything about it. I would say it all the mid sized to small law firms were inspected they would find so many of these ''interns'''and it is so difficult for students not from around the Dublin area to gain experience when they have to take out massive loans so that they can work almost for free for a greedy firm.

I am not sure but I would say that this is a problem in a lot of sectors and I am all for gaining work experience but I feel like for sure in the legal sector young graduates are being totally exploited and there is nothing that can be done because if you complain you have a black mark against your name in the already crowded legal world "(

skallywag

unpaid problem wrote: »

I am just here to find some advice regarding unpaid internships

I'm a little confused by your post, as you go on to describe situations where a wage of some sort is indeed being paid. The scenario which you are describing sounds a whole lot better than that of a true unpaid internship.

I know people working in the legal profession who are doing very well for themselves, though they had to work very hard to get where they are today, working through the same conditions which you describe at the early stages of their careers.

If you wish to make a career in this area I am afraid that you are simply going to have to suck it up.

MarkAnthony

This has always been the case in regards to the legal profession. I was sent down to the CCJ to attend, sent on prison visits and sat there for hours reviewing CCTV footage.

I did my fair share of the intern work of photocopying, filing etc. at other firms.

It's the same in any industry where the numbers coming in exceed the number of jobs. You have to build your contacts and get in somewhere. It is exploitative to be sure, but the alternative is a closed shop where only the connected can get in.