The legal world mobilizes against toxic stages

When Caio Lima Rezende, 32, was selected to work at a large law firm in Brasília (DF), he thought his life was complete. “Now it’s just a matter of doing your homework. Working properly and everything is on track.”

The illusion lasted less than two weeks.

Even in the first days, he realized that the routine was much more intense than he had imagined. Each intern received many petition requests a day. The first scolding didn’t take long.

“I was asked to distribute a petition at the end of the day and I had to use my boss’s access to do that. When I arrived the next day, it was the first thing I tried to do, but I found that another intern had already done it. The lawyer exploded, it was horrible,” he says.

A few years later, already in another office, Rezende says he was harassed. When he had what he called “outbreak day,” he heard from a colleague that he was not the first victim.

The law student says that the law firms have very similar behavior: “There are no working hours, there is an absurd demand. They really grind people. I think they look at the number of law courses and calculate that either one or the other gives up . Humiliation is a natural thing.”

Rezende gave up. At least from the big offices.

Now in the last semester – he had to put the enrollment on hold for a while – he is doing an internship in a smaller office, in a healthier routine.

The plans for the future are aimed at people who, like him, felt helpless when the illusion of professional success was shattered. “I want to act pro bono [voluntariamente] for anyone who wants to sue these offices. We know whoever does that gets scarred, but I don’t ever want to step foot in a place like that again.”

Intern is treated as cheap labor, says labor prosecutor

In the opinion of labor prosecutor Gustavo Rizzo Ricardo, coordinator of the GT Trainees at Conafret (National Coordination to Combat Fraud in Labor Relations), there is a tendency in Brazil for trainees to be treated as cheap labor. Something that, given the labor legislation, is fraud.

“There is a conceptual problem. The internship is not a job, but it is work. The law is very clear about being an educational period”, says the prosecutor. “[A lei] does not say that the intern may have excessive obligations or deadlines for tasks. How can you punish who you are still educating?”

For Rizzo, it is not a question of excluding responsibility in the internship activity, but of framing it correctly. “If moral harassment is not acceptable in any relationship, what about the harassment of a worker who is in the learning process?”, he asks.

It’s not that law firms ignore the risk of lawsuits, as they themselves are the authors of thousands. There is, however, a veiled effort to curb the judicialization of what, according to reports heard by the Sheetis naturalized in offices, especially in large newsstands.

Junior lawyer Patrícia (not her real name, at her request) says that, in the WhatsApp group of the office where she worked, it was common for supervisors and partners to share second degree judgments of actions against the company. For her, the messages came as a message, that any actions would end badly for former employees.

Today, many months after her dismissal from another big firm, she still harbors anger over what she sees as a year of terror and humiliation.

What was supposed to be a healthy opportunity for those just starting out turned into an accumulation of overtime, demands, mistakes and frustrations. The pressure, says the lawyer, led her to develop a condition of anxiety and depression, currently controlled with medication and therapy.

For the professional, the aggressive behavior authorized in these offices still hides a contradiction: among the employees, shouting, in public, suicide prevention actions, as in the Yellow September campaign.

Suicide attempt at large newsstand sparked #MeToo from interns

In recent weeks, a campaign similar to #MeToo has spread through social media: interns and former interns have started to share their experiences in offices and legal departments of companies and public bodies, in reports of disrespect for the Internship Law, moral and sexual harassment. and even intimidation of those who decided to expose irregularities and illegalities.

The trigger for this wave of exhibitions – many of them made only anonymously – was the suicide attempt of a law student during working hours at a renowned office in São Paulo, Mattos Filho.

The office spoke of the matter only through a note, in which it regretted what had happened. He also said that the priority, at the moment, was to welcome the young man, his family and co-workers, ensuring privacy and respect for those involved.

Internally, it began to review procedures and created committees to analyze how the work of its approximately 300 interns has been. He did not speak, however, of the accusations of moral harassment that accompanied the reports about his colleague and that still circulate on social networks and in WhatsApp groups.

The case is being monitored by the Public Ministry of Labor.

The president of the Internship and Bar Examination Commission of the OAB-SP, Ana Claudia Scalquette, says that the section is following all the manifestations, but that so far there has been no request for action. The OAB-SP also says that it is not competent to monitor internship conditions in offices, but that it has dedicated itself to bringing these students closer to class entities.

