The Johnson Partnership

There was never any doubt that Karl Meakin was going to be a true asset to the firm as a young solicitor.

Karl has had ten years’ experience with the firm in many different capacities.  In the summer of 2018 Karl is finally able to demonstrate his full potential as a Duty Solicitor.

Having been admitted to the role earlier in the year Karl has made it onto the first possible duty rota, even though it has been at some personal cost.

The limited number of occasions on which it is possible to take the Magistrates’ Court qualification examination led to some madcap chasing around for Karl.  The qualification exam coincided with the day on which he was to be attending at Chancery Lane for his admission ceremony.  Mad dashes to Liverpool and then a high speed race to London to make both appointments left Karl worn out and in need of a restorative drink or two.

We cannot thank Karl enough for all his efforts, both this year and in the past, and we wish him all the best as a rising star of the Chesterfield office.

It is a sad truth that criminal law is less and less attractive in many respects for new arrivals in the profession. Rates of pay are relatively meagre. Hours of work are prodigious. Working conditions, around police stations, prisons, hospitals and desperate conditions in clients’ homes, are some of the worst.

Throughout the last two or three years a new problem has started to emerge which is perhaps more alarming than all the rest. Both at the bar and in solicitors’ offices throughout the area, more and more professionals are having to take time away from work to cope with mental health difficulties.

For some, it is simply the volume of work, which, increases as we have to do more to avoid earning considerably less.

For some, it is the constant drag of the sort of work that they are having to confront day in day out. In particular, the growth in the number of historic allegations of sexual abuse is something that has taken its toll on a number of practitioners.

For some, the pressure of examinations, when combined with a heavy case load has simply been too much.

There can be no doubting that firms are going to have to take a real interest in the work and home lives of staff to try to avoid problems mounting up. Stress and anxiety can turn a happy life into a living hell. If staff or partners are unable to talk about the difficulties they are experiencing firms will just be creating the sort of problems that are likely to mean that any time and money spent on training and professional development is likely to be thrown away.

A caring, friendly, open environment is going to be absolutely essential if we are going to be able to retain skill, knowledge and expertise within our criminal colleagues.