a good starter job into law and nice perks. I would recommend overall. major flaws and bizarre processes to address. - Administrative Paralegal Talbots Law Employee Review

They definitely have some MAJOR things to address, but staff are too scared to speak up to senior management or HR as they are blatantly ignored or soon cut back down to size for daring to challenge. I hope my review will be taken constructively as I honestly believe it takes a platform such as this to truly express oneself without any form of influence or reluctance or the need to hold back in any way. They might not like the criticisms but these thoughts are not in isolation and some of the things I am about to reveal were huge talking points for staff (and still are I believe). The office is basically a call centre labelled up as a pretend law firm for the clients benefit. The pictures are wonky in the interview rooms and it all feels very amateur and like they are going through the motions at times (like the wonky pictures are just plonked on the walls in the rooms to tick a box and no-one really cares about the standards or have given anything any deep thought or quality control). In the office you sit in rows with senior management circling around like security guards and making sure you are all working and honing in on anyone stepping out of line. They offload part of the work to India (yes! Really! I am not joking! That is literally what they do! I am being super serious right now!) and other external companies for cheap labour and also because they do not have enough experienced and skilled staff to handle the more technical side. They do actually have some superb and super knowledgeable staff who seriously raise the bar and know their stuff! but they are simply few and far in between and cannot be spread around everyone as they are far outnumbered with newbies with no experience. Laughably and pathetically the offloaded work is actually of a far superior quality than the retained work! so they absolutely 100% have made the right decision to do this! It will only be a matter of time before they break it down even more to ship off more of the work to India for the cheap labour and to protect whatever small profit margins they currently have. this will no doubt be a future ruthless business decision they will be forced to make. This is partly why I moved on because I had the foresight what may be to come in terms of possible redundancies because of this. The entire conveyancing process is broken up and the bits retained are split around different people either not in the company at all or in separate teams, so you never feel like you see the entire process through and you miss out on so much experience and knowledge as a result. This seriously comes back to bite you when you move on your new employer discovers you know a lot less than you thought you did! They are the infamous “conveyancing factory outfit” which are absolutely dreaded in the industry. You essentially are the customer service/client contact and the vast bulk of the day is speaking to clients and estate agents on the phone with bits of the file work woven in which you have to somehow get done in a loud and distracting call centre environment. You can expect lots of checklists and spreadsheets which must be followed no matter what just like any good conveyancing factory would expect and an unmanageable amount of work because they pay such extortionate referral fees as they would not get any work otherwise as no-one truly recommends them apart from estate agents who are only doing it to secure the extremely high referral fee! You will not do any real legal work and if you do you are highly likely to do it wrong and get told off even though you are not usually not being supervised. They have some absolute sour faced, miserable staff who tell tales and create a toxic, hostile work environment by causing petty trouble and just being generally unpleasant in the office/call center and their presence only puts a major downer on any positive vibe. In my experience This was only a select few as overall most people are so friendly and easy to talk to but sadly they are either senior or long serving employees so their behaviour has become tolerated even though they do not fit in with the company ethos and are very unpopular among other staff who have the displeasure of interacting with these few people. Admittedly this cannot be helped as we are all different people but they should be reminded of basic pleasantries. Complaints and angry phone calls from vexxed client and introducers are commonplace and even regular staff do not seem that bothered as it's just the norm and they do not know what they are doing anyway. Senior management do not even try to comfort distressed staff after they have taken a verbal earbashing from a client and having their mental health attacked or serious derogatory comments said to them. In fact staff are often blamed for a slight lapse in service, even though they are well beyond their working limit, handling work way outside of their pay grade and depth plus already doing significant unpaid overtime to just keep up! An ingrained culture of blaming innocent clients followed by then blaming the already exhausted staff, rather than taking any accountability for poor standards or seeking to take pride in work and provide the best service. Very little in the form of quality control or standards are adhered to. Pile it high, sell it cheap and it's shamelessly about maximising the money they make which always takes priority as opposed to a quality service and customer care. Yes its a business but its not all about the money. Client service and staff well-being are an afterthought and even that is only if an issue comes to light which DEMANDS action. Senior management are not questioned on their own shortcomings on why things have gone