Yesterday, we brought you news of an essay-writing company that pays LPC and BPTC graduates just £43 per 1,000 words.
After publishing the story, we were alerted to a case study of ‘Natasha’, a solicitor who apparently works Saturdays for the essay-writing company in question, which is called Academic Knowledge.
During the week, Natasha works full-time for “a really great firm” which unfortunately pays her very little.
Here’s what she has to say:
“My name is Natasha and I am a qualified solicitor, working in private practice for around a year and a half now. I work for a really great firm and as any new lawyer will tell you, this means that competition to work there is really stiff. The junior fee earners get paid a fair amount less than most of the secretaries because the HR department know they will get dozens of really strong applicants every time they advertise a job. I therefore work part time for Academic Knowledge as a freelance writer to supplement my income.
As my job at my firm is full time, I fit around five hours a week in at the weekend, usually Saturday morning to early afternoon. There is a little work to do in between – looking out for briefs that interest me and keeping an eye on emails from the company – but on the whole I can get this done within minutes and focus my efforts at the weekends.” (The full case study is here – thanks to journalist Frank Webster for the tip.)
Academic Knowledge isn’t the only essay-writing company that says it employs practising lawyers. Oxbridge Essays, a division of which provides a service assisting students with their training contract and pupillage application forms, claims to be able to call upon “magic circle-trained lawyers”. Unlike ‘Natasha’, these lavishly remunerated City types don’t need the money. Instead, Oxbridge Essays’ head of sales, John Foster, puts their involvement down to “altruism”.