Training contracts: learning on the job
Like it or not, you cannot become a solicitor without first completing two years of work-based learning, which is known as the training contract.
Competition for trainee places is fierce because it is a required step for all solicitors. As such, getting a place as a trainee solicitor in the firm of your choice should be your priority while you are still at university.
A training contract will involve working in a law firm for two years to learn the ropes of the profession, and is taken after the Legal Practice Course (LPC). Your aim should be to spend that time acquiring the practical skills needed in the work environment.
If you are studying law at university, you should spend much of your penultimate year applying to firms for a training contract place. Students not studying law at university, but who want a legal career, should start applying in their final year.
During the summer, Easter and Christmas holidays, many law firms let aspiring lawyers loose in their offices to undertake vacation schemes. Vacation schemes last for around two to three weeks and enable students to gain work experience. Firms also throw in quite a few social trips and events to gel the group together. Group parties at swanky bars, trips to Brussels and Paris, and even a ride on the London Eye, are not unheard of.
Although the competition is often fierce for the schemes, a place is worth fighting for. Recruiters like it on the CV because it shows commitment to a legal career from the beginning, and it will give you a good insight into how a commercial law firm functions and the kind of tasks you will be expected to carry out. Vacation schemes can also often prepare you for the culture shock of entering the world of work after years spent as a student, and the pay is good, up
to 270 a week at some firms.
If it is money you are after, you might want to think about doing a vacation scheme in New York. Summer interns at Latham & Watkins, a top US firm, earned on average $2,650 (1,409) a week each in summer 2006. The firm took on 276 interns, spending a total of $8.5m (4.52m) on their salaries.
A place on the summer scheme could also lead to a firm training contract offer, with some firms hiring four out of five trainees from their vacation schemes.
On the face of it, working over your well-earned holidays may not seem that attractive, but completing a vacation scheme could have a major influence on your future career. Application deadlines for summer and Easter schemes are around January and February of your penultimate year, while you need to
apply in November for Christmas places. Check with the individual firms for
exact dates.
One of the main advantages of securing a place before you start the postgraduate stage of your path to qualifying is that firms sponsor their trainees by making a financial contribution towards the fees of the LPC and the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL), the one-year conversion course non-law graduates must complete before starting the LPC. Firms also pay a maintenance grant of between 5,000 and 7,500 to help with living costs, which takes away a huge financial burden.
Apply yourself
Just firing off random applications is unlikely to be as successful as researching the firms and areas you personally want to get into and then carefully putting together targeted applications.
Apply directly to the law firms you wish to work for. Check out the firms websites for contacts and exact closing dates. Some firms will want a CV and covering letter, while many use online or paper application forms.
Applying for training contract places is a time-consuming exercise if you do it properly. If you are clear about which areas of the law you are most interested in, then this is likely to translate to your application form.
You will need patience. If you try to cut corners and start cutting and pasting into the forms, you are likely to be found out. Recruiters are experienced and lacklustre responses are likely to set off alarm bells.
Although it is accepted that a candidate will apply to a large number of firms, recruiters will still want evidence that candidates know something about their firms. Do not regurgitate the firms brochure and marketing material, but use it to get a sense of what kind of person the firm is looking for.
The selection process itself may encompass interviews, psychometric tests, written tests and group exercises. Firms should tell you the result as soon as possible and be able to provide feedback. Different firms place different levels of emphasis on these tests, so try and be balanced in your approach.
However, under Law Society rules law firms are not permitted to offer training contracts until 1 September.
The training contract
Once you manage to get your name on a contract, you will get to work in at least four, and sometimes six, different departments during the two-year training contract.
The time spent in each department is known as a seat and at some international law firms you may have the opportunity to do one of these overseas. You might be able to request a six-month stint at an office in Europe, the Middle East, Asia or the US depending on the firm and its network. Some firms also offer trainees an opportunity to do a seat at one of their clients in-house legal departments. This is known as a secondment.
DO...
Read through the application form before starting it
Take your time answering the questions
Highlight all work experience you have had, even if it is not legally related
Check spelling, punctuation and grammar
Keep a copy of your final application so you are not caught off-guard in the interview
Research the firm before the big day
Think of some searching questions to ask at the end of the interview
Look the interviewer in the eye and maintain open, relaxed body language
DON'T...
Miss the application deadline - law firms are inundated with applications, so dont give them a reason to throw yours straight in the bin
Lie on your CV or application about your achievements - you will be found out
Get the name of the law firm wrong
Try to be funny in your application or interview
Dress in anything but a suit or formal wear and avoid sandals
Be late for your interview.
The firm you train with will determine what type of work you will do.
Some firms believe in giving trainees a certain level of responsibility, but training programmes in some of the larger firms have a reputation for being heavy on document checking and photocopying.