wrong and how they may have actually been a major contributing factor from poor management and not controlling workloads or spreading them evenly or their behaviour making staff morale so low that staff simply stop caring and adopt the why do I even care approach. Blame is usually shifted and no accountability is ever taken. things management say are taken for truth even though they are also only human and capable of getting it wrong which creates a dictatorship environment which eventually drains you and feels toxic. This is a huge factor to the incredibly high turnover of staff and HR refuse to acknowledge this even when presented with multiple accounts and evidence with the underlying root of the issue being so overwhelmingly obvious. It angers staff when they are taking the rap with senior management escaping open questioning. Senior management have very clear favourites and are not very discreet about it - much to the daily dismay of other staff who witness it regularly and feel they haven't got a chance as a result. It seems inappropriate relationships might be the way to go to make sure your face fits, rather than all being treated with a uniform and consistent approach as should be expected in the workplace. As you grow in number you must make an effort to treat all staff equally and ensure the quieter more reserved staff who do not have the personality to become a favourite (as they are more shy and introverted) and cause no trouble and just go in and work hard are not forgotten in the background among all the noise. these are the real backbone of your operation and you can bring these staff out of their shells by recognising and looking after them so they know they do not need to force themselves to be extroverted or become a favourite! Certain senior management behave and physically appear extremely unprofessional – both In terms of their actual work appearance and clothing and also behaviour. Mini skirts, low cut tops, revealing skin tight dresses and 9 inch glossy heels are not appropriate for any legal office and seriously cheapen the entire operation and professional image you would expect in a legal office. PUT IT AWAY, PLEAS£! Also inappropriate behaviour such as cutting eyes across the office to younger staff and treating those badly who they think they can get away with it, taking out frustrations on less senior staff and talking to staff in a demeaning way and abusing their position. This is in dismayed view of others and adds to the toxic environment. A growing culture of casual bullying which is so casual is has become normal and accepted. Casual bullying is customary it seems. You very much feel and are treated like a number just like in all big companies and with the high turnover of staff senior management don’t even know anything of or the proper names of some staff! Conveyancing factory vibe alert! The general consensus among staff is they are treated like school children and paid a very entry level salary but blamed when things go wrong even though they are being given in effect more senior work which is too difficult for a newbie to handle with no real supervision and guidance and support. Work is not screened for complexity and allocated to lawyers based on seniority and experience, it is just dumped at random to anyone regardless of experience or qualifications. Unsurprisingly the newer less experienced staff struggle or simply make huge errors resulting in complaints and being shouted at as they do not know what they are doing and do not know it is not normal as they have never worked anywhere else. Once again the senior management process is not questioned and leaves the same staff who have already being done dirty and be done even dirtier. This is only tolerated as the workforce is very young so they do not know it is wrong or how to challenge this and they are so heavily in debt from uni and desperate to progress they are prepared to accept this behaviour and suffer and do not want a receive a black mark which might prevent progression for them . A number of shocking incidents have occurred in that senior management routinely go to the smoking shelter in their usual senior management click groups (it is obvious who these senior management are), during which they regularly venting about things, discussing confidential and highly sensitive staff/workplace issues which absolutely should not leave the building in any circumstance. More shockingly they are so engrossed they not even very discreet, as it then gets overheard by both colleagues and other surrounding people from third party companies (people who have nothing to do with the company!) who also share the communal central smoking shelter as it is in a central location and the only one available . The colleagues who overhear this repeat it back to the staff involved who become very upset and hurt as a result and tell others they work with of the horrible treatment so it spreads. This has happened on multiple occasions and they cannot even defend this appalling behaviour, as when the overheard accounts are repeated to the individuals they concern, that specific person confirms they are accurate and are naturally totally hurt and humiliated and embarrassed (and usually leave not long after) ! Staff are scared to use the smoking shelter when senior management are using it. They either change their minds if they are already in there or if the senior management approach the shelter, they stub out and run off quickly to avoid them. This adds to the toxic environment and poor morale and the us and them mentality and is not acceptable on any level, especially as people not even related to the company are able to hear workplace issues and gossip it which adds to the shameful practice and it must be stopped. Senior management are literally never at their desks or available! They are in endless back to back meetings