I know I promised the opening episode of my new drama series, The Move, but this week, I was side-tracked onto another television series about lawyers.
The series in question ran between 1996 -1997, so I was six years qualified when it aired. It was interesting to watch it again, over 25 years later, not only to see how office life has changed, but also to think about the hope and aspirations I had for my career at that time.
The synopsis of the show is:
“It centres on the life of twentysomething law graduates embarking upon their careers while sharing a house in south London.”
I remember coming across the show by accident – it was on late at night, after Newsnight, and it fascinated me. Watching it again, I recognised the entrance to Chancery Lane tube station, chambers in High Holborn, the fashion, the optimism of being a newly qualified lawyer.
But what I found interesting watching it again were the office scenes. The only familiar sight was the blue archive boxes on the shelves – other than that, it was all very different. The junior wandering around the office handing out notes and telephone messages will have been replaced by email. The old-fashioned computers would now be flat screens and possibly two screens on every desk. Yes, we still have paper files but are they tied in the traditional pink ribbon and as hefty as they are shown to be, or are all the documents scanned? We no longer allow smoking in the office, and not even indoors. There was a dated element to the programme, a snapshot of the past in a solicitors’ office which many of us aspired to – but with characters who were not afraid to take recreational drugs and turn up to work the next morning with a hideous hangover.
The programme is worth a look – a trip down solicitor memory lane as well as Chancery Lane. Watch it and try and remember who you wanted to be – Egg, Milly, Anna, Miles or Warren?
This is written by a real high street conveyancer who wishes to remain anonymous. Read more in Today’s Conveyancer every week.
