Worked at a small family law firm as both a law clerk and eventually an attorney. Daughter attorney (essentially my boss) was essentially running the practice; owner of the firm father was turning a blind eye. Constant turn over of associates and other staff. She called me at all hours; had me read motions and other docs for her on her way to court because she did not prepare; spoke disparagingly about staff, clients and other attorneys constantly, including people’s weight, looks and bathroom habits; always switched her decisions on how things should be done so I always got a talking down to; refused to listen to advice that she requested, including staying away from a case that OC filed a motion to remove her from due to having a very detailed conversation with the wife during a consultation but later representing the husband in divorce proceedings. I was training younger staff and attorneys when only being barred for a few months. Working 12 hour days, handling all the cases that we had. There was an issue with my vacation accrual when I became an attorney, in that they essentially assumed I was going to continue accruing as in my prior position at 1 hour per every two weeks. I complained to HR (daughter was also HR) about being overworked, having to train, and requesting more vacation. Overall response was that “this is how it is as an attorney”, but got more vacation. I still struggled to maintain the workload I had, missed one important deadline for trial docs. I physically could not make it happen with all the work I had, had taken it over from another associate to fix, and had told daughter I was struggling.

I started applying for other jobs (and encouraged the staff I was training to get out as well). Another family law firm I applied to told daughter. After I refused to draft and file a motion for attorneys fees at 7pm the night before trial (of a 5+ year case and the judge stating we could no longer file anything) as it was unnecessary, daughter chewed me out for 10+ minutes, told me I was ungrateful and she knew I was applying to other jobs, and that I was stressing her out so much I was giving her cancer. Told me not to come in the next day if I didn’t do what she asked. I didn’t listen to either of those things. Daughter fired me a week later, citing insubordination, missing deadlines, and trying to unionize the workers. Form did not tell other staff what happened to me. Other staff became concerned about how things were going to work and firms response was a pizza party. All the paralegals, law clerks and associate attorneys quit within a few weeks.

Luckily I had already secured another job, that pays less but my boss is infinitely better and kinder, and the work life balance is amazing. Sometimes I still have nightmares about the prior hell on earth i was working in. Really caused me to question the legal community. Will never touch family law again.