The legal profession, particularly in City law firms, has long had a reputation for excessively long working hours, with staff routinely working through the night in order to complete deals. Despite job cuts and a dearth of deals during the recession and job cuts across the profession, a culture of presenteeism is still prevalent.
On RollOnFriday, the legal profession’s networking site, a recent contributor wrote: “You are taught that it’s not normal to leave the office before 7pm. So you are having lawyers in the midst of a recession sitting at their desks twiddling their idle thumbs until 7pm just to show their faces.”
A 2008 survey by Legal Business magazine said that a long-hours, high-stress culture meant that alcohol abuse was “endemic” in law firms and that the use of hard drugs was increasing, particularly in big City law firms.
Ms Bright, 56, is one of four partners at Bright & Sons, which was founded by her grandfather 125 years ago. The firm employs 45 people at its offices in Maldon and Witham, where Ms Bright specialises in wills and probate. She rarely leaves the office early and almost never stops for lunch. “We tend to be very busy,” she says. “We have a lot of clients and we like to look after them well.”
词句笔记：
TUC:英国劳工联合会议
clock up：达到，记录
mismatch:失调
There was a mismatch between the hours that people want to work and the hours that they are getting.
人们的实际工作时间和理想工作时间不协调。
underemployment：不充分就业
twiddle：玩弄，旋转
probate：遗嘱认证