about who knows what al the time and can be regularly seen standing around in groups in the office having further very long ad-hoc meetings whenever the need arises , even though they have already had long meetings and staff are furiously working in the background trying to keep up! This means they are not effectively supervising the department and are always unavailable to handle any problems arising that they are paid to deal with... maybe creating a breach of sra requirements to effectively supervise and adding to the poor training and never taking the really horrible phone calls that new staff should not even try and handle . They do not take kindly to being interrupted and are extremely unapproachable unless you are a favourite, yet dump management problems on other staff , and tell staff off for not checking things with them if they have gone wrong, even though they are usually unavailable or unapproachable!. It is literally backwards and everyone is too scared to challenge it. It becomes sooooo frustrating some staff have literally gone to the toilets to cry and take a moment in private to calm down because of how demoralised and overcome with emotional validity they feel. After a short while and having collected themselves, they return back to their desk red puffy faced and teary eyed and just about able to go on... other staff who see them return just know what has happened again, so they go over to their upset colleagues desk to offer comfort and reassurance, to then also be TOLD OFF for being away from their own desk! Senior management team are also regularly late into work, have long lunches or “alleged meetings” , have excessive meetings and “training”, leave early or work from home when it suits them. This behaviour trickles down to all levels and it is very much noticed and is a talking point by others and absolutely not appreciated by the rest of the staff who can do nothing but witness it in disbelief!. It is very common for staff to be logging on early, working totally flat out and through their lunch breaks and then logging back on at home and working until 10pm and beyond. The senior management do not even say thank you for this as it's now a part of the expected culture and even though they know you are having to do it they still go mad at minor error. Senior management come down on minor error like a tonne of bricks... As you can predict this forces staff morale to hit even further rock bottom and staff stop doing anything extra in the end which results in a more deep toxic work environment and lots of complaint, as the workload is not manageable in normal working hours so staff fall far behind . These staff effectively give up and resort back to their default hours while tending to look for a new job at this point, knowing they will leave shortly and have already stopped caring . Usually they have a "doctors" appointment and they suddenly hand their notice in a week or so later so it's very obvious what has happened. A growing number of staff ‘stepped down’ and demoted themselves after years of working up to that level as the pitiful increase in pay compared to the dramatic rise in responsibility combined with the already explained poor senior management and inadequate supervision and other shortcomings just makes progression feel futile and take those staff to the burn out zone. Its just not worth it! Many staff are off work with stress related conditions, some have had seizures in the office which were stress induced from an excessive workload (although they are too scared to admit this). HR barely investigated this sorry event nor attempted to drill down the cause of such a tragic event which they had a very clear moral and professional duty to do. I report this for whistleblowing vibes and workplace justice! Some staff appear physically and mentally haggard and exhausted but battle on for as long as they can take it. In fairness even senior management look totally battered even though they do not seem to do anything for walk around and have meetings all day with some casual bullying to get through the day. Literally what will it take for them to realise something must change! Other staff watch on and debate an internalised conflict of whether they wish to become a favourite and progress to experience the same ultimate dismal fate, or they simply and sadly accept they will not aspire to their ambitious dreams in the current set up so either stay as they are unfulfilled and undervalued and overworked for ‘just about competitive pay’ or move on and pursue it somewhere else. What actually happens in reality is most staff just leave for another local legal competitor (one legal competitor in particular happily gobbles up all the ex-Talbots staff who leave, as they have the exact same case management system and are similar in operation, so ready trained leavers are extremely desirable to them!). Leavers feel like they work in heaven compared to before and are rejuvenated and motivated again to succeed after coming from what they are used to. This is the untold truth HR and senior management try and keep quiet as they know if too many people become aware of the success of leavers and the better work life they have, switched on staff will wake up to reality and all leave and they know they are in big trouble if this happens as they will have no one left. Some staff have a total lack of common manners within the office with their own colleagues - some staff (even senior staff!) will not even hold open a door for you or smile/acknowledge you as you walk past and treat you like a stranger from the street! It is so rude and it became more acceptable given it's commonplace. They should address this before it becomes an engrained culture of the office and difficult to reverse and remind them that being rude and ignorant is not part of the company ethos and has a real negative