Feeling Important: Possible As a Trainee Solicitor?

TheTraineeComplex continues his bid to understand life as a City law firm trainee through reference to the work of Sigmund Freud

When criticised, Freud used to reply: “You know what, my mother loves me”. What he meant by this was that as long as you feel important to at least one person then what the rest of the world thinks doesn’t matter. This understanding of people’s need to feel important is one of Freud’s most enduring ideas.

I’ve had a think about which trainee jobs make me feel most important. These are my top three. Please let me know if you think I’ve missed any out…

Printing/photocopying/scanning

Every time I fill the printing/photocopying/scanning machine with plain white paper I appreciate why I had to do both a degree and the LPC. Recently, I’ve spent so much time doing this that I now get jealous when I see someone else touching my machine.

Odd IT jobs

Putting files on USB sticks. Pressing Ctrl, Alt and Delete on old computers. Trying to recover corrupt documents.

As a trainee, I’ve experienced all of these cutting-edge IT tasks.

Manual labour

Yes, actual manual labour.

No, I didn’t see it coming either. Now I know why all the big firms have gyms in their offices.

There are many good reasons to become a trainee. The money is good. The people are interesting. The career-path is clear-cut. But it’s safe to say that to fulfil a desire to feel important isn’t one of them.

And try to keep the reality of the job away from your family, too. Because once she knows the truth, even your mother won’t love you…

TheTraineeComplex is a trainee at a top City of London law firm. His blog is here.