Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affects many adults, especially candidate attorneys like me.
ADHD can result in candidates having certain difficulties in managing their duties as a candidate attorney, which include, but are not limited to, issues with time management and organisation as well as balancing their occupational duties and studying for the competency-based examinations.
In this blog, I will endeavour to recommend certain coping mechanisms that have been useful during my time as a candidate legal practitioner.
Routine
Having a routine is extremely beneficial to those living with ADHD as it can ensure that you adequately balance your responsibilities. You should take time out to create a realistic routine that is relatively easy to follow. You can pin it up in your room or save it on your phone or laptop. Ensure you include time for work, studying, self-care activities, hobbies and household chores.
You may initially struggle to follow your routine fully. It is important to remember that your efforts count and that following your routine will be easier as time progresses. Click here for a free example of a routine.
Ensure you include time for cooking, household chores and shopping for essentials.
When cooking, it might be better to do meal prep on one day of the week, such as a Sunday. Store it in containers and freeze it for the remainder of the week. You could also cook every second or third day and prepare enough food for each of those days. This will ensure that you can focus on studying for your exams in the evening instead of spending time cooking.
When shopping for essentials, you should have a list of things you buy every month on your notepad on your phone, including any medication. Use your notepad to record when a product starts running low so that you do not forget to get that product when you do your shopping. This will ensure that you spend less time going to the shop.
Consider using services such as Checkers Sixty60 to have your groceries delivered. You can also sign up to have your medication delivered to your house from pharmacies such as Clicks.
Organisation
Here are a few organisational tips:
Writing everything down
When given verbal instructions, write them down immediately and repeat the instructions to your principal to confirm that you heard them correctly. You could also request that your principal give you instructions in writing if he or she can do so.
Office space
Try to have a dedicated place for everything in your office so you know where items are when you need them. This can include having a tray for urgent work as well as a tray for court work. Try to keep your office tidy, if you can. If you struggle to tidy up every day, you can dedicate a few minutes one day of the week to do so.
Living space
If you struggle to keep your living space tidy, that is okay. However, I recommend you have a dedicated place where you always store items after using them. An example would be placing your house keys in a specific spot when you return from work, so you know where they are when you need to leave for work the following day. This saves time and prevents you from feeling overwhelmed and stressed when you cannot find something.
Timesheets
If you have to fill in timesheets, fill them in throughout the day by recording what you did and the time it took you immediately after completing the task. If you do not do this, you might forget a task or the amount of time you spent on the task.
File notes
Make your file notes as soon as you complete a task. For example, if you went to court, make your file note stating what you did as soon as you return to the office and place it in the file or give it to the filing clerk immediately.
Filing documents
Once you return from court, take all the stamped copies of documents you have received and place them in their files immediately or give them to the filing clerk. This also applies to documents you have served. Always ensure you have a stamped copy of the documents to prove you completed the task.
Study notes
Ensure that all your study notes are kept in one place. It is best to have a dedicated study space. When you are about to study, you can take your notes from their designated place and place them back when you are done studying. You could also have a section where you place notes you are currently working with. For example, if you spend a study session focusing on the sale of immovable property and did not finish that section in that study session, put the notes in this space so you can easily grab them to work on in your next study session.
Medication
If you take medication for your ADHD or any other condition, it is essential to ensure that you take your medication every day or as recommended by a medical professional. It is important to make it accessible. If you take your medication at home, ensure that you take it every morning before leaving for work. If you take your medication at work, you could take it to work on Monday morning, leave it there for the duration of the week and take it home with you on Friday. You can set a reminder on your phone for Sunday evening to remind you to pack your medication and on Friday during your lunch break to remind you to put your medication back into your bag for the weekend.
You should ensure that you do not run out of medication by getting your script from your doctor in time and that you get your medication from the pharmacy while you still have medication left. The pharmacy may not have the specific medication when you get there and may have to order it from another branch. To prevent going without your medication, you can try to get your new batch about five days before your current medication runs out.
Time management
Calendars and diaries can be used to keep track of important dates. When making use of the diary system, write that something is due on the day before the actual due date. This gives you time to file important documents the day before they are actually due, which may assist in feeling less overwhelmed. Having reminders on your phone is also a good way to remember important events.
You can make a to-do list on the morning of the day in question or the afternoon of the previous day. Ensure you do not put too many things on your to-do list as your principal might ask you to do ad hoc tasks during the day. Once you are told to do these additional tasks, add them to your to-do list. Tick tasks off your to-do list once you have completed them.
Alarms may be a useful tool to help you stay on track with your routine. An example would be setting an alarm at various times of the day when you have to do something. When you get home, it may be difficult to start studying immediately. It may be useful to set an alarm for 17:30, for example, which notifies you that it is time to start studying once you have decompressed from the workday.
Self-stimulating behaviours
Self-stimulating behaviours, also known as stemming, include repetitive body movements or repetitive movements of objects and can assist you in dealing with anxiousness or hyperactivity. Stimming toys can be used while you are, for example, waiting in a long queue at court and feeling impatient. If you can't afford stimming toys, you can use elastic bands and paper clips. It is best to ensure that the object you are stimming with is small and will not distract others.
Competency-based examinations
It is essential to ensure you have adequate time to study for the Legal Practice Council's board exams or attorneys' admission exams. Many people with ADHD may have difficulties when it comes to studying and may, as a result, require more time to do so.
Megan Castle, a partner at Lowe & Peterson Attorneys, recommends using an "hour banking system" when studying for your LPC examinations.
Here is a breakdown of this method:
- Look at your routine and determine which days you will be able to study and how many hours you can study on those days. For example, study on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays for three hours per day and six hours on Saturday.
- Once you have determined this, look at how much time you have until you write your examinations. For example, if you have eight weeks, multiply the hours you can study per week by the number of weeks you have at your disposal until the exam.
- Take the total number of available hours and apportion a certain amount of hours to each subject you will be writing. For example, if you end up with 200 hours, apportion 120 hours to Paper 3 and 80 hours to Paper 1, because Paper 3 contains more content than Paper 1.
- When you study, record how many hours you spend on a subject. Recording your hours helps you apportion the same between different subjects.
- If you can't study on a particular day, add those hours as "debt" and ensure that you catch up on those hours on the weekend or a day you have not set aside as a study day.
ADHD coaching
ADHD coaches are professionals who assist people living with ADHD in finding ways to deal with the challenges they face, including, but not limited to, better time management skills, organisational skills and establishing routines. If you want the assistance of an ADHD coach, I recommend Elzanne Wolfaardt.
Resources for candidate attorneys
You can consult the following resources if you need more information, guidance or support:
- ADDitude Magazine
- Attention Deficit Disorder Association
- Centres for Disease Control and Prevention
- CHADD's National Resource Centre on ADHD
- National Institute of Mental Health
- Adhasa - Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Support Group of South Africa (Facebook Group)
- ADDitude (Facebook Group)
- Adult ADHD support group (Facebook Group)
- How to ADHD (YouTube channel)
- Dr. Tracey Marks (YouTube channel)
- Rick has ADHD (YouTube channel)
- ADHD Mastery (YouTube channel)
About the author
Jamie-Lee Links is a Candidate Attorney at Lowe & Peterson Attorneys. She concludes her practical vocational training contract (articles) in March 2025.
Sources
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