effect. Unfortunately (and yes! Really! even in 2023 at one of the biggest legal practices in the West Midlands!) they are total 'qualification' snobs and make no effort to even try and promote or celebrate alternative routes to qualification or staff who are not qualified at all. While they do not make it obvious, I witnessed talented lawyers both conducting files and also becoming qualified (who are not solicitors) getting next to no recognition or celebration on performance or on finally achieving qualification from a different route. It's extremely disheartening for many people who do not have a full traditional law background and want to take advantage of other (just as valid routes) and progress in this way, as it is the best option for them, while knowing their employer will demand the work of a solcitor but not reward/recognise them in the same way as their solicitor counterparts so basically they are doing it all for nothing. The feeling is that unless you are a solcitor, you are not going to get as far or it will take extremely long and always be met with a sense of inferiority.… If you are a licensed conveyancer or cilex qualified (or training for this) and you are thinking of applying for a role... This is important! you can expect to be treated as if you are unqualified, always overlooked for promotions and it will take years of pushing to be even considered for the same opportunities as solciitors in the company (forcing you to play the favouritism game). They send an email around to announce internal promotions and nearly every one is a solicitor every time! It is laughable and hurtful and obvious. So equality and diversity is pretty much non-existent in that sense! Do not even bother training or thinking of progression if you are not a solicitor as it is just a waste of time and energy. Most staff have stopped even considering other routes now because it feels like a pointless and not recommended route, as traditional law degree/solicitor colleagues will totally trump you every time through no fault of your own – even newly qualified or newly employed solicitors get the preferential qualification snobbery treatment and jump ahead! ..... As a result, staff either try and become a favourite for a training contract and progression or just leave for better and more fair and progressive opportunities elsewhere where they are fairly recognised for their value. They even ask alternatively training/qualified lawyers if they are planning to become a solicitors in the future like this is an obvious expected thing to do! It You should already know they do not need to do this and this just speaks volumes of the low regard you place on other methods of qualification! Please educate yourselves and show more respect. Younger, newly qualified solcitors with far less legal experience and who don't perform as well are plucked straight to the top to promotions with others who on paper should be given the opportunity before them being totally overlooked, as if their hard earned experience and qualifications do not exist. Since leaving I have learnt very quickly how undervalued I had been and have progressed and been recognised for my work and chosen route to legal qualification and no longer feel unfairly disadvantaged by an archaic and disrespectful promotion process that effectively ignores anyone but solcitors and needs urgent rethinking. Staff get fed up of being overlooked for promotions so leave for a new role elsewhere and return after some time (usually a year later or so) and are then usually given senior roles upon return? Sorry but on what planet does that make any sense? this absolutely infuriates your existing loyal talent who stayed loyal and did not leave, and have yet again been overlooked for promotion and to make it worst the non loyal leavers are now coming back to a more senior role, as a reward for leaving! In other words you have absolutely no incentive to be loyal and you are in effect mocked for doing this when leavers later return to then become your senior! Either the experience you are getting in your current role is insufficient for them to think you are worthy of the promotion (that is an issue in itself), the leavers have gained absolutely brilliant experience elsewhere (which they as not getting before they left) hence why they are rewarded with a senior role on return, they are totally desperate and offer the senior roles to try and secure these people (this is a poor excuse) or they are literally that clueless on how this looks and feels to the existing loyal workforce, or just enjoy winding up loyal staff and indirectly encouraging the high turnover of staff who as a result of this “silent quit”, and then actually quit when they find something else. HR seriously need to give themselves a common sense and reality check with this and put themselves into the shoes of the loyal staff and how this looks and feels to them. Imagine your colleague leaving to then return a year later, now as your senior (while you remain in the exact same position) when you have remained loyal and been an exemplary employee? This process is actually as ludicrous as it sounds and again speaks volumes of the issues with qualification snobbery, promotion injustices and some of the backward decisions HR and senior management make without consider the human impact it has on existing staff who deserve better. Despite being an employee owned business in reality this means nothing to staff as they are not party to anything going on behind closed doors and it all feels like a marketing gimic to stand out from the legal crowd more.than anything. They only share the good things. They do not share failings, bad things, what is going wrong or what they are doing to improve. Promotions are not advertised or openly encouraged. it is a very confusing, non transparent , totally secret promotional