I am an articling student at a small law firm with two partners who do family and real estate law. They never trained me. They just say “Here is the file, get it done.” They never talk to me except to yell and insult me. Now, they fired the office administrator and told me I will be the new receptionist and secretary on top of my other work. Every morning, I wake up sick to my stomach about the thought of coming here. It was hard to find an articling position. I don’t know what I will do if I quit now. Please help.
— Desperate Dude

Desperate Dude, you have rights and there are resources available to help you. I strongly advise that you consider making a formal complaint in writing to the Law Society of Upper Canada (LSUC) and that you contact the Discrimination and Complaints Counsel. Your situation brings up employment law and LSUC Code of Conduct considerations that are beyond the scope of what can be dealt with here. What I can say for sure is that you are in a toxic work environment. Clearly, this situation is already having negative effects on your emotional and physical well-being. It is absolutely and unequivocally never worth it. You need a job, but is this the job you need?

Fear of the unknown is the number one reason why most of us stay in jobs that chip away at our souls. Self-delusion is the second biggest. We convince ourselves that we have no choice, that we’re stuck, that we probably wouldn’t find anything better “out there.” My friend Samir never stopped complaining about his job. He had been there five years.  The litany of grievances and frustrations was unending: his boss was a jerk and a moron who spent his days watching Internet porn; his co-workers were semi-literate hillbillies; he was embarrassed to be working for a company that sold such tacky products; the two hour commute to get there and back was wearing on him and his family.

Finally, one day, I asked Samir: “Why don’t you just quit and find something else?” Samir got really testy and said: “I don’t really have a choice, do I? I have to work. There’s no guarantee that I will find something else if I quit.”

“True,” I thought, “but if you quit, I guarantee you that you won’t be working there anymore!”

Sometimes you just have to trust your gut and cut your losses. Deciding to leave can be a scary prospect, but the risks can be mitigated with a little exit planning — including contacting your law school’s career placement service, connecting with legal recruitment firms, getting career counselling and tapping into your network of friends and peers. You need to be entirely comfortable with the when and how of your job transition. In addition to the resources mentioned above, for personal assistance with the emotional aspects of your situation, you can contact the Legal Profession Assistance Conference run by the Canadian Bar Association or the Ontario Lawyers’ Assistance Program.

We always have a choice about whether to stay in a toxic job or to go. Desperate Dude, you need to ask yourself whether the unknown can be any worse than the toxic environment that you are in now. You cannot article without training or guidance and you cannot do two jobs at once, especially under such horrible conditions. Your situation is abusive, unsustainable and untenable. One way or another, it will end. The only question is whether you will leave on your own terms.