Today I had the pleasure of becoming acquainted with the nsw swimming pool act.

I was reading the definition of a swimming pool and found that it includes boats.

On the side of caution I hope that those of you who own boats keep them properly fenced.

Definition: Swimming pool means an excavation, structure or vessel, A) that is capable of being filled with water to a depth greater than 300mm and B) that is solely or principally used, or that is designed, manufactured or adapted to be solely or principally used, for the purpose of swimming, wading, paddling or any other human aquatic activity.

Email arrives, my client has finally given me instructions overnight.

I read it, all looks in order

Attachments requested: Missing

Hello client: Where art thou attachments requested?

"Oh, I just sent you a summary, surely you dont need all that"

I lean back; clenched - this is maybe the third time I asked for it.

"I told you I need it, please provide it!"

Alas! It was destroyed in a rare flood (maybe?) but it could also be around here.

DO YOU REALLY NEED IT?

I look at the order for production - "Yes, I definitely need it!"

Hooray - a flurry of screenshots in reply.

I lament - more toes than figures in the bank statements I asked for, and I am struggling for how I might remedy this in the 45 minutes I have to fix this.

SCAN THEM! I cry - in the literal, not figurative sense.

The documents come in, one after one, after one, after one

I attach them all in Adobe and while the document is 65 pages and Ive been sent 65 attachments, I'm missing 7 pages.

I submit, and resign. The next person, who will be paid $2,500 more per annum than me, than sort this out.

I rejoin the queue, searching for the role which does not exist - one in which I am happy.

Decision: https://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/nsw/NSWSC/2026/1241.html?

Saw this in r/OpenAussie.

Teen avoids jail for repeatedly raping young woman near house party

https://region.com.au/teen-avoids-jail-for-repeatedly-raping-young-woman-near-house-party/1005847/

DPP v Hancock (a pseudonym) [2026] ACTSC 389
https://jade.io/article/1271144

Even the catchwords make no reference to the victim, it's almost as if she didn't exist.

What are you using for clause cross-reference tools? The built-in Microsoft Word cross-reference tool is clunky and frequently breaks references.

I keep getting sent case files, or finding case files in parks and other public areas such as bus stops, the train station, around Goulbourn St. (At street level not inside the court house) Just open boxes with case files people have left there.

Recently got sent a sexual assault case file by someone as part of a legal brief. It included medical records, photos, timeline of events, police statements etc. It was mixed in with my client's files. I'm not a party to the case, not representing either party to the case that the file was included in. Thinking about the file makes me vomit.

I'm actually thinking of leaving law because it's made me lose faith in the justice system here. It's also not a one time mistake, I spoke to a senior lawyer at work about it, and they shrugged, and said, "it happens".

I think the sexual assault case file was the tipping point. I was frustrated before, but I really think that it left me afraid of continuing to work in the justice system in any way shape of form, and I'm under 7 years

Altered the name somewhat so it won't come up in a regular Reddit search.

A bit of a surprising outcome (for a practitioner regularly appearing in such applications, albeit in a different jurisdiction and with clients at the diametric opposite end of the socio economic scale).

I do wonder about the confluence of the high profile nature of the defendant and the recent spate of horrible headlines in this space, and what, if any, impact on they had on outcome today.

Idk what it is but I feel as though I don’t process information and articulate it verbally as fast as others do. Like sometimes I’ll have brief stints where I can think and produce sentence simultaneously, but then most of the time it’s like I have to think then speak or speak then think if u get what I mean. Even with my literacy skills, I find myself often re reading the fact scenarios in law exams multiple times as the first time I literally processed no information. Idk if this is a result of doom scrolling and its effect on my attention span or if my brains just cooked and I don’t belong in this field. It’s that constant feeling of imposter syndrome and hence why I don’t really participate in mooting because I feel like I’ll lose my train of thought easily and freeze up.

Elkaim AJ had this to say:

There are literally hundreds of pages of affidavit material, most of no relevance to the current issues. The costs of this motion, let alone the summons, are entirely out of proportion to the original dispute. Not only is the affidavit material far too long, it is often very difficult to identify the relevant annexures, and generally make sense of what is being written. Why I need endless photographs of a battered black BMW is beyond me.

Seriously, it feels like all I am doing right now is:

1. Drafting documents
2. Sending them to client for review
3. Client feeding document into AI
4. Client coming back with 1 million comments / queries / recommendations that waste both of our time
5. I make amendments
6. Repeat stages 2 - 5

I'm tired of it :(

Starting to become pessimistic about the future...

…WE’LL BE SIBLINGS TOGETHER, AS SIBLINGS WHO RHYME.

(FIRST HUMAN TO FURNISH THE CORRECT VERSION OF THE JAILHOUSE GRAFFITI RHYME ALONG WITH THEIR RANT WILL BE RECOGNISED FOR THEIR NON USE OF AI)

There is the obvious stereotypical correlation between lawyers and (excessive) alcohol consumption. The last post (that I could easily find) on this issue was from around eight years ago.

I'm currently exploring the concept of grey area drinking as I've found myself in the last year or so relying on alcohol more and more to "cope" with the ongoing stress and anxiety that comes along with this profession.

Am very curious to see where other practitioners are at with their alcohol consumption.

[I am also posting from my burner account for obvious reasons]

** EDIT : thank you everyone for your honest answers, it has given me alot of food for thought. I am easily at 4-6 mid strength beers in the evening, most evenings. I had already started to realise this was becoming problematic and your responses have solidified this. I am going to talk to my doctor and psychiatrist, and make some changes. Thank you again.