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Career Clinic draws on readers' own experiences to assist others with their career conundrums. Click on a headline to post your advice or click here to email Career Clinic with your own difficulties and dilemmas. Special note: We will not attribute your comments to you unless you state otherwise.
CAREER CLINIC
Career Clinic: Is now a bad time to qualify into pensions?
"I am a trainee solicitor considering qualifying into the pensions team at a regional firm. More and more final salary schemes are closing and this makes me apprehensive about qualifying into pensions, although I do enjoy the area. I understand the ro...
01 Feb 2011 | 11:18 | 9 comments
Career Clinic: Am I too senior to find a new job in private practice without a following?
"I'm a senior associate (15PQE) at a regional firm in a specialist practice area where work has increasingly concentrated on the large City practices in recent years. I left my job at a silver circle firm in London seven years ago, having been headhun...
20 Jan 2011 | 11:16 | 9 comments
Career Clinic: London or the Home Counties for my TC?
"I work in the research and information department of a mid-sized law firm in the City. Before that I was working in a magic circle firm not far from here doing much the same role. Between these jobs I have moved with my husband to the Home Counties, ...
13 Jan 2011 | 11:03 | 10 comments
Career Clinic: Can I go after the partners if my firm goes under?
"I am a solicitor facing the prospect of losing my job. The firm I work for is a small LLP facing closure because of financial difficulties. It is expected that the administrator will be appointed very shortly. I am entitled to a notice period under m...
06 Jan 2011 | 12:54 | 5 comments
Career Clinic: The best of 2010
A look back at some of the best Career Clinic dilemmas from 2010 - a year which saw heated debate over point-scoring, secret family plans, scruffy office attire and lazy partners.
22 Dec 2010 | 11:49
Career Clinic: Should I give up my City job for an in-house TC?
"I am currently working at a top 10 City firm as a paralegal and really enjoying it. The people are great, the work is really interesting and the clients are top-notch. I've been here now for two years and, when I began my path to a legal career, this...
20 Dec 2010 | 18:04 | 8 comments
Career Clinic: Is parenthood compatible with corporate law at a top firm?
"My wife was made redundant in 2009 from a magic circle firm in Russia and has been out of work since. During this period of unemployment we have had a baby. She is now considering returning to work, in London, but with an eye on returning to Hong Kon...
15 Dec 2010 | 12:38 | 25 comments
Career Clinic: Struggling with a colleague's point-scoring
"I'm a recently qualified associate who's having problems with another member of my team. I like to think I'm a tolerant character, but this person is making my working life pretty tough. The problem is the points-scoring. She loudly disagrees with me...
02 Dec 2010 | 15:58 | 21 comments
Career Clinic: My team's new associates aren't pulling their weight
"I'm a senior associate at a City firm and I'm getting increasingly frustrated with the situation in my team. A number of new associates recently joined us and a couple of them are taking liberties - constantly coming in late, calling off sick for que...
25 Nov 2010 | 11:57 | 12 comments
Career Clinic: Will China connections help me land a job at a big firm?
"I am currently undertaking a training contract at a top 50 law firm outside of the City. As I speak Mandarin, I could be a good asset for an international firm looking to expand into the China market, but I'm wondering if I have restricted myself in ...
18 Nov 2010 | 00:53 | 
| 4 comments
Career Clinic: Should I turn down a promotion to stay in London?
"I am an associate in the City office of a national firm, where I've been for more than five years after training here. "I've recently been offered a promotion to senior associate, but the promotion is contingent on me relocating to Birmingham. Des...
11 Nov 2010 | 12:38 | 22 comments
Career Clinic: Should I be honest with management about a colleague's failings?
"I'm a senior associate at a big City firm, and I'm currently serving my notice period before moving to a rival firm. My team's recently had a change of management, and I've been approached by one of the partners for an assesment of one of the people ...
04 Nov 2010 | 00:35 | 9 comments
Career Clinic: I want to study law, but I'm not sure I want to be a lawyer...
"I am currently working in legal research for a law firm, but I'm finding the work tedious rather than challenging. I want a career that will stretch my ambitions and offer me an intellectual challenge. What I do love is working in a corporate environ...
28 Oct 2010 | 00:49 | 7 comments
Career Clinic: Should my firm have involved me in recruiting my new colleague?
"I am a senior associate and have been my firm's only specialist in a specific practice area for a number of years. This has meant working very long hours, often having holiday cancelled at the last minute, to successfully build the firm's reputation ...
21 Oct 2010 | 11:34 | 24 comments
Career Clinic: My boss is asking me to do something I'm not qualified for
"I find myself in a difficult position. I am an associate in the City branch of a foreign firm, and my boss has asked me to sign an opinion (in my name, not the name of the law firm) along with him on a foreign law question, knowing that I am not qual...
14 Oct 2010 | 00:06 | 11 comments
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