Anonymous Assistant
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This article lacks information on the notability of the subject matter. Please help improve this article by providing context for a general audience, especially in the lead section. (November 2007) |
The "Anonymous Assistant" is a fictional newspaper column in The Times depicting the work of Helen Bailey, a litigation lawyer in the City of London. It began life in legal section of The Times in 2003, where it ran on an ad hoc basis during 2004.
In 2005 a new push in the online services led to it being commissioned to run on the Law section of The Times’ website as a fortnightly column, where it received rave reviews.
It has since been lauched as an independent blog.
[edit] Situation background
Helen Bailey is a junior litigation lawyer at CWS, a medium sized law firm in the City of London. She is best friends with Jane, Alex, Liz and Olivia all of whom have the misfortune of working for the biggest bully in the Firm: the Boss; undisputed leader of the litigation department who values his assistants only for their ability to earn him money.
The Boss poached new partner Miranda Myers from a rival firm and assigned Helen as her new assistant. Miranda goes out of her way to make life hard for Helen, determined to do anything to secure that elusive equity partnership she craves.
If these horrors were not bad enough, Helen has the misfortune of working with the most odious man at the Bar: Roger Fortesque-Smythe and is also lumbered with the worst secretary in the history of the firm: Melinda Peach. Melinda prefers to pass her days surfing eBay and gossiping than bothering with incidentals like typing and filing. Helen shares Melinda with self styled “head boy” Tarquin who is universally loathed because of his shameless brown-nosing tactics. Tarquin is friends with Fergus, a self-styled lady-killer whose father is a partner in another office.
As Helen slaves away for no thanks and little pay, Jane, Alex, Liz and Olivia are on hand to lead her astray - sometimes in spectacular fashion. Jane is undisputed leader of office subversion and spends more time plotting and scheming than, seemingly, working.
Follow their exploits as they battle support staff, champion assistants’ rights and uncover the secrets which threaten to undermine the stability of the litigation team……
[edit] Author
The "Anonymous Assistant" is written by a real lawyer working in a City firm. The events and characters she depicts are entirely fictional but many of the scenarios are drawn from her real life experiences.
