Don’t ever listen to people like them. Believe in yourself, I’ve worked with tons of juniors who were not up to their jobs, or it took a lot of time to train. Very few people know what they are doing, and after working in a firm for a considerable amount of time, you become more valuable. Can you be replaced? It won’t be as easy as it is made to seem. Also, what kind of lawyer will we be if we can’t advocate for ourselves?

I also suffer from severe mental health issues and am on medication for them. One formula that's helped is this. When someone assigns me work I ask them "When do we need this by?" and then if they say "Pronto" then say "Is it possible to give this ___________ as I'm a bit tied up today. If its urgent I'll do it asap of course". When you ask the second time, people will instinctively find a way to try and shift deadlines around as the lawyer mind (which always thinks of text massages as being read out in court one day) will need to write something in the reply box to make them look reasonable.

Unless they're doing cocaine, A0s who don't set these necessary boundaries burnout and give shoddy work all the time.

Setting boundaries may be considered as rude/lazy/just not good enough by an annoying PA, but rest assured his/her opinion doesn't matter at all in the long run. Grow thicker skin and ignore these stupid opinions of you.

As a soon to be fresher at T1, I often read that you have to set the boundaries early or people will walk all over you, which makes sense. But also since they know nothing else about you and we hear the work isn't all that illuminating, how do you make yourself seem useful enough to keep around, promote etc. when you can't differentiate with work product? As in, if everyone else does allow these over extensions and you set clear boundaries, wouldn't the associate setting boundaries be considered rude/lazy/just not good enough?

At a higher PQE I'm assuming people have expertise that sets them apart and work quality speaks for them so they can afford to.

Any insights? From a soon to join A0 perspective..

Just because you wake up at 5 AM, that should become 'normal' hours for everyone? People aren't supposed to just wake up and start working. Brush karna, nahana, breakfast karna, toilet bhi jaana hota hai yaar. That is why offices start at 10 AM. (With offices opening up, let's add back commute.)

I maybe much senior to you, but I used to suffer like this, which led me to suffer later when I had to deal with the same thing with clients I don't want to deal with who are unreasonable and expect you to be at beck and call just because they can and are paying you loads. I have worked a few principles that helped me. Be warned that this made me lose a few clients in immensely competitive:

1. If it is not an ongoing matter that is urgent (for eg execution is ongoing or a draft that is supposed to go out), you shouldn't have to pick up at odd hours or on Sundays or public holidays.

2. Switch off blue tick on work what's app and read receipts on email.

3. Remember that what you can deal with on Sunday night, the world is not going to change on Monday morning if you deal with it a few hours later (this is very hard to acquire in today's day and age, but you will learn as you grow old that this is true) and it's not life changing compared to what it feels like at that moment.

4. Figure and establish one form of communication that doesn't trigger anxiety as much as the other. E.g answering calls may be triggering for you than reading emails because answering phone comes with the anxiety of not know what it is about Or vice versa, the email pile up triggers anxiety more and calls you are ok to deal with. Treat that as the primary mode of communication so that people realise that is the best way to reach you.

5. Nothing is more perfectly acceptable if it's calls, or messages or to reply that you will call that person back

6. Take client calls if possible or let them know you are not available. Nothing can trigger anxiety more than client complaining to seniors that you are not available.

There is no right answer, but for the sake of your mental health you will have to figure out your trigger points and see the best way that you can deal with it. The key is to remember that in the current culture people have forgotten what are acceptable and unacceptable boundaries of professionalism. And professionalism demands that you respect other people's time. I as a rule never call my juniors on weekends or post 8 PM unless I have asked them to be available because something has to go out etc. If something urgent does come up, I usually drop a message for bothering them at a time which is not within official hours, and ask them to call when free. If it's super urgent, I may call them, but that's because the client is calling me for something which I cannot do myself. If the junior is still unavailable, I would still think, it's perfectly valid (though I think I would be upset if u don't get a reply at least telling me that "I am outside, can I call you at x y z". In covid times, even if it is a lie it's a polite way of saying, I am not available right now.

All the best!

Do not acknowledge. Never ever pick up calls or answer emails at ungodly hours. If you do this once, it'll never stop. If you don't acknowledge, they'll stop contacting at odd hours after first few times.

If you can't establish boundaries now, switch jobs and start over.

So I am someone who already struggles badly with anxiety and depression ( Did not disclose this to my tier 2 employer as i thought it would end any chance of me getting the job). Over the last number of months, what has happened is that even at all odd times( like 11pm on a weekday, Saturday night and even multiple times on Sundays) I am getting cold calls/whatsapp messages directly allotting me work without asking if i am available or anything like that. This has meant that even on the days when I don't have work post evening or on a Sunday, I find myself constantly refreshing email/checking for call which is making my mental health worse.
Obviously, with regards to my mental health issues, I have been and am continuing to work to improve it but how can I deal with this situation? Is it ok to ignore contact at odd times and claim I didn't see it? But in that case, it would lead to people getting more angry/cold towards me.
What could be practical solutions to this problem given that in my position, I just can't dictate anything to seniors?