I think it’s high time to say something about this in article form.
Stop telling me that chambering is a learning process and not an employer-employee relationship.
Stop telling me it is an apprenticeship.
Stop telling me they are employees because they provide labour or billable work to the firm.
In this reflex article, I will be producing a list of things I’ve already published in the past few months all over social media regarding pupils and minimum wage, into a single consolidated piece.
CHRONOLOGY
On 22 November 2020 on Facebook and on LinkedIn, after reading the famous Minimum Wage Petition:
Apologies for also marketing my article over there but here is the link to my June article on Late Night Laws titled “3 Reasons Why Pupils Should Be Given Pupillage Contracts”. In this article, I argue why pupils should be given pupillage contracts, especially in light of the uncertainties surrounding Covid-19 and how it affects employment. This was the article that got me starting a blog in the first place. When I was a pupil, I was silenced when posing this question to the public. The examples I give whilst not all applicable to me personally, are real life examples (although I will not be naming any individual or law firm).
Subsequently, on 28 November, fueled by observing futile arguments about “pupil exploitation” over LinkedIn between typically junior and senior practitioners, I wrote on Facebook (this time uploading a cheesecake photo for enhancement purposes) as follows:
On 18 December 2020, hopeful about a “2-hour intellectual discourse on issues regarding legal practice” titled “How Pupils Should Be Remunerated?”, I was left less hopeful than at the beginning, leading to my next Facebook post:
Okay. Thank you for listening to my year-end recap of the big money debate. My input is in between the lines of all the abovesaid posts.
FINAL NOTE
On a final note on possible the last article of this year, I would like to share how a good few lawyers, law students, pupils, professors and even business developers who have started conversations with me about how they wish they were running blogs like Late Night Laws but were “not ready”. I actually heard the phrase “not ready” a few times now so I suspect that what I initially thought was just a conversation opener could actually be a true reflection of how a portion of soon to be poets actually feel. Here, I would just say that for the past 20 years of my life and before I started my first post at least, I too had been more towards introverted. In retrospect, I think I did overthink about the weight of what I was writing about. I mean there is fake news and then there is also just freedom writing. This is now my 10th to 12th article and I feel pretty much at home now.
P.S. This Christmas there will be a special Christmas card from Late Night Laws. If you enjoyed reading my articles, do make sure you subscribe to receive it. Next year, the aim is to keep monthly articles at a count of 1 or 2 (so as not to be annoying), still typically at late night because that’s when my thoughts run!. Of course if you don’t enjoy the articles, no pressure! Merry Christmas all and a Happy New Year 2021!