The Run up to Qualification

Normally the return to work in January as a trainee comes as a big shock to the system – you’re often starting in a new department with new colleagues, and have to shake off the brain fog brought on by too much food over the Christmas break.

This time around, however, I am staying in the Company Commercial department with a view to qualifying here in July, so thankfully everything feels much more familiar as I take a seat at my desk on the first day back. I am dealing with the same clients and the same transactions, and already know the team well, so I don’t have the usual first-day panic and confusion after picking up the first file in a completely new area of law.

Instead of the usually slightly slower start as you ease yourself into an unfamiliar department, the first couple of weeks back have been fairly hectic. I’m now less than six months away from qualification so my supervising partner is ramping up my workload and helping to broaden my knowledge in readiness for becoming a solicitor. He has passed me a few straight forward matters to deal with on my own with his supervision, and so I have found I am spending more time calling and emailing clients directly rather than observing as my supervisor does the talking.

While this can be slightly daunting at first, it does make you realise how much more confident you have become over the first year and a half of your training contract. The same tasks start to take less and less time, and you ask noticeably fewer questions and make fewer mistakes when you are drafting documents for the third or fourth time rather than the first. This increased responsibility offers a great insight into how you will be working once you qualify, and obviously the team are happy to help when the inevitable query does crop up. It’s a great mix of responsibility and support and is really helping me to prepare for life as a newly qualified solicitor.

Before I started my training contract, all of the trainees and newly qualified solicitors told me how quickly the two years would fly by, and they certainly have. The six month seats mean you are never far away from the next stage of your training, and for me the end is now in sight. I’m really looking forward to seeing what the next six months brings, and how my training will prepare me for qualification as a company commercial solicitor in July.