The worst job I ever had - Paralegal DAC Beachcroft Employee Review

I worked here as a paralegal for over two years, and it had a devastating effect on my mental health. My sleep, anxiety and personal life all deteriorated while I was there. Remarkably, those problems disappeared after I left, which says everything about the environment. The workload was completely unmanageable. The stated expectation was around 100–120 cases, but by the end I was responsible for between 180 and 200. It was a daily occurrence to receive files that had been sitting elsewhere for days or weeks, only for them to be allocated to me with deadlines due that same day. When something inevitably went wrong because of impossible timescales, the responsibility fell on the paralegal. Although the company claimed overtime wasn’t expected, it was effectively unavoidable if you wanted any chance of keeping your head above water. I regularly worked evenings and weekends simply to stop myself falling further behind. That unpaid extra time wasn’t rewarded—it was just what was needed to survive. Training was poor and inconsistent. You would be shown how to complete documents once and then expected to produce them perfectly. The problem was that every supervisor had a different “correct” way of doing things. I had five different supervisors in around a year, and each one contradicted the previous person’s training, meaning you were constantly being criticised for following instructions you had previously been given. Management were fully aware that caseloads were excessive. Concerns were raised repeatedly by paralegals, yet very little changed. When large numbers of people left, replacements often weren’t hired quickly enough, leaving their already excessive caseloads to be divided among the remaining staff. Unsurprisingly, those people then became overwhelmed and left as well. The turnover among paralegals was astonishing. Within a year, only myself and one other paralegal remained from the original team. Stress-related sickness was common. Even supervisors openly spoke about how unhappy they were and wanting to leave. That alone should tell prospective employees everything they need to know. The culture was one where mistakes were punished rather than understood in the context of impossible workloads. Performance Improvement Plans seemed to be used as a response to the consequences of excessive workloads rather than addressing the underlying problem. Support was minimal, and it was difficult not to feel like you were simply another replaceable employee. The salary did not come close to reflecting the level of responsibility, pressure or workload. Annual pay rises were standard regardless of performance or experience, giving little incentive to stay or excel. The saddest part is that the job itself could have been enjoyable. The work was interesting, and many of the people I worked alongside were genuinely great. Unfortunately, those positives were completely overshadowed by excessive caseloads, chronic understaffing, inconsistent management and a culture that, in my experience, burned through paralegals at an alarming rate. I would strongly encourage anyone considering a paralegal role here to ask detailed questions about average caseloads, staff turnover and how many paralegals have left in the last 12 months. The answers will likely tell you far more than the recruitment process ever will.