path (based on being favourites with the senior management who might then share it, or leaving and coming back a year later) with no consistent or clear guidelines on what is required or expected to progress (other than be a solicitor and become a favourite). it seems the staff who are promoted are chosen at total random as a tick box exercise who have the best fitting faces. Staff who are not solicitors or favourites plod on knowing they are being unfairly overlooked and will need to leave when the time is right. Alternatively (but still) qualified lawyers are totally overlooked together with the unqualified staff as usual. Approach staff who just go in and just get on with their jobs quietly and do well and do not cause any issues or problems and are undervalued and do not get anyone because they are always moaning or pushing for something else or making a fuss. Recognise and reward these staff who quietly get on and YOU take the incentive to recognise them and OFFER THEM promotions without them feeling like they are either not worthy or making them go through some stupid process (if they are lucky enough to discover what this process might be) to be considered for it. You are offering external people with nothing to do with the company these positions or the troublesome ‘favourite’ staff and overlooking existing hard-working talent who might just need a bit of gentle encouragement to fulfil their potential. Those same staff are usually the most loyal and hard-working who you can expect years of exemplary service from them with the right support and encouragement. Be a good different in this respect! don’t let these hard working people blend into the background and become a victim of the corporate office race like in other places. Be different and recognise them off your own initiative and build them up! The company is extremely reactive to things and only when something arises demanding action. they are not proactively trying to improve. absolutely nothing happens unless something demands action and change. You have to fight for everything and grovel for what is usually a given and does not need to be raised in other places and things take absolutely ages to be dealt with as it is all very much on their terms and what it best for them. If you are somehow lucky enough to be promoted you can expect to have to fight for a pay rise or be expected to accept a pitiful pay rise and fight with them to get something more substantial to recognise the increase in responsibility. They shamelessly will pay the bare minimum they can get away with and go as far to cover this up with pathetic reasons to justify it which are a load of nonsense. Certain departments have an embarrassingly high turnover of staff and as a result are made up of extremely young and inexperienced staff who usually have never had a job before or have just worked in something basic like retail or something entry (basically the only people they can get and who are naive enough to stay. Switched on people soon smell the coffee and move onto something better that offers work/life balance and progression in a reasonable timescale without all the other issues). It is a vicious circle because the staff turnover is high but the only staff they can get are young or inexperienced and do not want to stay for long as the industry is always offering roles in other places which easily out compete what they offer unless you are a chosen favourite. It always feels like a new workplace every 6 months except the same old questionable senior management with anyone rarely coming of the quality and calibre they need to desperately increase standards and mentor the green staff. Even when they finally luck out and get someone decent they are not looked after and are too wise to stay as well and soon abandon ship for something better. Other departments within the company openly do not want any professional association with the certain known problematic departments dragging down the company and preventing them being able to succeed to greater heights and it is actually bad for your career and CV as a result of this reputation and is even sneered on my internal colleagues in other offices/departments as the reputation earned is so bad. They are seriously behind with hybrid working and letting staff work from home and this was a big talking point . Unless you are a favourite or senior management, you are not allowed to do this. Senior management with entire departments to run are able to choose freely when they can work from home and are often absent from the office for weeks at a time while their departments go unsupervised, yet other staff are rejected despite very personal and compelling reasons for needing discretion to be exercised. The disparity in this approach in very much felt by all staff who is affects and they watch on and speak in frustration. The office hygiene was generally poor at times.. kitchens at times felt unhygienic with kettles and microwaves looking gross and marked with stains and limescale (a bacterial swab would probably be WAY over the safe reading and reveal why there is such high sickness absence rate) and the toilets at times were absolutely beyond foul and just unpleasant. The ladies especially bad and unpleasant to use. I sometimes used to walk to the local shopping centre during my lunch to use those public toilets, as occasionally the toilets was so dirrrty in the office or blocked with a foul odour that they was unusuable and I did not wish to enter. Some times you need to spend longer in the toilet (ladies will understand) and I just dreaded those times. Also From around 12pm onwards the office felt very stuffy and like you was breathing in recycled dirty carbon dioxide and stale lunch/takeaway air, which made you feel lethargic and uneasy and affected productivity as the smell was at times so stuffy and overwhelming.