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Exclusive: Herbert Smith trainees made to bleed for their clients
15 March 2013
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12

Herbert Smith Freehills has been working its trainees so hard that they haven't even had time to wipe their blood off documents before sending them out.

Last month a property litigation associate emailed all London trainees one Friday afternoon last month demanding that two of them give up their Sunday to produce bundles for a case she was working on. The trainees dutifully ignored the email and so the following week she emailed them again, this time copying in several partners and the HR trainee manager for that extra intimidation factor.

The trainees who "volunteered" for the task ended up working shifts around the clock, sleeping under desks or, if they were lucky, on a camp bed erected in one of the offices.


   A Herbies trainee yesterday

By the end of the week the thousands of documents were finally bundled. But a couple of trainees managed to smear blood from their paper cuts on some of the documents. They offered to do another copy over the weekend, but were rebuffed by the associate who insisted the bundles go out that day: no doubt to the delight of the recipients.

A spokeswoman for Herbies said "our team of associates and trainees did a great job on this project. Up against a very tight deadline, they delivered on time and the client was very happy about our work".
 

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Please keep it nice. Thanks.
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anonymous user
15/03/2013 01:39
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10
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And the point of the story is? Apologies, but these are not the first set of trainees who have worked all weekend in the City!
anonymous user
15/03/2013 07:48
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8
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What was the alternative - getting associates to do it and charging the client a fortune?
anonymous user
15/03/2013 08:44
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-2
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Sad
anonymous user
15/03/2013 09:15
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8
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Happy WITH the work, not happy ABOUT the work. Jesus.
anonymous user
15/03/2013 10:09
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33
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I've been there. Bet the associate's a complete b****.
anonymous user
15/03/2013 10:56
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17
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As a non-lawyer, my heart bleeds. Starting out in any career involves doing menial tasks, why should it be any different with law? And as the ultimate financial reward for a successful city lawyer is far in excess of many other careers, why whinge about a few lost weekends. The sense of entitlement and preciousness exhibited by many young lawyers is nauseating.
anonymous user
15/03/2013 12:39
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110
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Anything that needs that much last minute work by so many people suggests sheer incompetence on the part of the associate running the case.
anonymous user
15/03/2013 13:31
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94
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As a former recipient of these emails I agree with anonymous user 15/03/2013 12:39 - poor planning and poor management/motivation skills on offer from the associate.

Clearly partner material in next year's round! :-)

(For the record, its not the fact that its menial work - I had no problem with that, goes with the territory - but jumping to countless times to put in ridiculous hours when those supposed to be running the case a) couldn't manage client expectations; (b) didn't understand effective resourcing plans and c) could have informed everyone earlier of the requirements, avoiding unnecessary stress)


anonymous user
15/03/2013 18:35
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-10
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So maybe it was poor planning by the associate - it doesn't remove the point that someone had to do the work and it had to be the cheaper staff. If it wasn't the trainees, who else should have done it?

This is a non-story.
anonymous user
15/03/2013 20:09
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39
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A non-story by a disgruntled trainee having to earn some of their high-by-any-standard salary. If it was bundling for a litigation team, then the driver was probably a court deadline rather than an inability to "manage client expectations" and, as those with more experience than a trainee often know, the "chaos" is driven by last minute developments outside the lawyer's control - I doubt very much the associate set out to ruin anyone's weekend. Goes with the territory in a city law firm, we've all been there.

What we haven't all done is felt the need to gripe ungratefully to ROF when there are lots of people out there struggling for a training contract. I also feel sorry for the other trainees involved - I'm sure lots of them did the job well and with good grace.
Talya
15/03/2013 21:30
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0
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Documents with blood on? Eewww.
anonymous user
15/03/2013 23:21
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-9
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I'm a Partner in a US law firm and I'm going to be in all weekend. Where's my sympathy?
anonymous user
15/03/2013 23:48
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12
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It's all very well running the "disgruntled trainee" defence, but at the end of the day a properly managed and motivated team all working together will get the job done with good grace, even if it's grim at the time. As soon as people feel pressured or bullied into doing gimp work to cover someone else's failings, that's when you get grudges.

By all accounts the trainees here were just brutally co-opted, beasted and then dumped by an associate who couldn't even be bothered to turn up and supervise. Is it any wonder some feel aggrieved? Of course trainees should be doing that sort of work; but there are ways of asking people to do things. Whoever that associate is should be ashamed.
anonymous user
16/03/2013 06:27
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80
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Why is this newsworthy?
anonymous user
16/03/2013 07:59
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0
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The worst thing about this story is that the trainees involved are probably going to get into trouble for having made this public - even if they didn't tell RoF the associate and partners will think they did. Boo.
anonymous user
16/03/2013 15:37
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A Brown Medallion story about a Brown Medallion firm. Truly.
anonymous user
17/03/2013 16:10
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1
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Tbh the Herbies trainees are pretty sanguine about this sort of thing - as many a poster has said it comes with the territory. I am sure it's not the first time an inadvertent paper cut has resulted in a few bloody pages...
anonymous user
19/03/2013 22:54
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4
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Trainees of the world unite! The bundles are stained with your martyrs' blood!

F. Engels
anonymous user
20/03/2013 09:49
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Anonymous @23.21: "I'm a Partner in a US law firm and I'm going to be in all weekend. Where's my sympathy?"

I believe you will find it in your bank account.

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