One in three City assistant solicitors are intent on leaving the law as they struggle to cope with long hours, unacceptable levels of stress and unrealistic billing targets, according to a damning joint survey by the City of London Law Society (CLLS) and Legal Week.

In a depressing picture of life in the profession’s junior ranks, nearly nine out of 10 of the 177 assistant solicitors who responded to the survey said that they have suffered unacceptable levels of stress during their career.