Everyone needs solicitors, whether they like us or not

Why don't people like solicitors? Is it because of the old adage that 'lawyer' sounds like, or is synonymous with, liar? Is it because of that ever perpetuated rumour  that we make our living out of lying convincingly to protect fiendish people? I wasn't the only person asked countless times throughout my legal education how I could defend someone I knew had committed murder or some other equally hilarious question.

This perception affected me about a month into my first seat of my training contract. I was in the planning department discussing some aspects of a section 106 agreement with a member of the local planning authority. The queries I made on my client's behalf were innocuous to say the least.

However, when I politely requested that she took instructions soonest, I was tersely told that, in our respective jobs, we wore different 'hats'.

Presumably because of my ensuing confused silence, she warmed to her subject, informing me that her hat was nicer and much more flowery than the one I wore as a solicitor. I employed my best faux laugh and wound up the call. When I relayed the comment to my then supervisor, he just laughed at my incredulity and said: "Get used to it."

Maybe I caught her on a bad morning, maybe her partner had recently absconded with a planning solicitor or maybe she blindly hated solicitors. All I know is that, since then, I have been subjected to a few other (all unsolicited) insights into my career choice, all equally as baffling and usually insulting.

Seeing red

A common misconception among my friends appears to be that a solicitor's charge-out rate is synonymous with their salary. Even my own sister berated me for being a 'snake' when I explained the concept of green time and red time. It didn't prevent her from engaging us when she needed conveyancing advice, tail between legs. Of course, nearly everyone needs a solicitor at some point in their life, not just serial killers.

There are bad apples in every profession, not just ours. So why is this dislike for solicitors so well established? And does the world really believe that all solicitors are criminal barristers? I know my mother does. Almost every answer to a question about work involves me saying "because I'm  not Judge John Deed".

I know I'm not pedantic because I'm a lawyer. Rather, it is the profession that serves as a useful cover for my anally retentive nature. Perhaps personalities seek out the solicitor guise to hide our own foibles within its dark and stereotypical folds.

Anyway, in my opinion, being pedantic pays. It means someone sees loopholes, options and outcomes, which is a trait I would want my own solicitor to possess. SJ

Pippa Allsop is a second-year trainee at Michelmores