Trainees should note that it is also compulsory to take the Law Societys Professional Skills Course, which covers advocacy and communication skills; financial and business skills; and client care and professional standards.
The firm should allocate a training principal to support trainees throughout their time at the firm. This is usually a partner who will supervise and give appraisals and feedback on how things are going. For your part, you will also be required to keep a training record.
Show me the money
Commercial law firms may work you hard, but they will pay you well too. Indeed, the vast majority of commercial firms pay their trainees well above the Law Society minimum of 17,527 for trainees in Central London and 15,605 for everyone else.
Magic circle firms Allen & Overy (A&O) and Linklaters now pay their first-year trainees 33,000 and 31,300 respectively. Herbert Smith and Lovells, meanwhile, increased their first-year trainee salaries to 31,000.
For second-year trainees A&O is now paying 37,000, Lovells and Herbert Smith 35,000 and Norton Rose 33,000. Your net take-home pay will be around 2,100 a month.
According to a survey by the Association of Graduate Recruiters, these pay packets make trainee solicitors some of the best paid graduates in the country.
The median starting salary for graduates in 2006 is 23,000. Only industries such as insurance, banking, IT and financial services eclipse the law as those professions paying the most cash for new starters.
Your career awaits
It is virtually unheard of for someone to fail their training contract, but this is not to say there is room for complacency. A recent Lawyer 2B survey uncovered the fact that firms were retaining on average 85.2 per cent of their newly qualified (NQ) solicitors. If you want to avoid being in the minority of those trainees who are not retained, then you should be doing everything you can to impress during your time at the firm, as once the training contract is up the firm is under no obligation to keep you on.
However, this cuts both ways and, if you feel that the firm is not for you, or you cannot qualify into the department of your choice, the arrangement allows you to beat a hasty retreat. But whether you stay or go, nothing can change the fact that, at the end of the two years, you are a fully qualified solicitor.
Now that you are qualified
Your pay is likely to rocket from around 31,000 to more than 50,000. Salaries for NQ solicitors have grown by an average of 25 per cent since 2000, and in the top firms an NQ solicitor can earn up to 55,000. Greater responsibility and more work often accompanies the increase in salary , so those looking to slack off after qualifying will be disappointed.
Watch out. The whole system of legal training is set to change. The Law Society is thinking of scrapping the minimum-salary requirement for trainees to let the market decide the going rate. This approach could mean more training contracts available to students.
Despite growth in the number of students taking the LPC over the last five years, the number of available training contracts available has remained almost static. In 2000 there were 5,280 places and in 2005 there were 5,732.
A spokesperson for the Law Society said: In April the Law Society Regulation Board decided on the rates for the minimum salary for 2006-07 but agreed to a fundamental review of the minimum salary policy in view of the wider changes to the training contract.
The review is part of a much bigger rethink about the routes to legal qualification, which could make the traditional training slashed from two years to 18 months, or even made redundant.
The Law Society is looking to move with the times and has proposed a scheme whereby trainees could register themselves with the Law Society Regulation Board and then plan their own portfolio and training with a Regulation Board assessor, rather than with a law firm.
A period of work-based learning would still be compulsory but would be based around a new and more flexible portfolio of work.
The proposals could pave the way for paralegals to qualify as fully fledged solicitors more quickly by going directly to the Law Society Regulation Board themselves.
Peter Williamson, chair of the Law Society Regulation Board, said: Our figures indicate that there are thousands of people whove passed the LPC but have not been able to secure a training contract. Its a recognised bottleneck.
The Law Society is welcoming discussion on the proposals, throwing them open to a public consultation, so watch this space.
Readers' comments (2)
Anonymous | 31-Oct-2007 1:48 pm
Training contracts: learning on the job
To say that you cannot become a solicitor without having done a 2 year training contract is utter rubbish and ignores the Legal Executive training route. I have just become a solicitor after having qualfied in 2005 as a Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives. I then took the LPC part time through Birmingham College of Law and did the PSC in one week this summer. I qualified as a solicitor on 1st October. Although it has taken me 8 years to qualify this way, I do have a distinct advantage over any other NQ this year - I have 8 years litigation experience which hardly makes me a NQ in the traditional sense. It does annoy me when publications overlook the fact that there are other, less traditional, routes of becoming a solicitor.
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Husnara Begum, editor, Lawyer 2B | 31-Oct-2007 2:49 pm
Training contracts: learning on the job
Thanks for the below comments about alternative routes to qualification.
The points you raise are more than valid, but unfortunately - despite doing our very best - we cannot cover every possible eventuality. The most common route to qualification is by completing a two-year training contract, which is why Lawyer2B.com focuses on this route in order to assist the widest possible number of law students.
As such we are always interested in readers' suggestions on issues and advice that they would like to see covered - so keep them coming. For example, this is one of the reasons why we have made such a concerted effort to covered the reforms to legal education proposed by the SRA in more detail than us.
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