Teachers and lawyers demand a new attitude in the area

For a group of professors from USP and FGV Law, there is in the reports the background of the professional culture in the area of ​​Law, something that, according to them, needs to be re-discussed.

They signed an article in Jota (a media startup specialized in legal news) in which they say that many of those who command the large legal firms today adopt postures that ignore the generational differences and the changes that the legal activity and education have undergone in recent years. years old.

For these teachers, the argument that “it has always been like this” seeks “at the same time to romanticize their past and ignore the present reality in the face of successive cases that reveal the precariousness of the mental health of so many young people”.

The article is signed by professors Rafael Mafei (USP), Tathiane Piscitelli (FGV), Mariangela Magalhães Gomes (USP), Conrado Hübner Mendes (USP, and also a columnist for Sheet), Sheila Neder Cerezetti (USP), Susana Henriques da Costa (USP), Eloísa Machado (FGV) and Flávio Roberto Batista (USP, and also a federal prosecutor).

Students want to create intern ombudsman

Lara Santos, from the management of the Academic Center XI de Agosto, at the USP Law School (University of São Paulo), says that it is necessary to break a pact of silence that prevails among students.

The academic center started a campaign called Decent Internship. On Thursday (1st), a public hearing debated mental health and dignity. Other academic centers, such as 22 de Agosto, from PUC-SP, and João Mendes Júnior, from Mackenzie, also participated.

Mattos Filho, Pinheiro Neto, Demarest, Pereira Neto|Macedo and PG Law have sent representatives. In all, 26 stalls were invited. Also present were the São Paulo Lawyers Union, OAB-SP, Public Defender’s Office, Public Ministry of Labor and the direction of the Faculty of Law.

According to the students, the meeting was a first step towards discussing joint solutions. The offices were also willing to participate in discussion groups to be created to address the matter.

“The exploitation of interns cannot be rewarded with happy hour, end-of-the-year party, candy on the table”, said Murilo Nunes, president of Mackenzie’s Board of Directors.

PUC-SP students closed a partnership with the Claro Serrano office, which has a project to map moral and sexual harassment at work, and provide lectures on mental health.

The USP CA proposes the creation of an ombudsman with student representatives. They claim that complaints made only to the law firms’ compliance bodies could end up turning against victims if their complaints reach the partners of the law firms.

Lara Santos says students are afraid that offices will keep a record of interns they find problematic.

“The person is in the 4th, 5th year of graduation, thinking about a career. Imagine the pressure and fear of speaking while submitting to workloads that prevent even participating in academic activities”, he says.

Sharing experience helps ease emotions

Psychologist Milene Rosenthal, from the Telavita digital clinic, says that the internship usually takes place at an important moment of emotional maturation. “When they arrive at the company, they are full of anxiety and expectations, fear of making mistakes. It’s a whole new world for those who spent years in the family nucleus.”

For the professional, it is important to keep in mind that more serious mental disorders do not develop overnight. More extreme cases, such as a suicide attempt, are commonly due to disorders not yet diagnosed or properly treated.

For the director-general of Empregos.com.br, Leonardo Casartelli, care for the mental health of workers, enhanced by the pandemic, is also beginning to reach students. The problem, he says, is how companies view these employees.

“Many hire the intern imagining that he has deliveries of the same or better quality than other permanent employees – and he is charged for it, which can generate some kind of psychological pressure, especially when he is working remotely, without support.”

Office reinforces communication and welcoming channel

THE Sheet contacted nine of the largest firms (Demarest, Felsberg, TozziniFreire, MachadoMeyer, Veirano, Pinheiro Neto, Nelson Wiliams, Mattos Filho and Bichara) to find out about their internship policies. Only one responded, the Demarest.

It currently employs 73 interns, of which 70 are in legal fields. According to the office, students only fulfill the workload established by law, of six hours a day. The journey is flexible in the test weeks and one week before the OAB test, they are excused from work.

Demarest says it maintains strict abuse and harassment prevention policies; there is a whistleblowing channel open to all employees.

According to the office’s management, since the beginning of the pandemic, mental health policies have been reinforced, with the creation of a support and reception channel and the implementation of a program aimed at balancing personal and professional life.

The firm claims to have reinforced, a few days ago, to its lawyers at the beginning of their careers and interns, the existence of these policies, the whistleblowing channel and the willingness to accept mental health issues. These younger professionals are organized in a group called D Futuro, which holds meetings and is accompanied by the partners.