Entries for 2011

Trainee Diary

Please read entries for 2011 below.

June 2011

Elizabeth Gabriel, 2nd Seat Trainee - Employment:

After graduating from Cambridge University with a degree in Geography, like many graduates, I wasn't sure which career path I wanted to pursue.

After undertaking work experience placements and having worked for six months at a law firm I decided that a solicitor's life was for me. I went on to study the GDL and LPC at the College of Law and I haven't regretted my decision.

I applied to Winckworth Sherwood because, as a non-law graduate I wanted to train at a law firm that could offer me a variety of work with exposure to both commercial and private client work. Winckworth Sherwood has not disappointed! From the very first induction week I was made to feel very welcome and an important addition to the firm. It was made clear to us that trainees are seen very much as the future of the firm.

I started just over 8 months ago and am now in my second seat, sitting with Partner Jo Keddie in Employment. Each trainee sits in an office with a partner, which, although it sounds daunting, is particularly beneficial for trainees. I have found that you learn so much by being in an office with someone that has years of experience. As well as being introduced to a new area of law it is crucial that trainees experience the different ways in which solicitors work. In the Employment Department I get a variety of work from both partners and solicitors and have really been made to feel part of the team. I particularly enjoyed attending a Pre Hearing Review at an Employment Tribunal with a client and helping prepare for a Tribunal Hearing this month.

My first six months at Winckworth Sherwood was spent in the Ecclesiastical and Education Department. I sat with Owen Carew-Jones and was particularly involved in advising Education clients. The Firm is heavily involved in converting schools to Academies, which involves a lot of legal work. I was able to gain experience in a variety of different areas of law including contractual, company, land and education and particularly enjoyed meeting with, and building relationships with, the firm's clients.

I have found my training contract at Winckworth Sherwood so far to be very rewarding. The firm is particularly careful to maintain a healthy balance between giving trainees responsibility but, on the other hand, making sure someone is there to support you in case of any difficulty. I feel valued as an individual and have been given significant responsibility to manage my own caseloads with wide ranging and interesting work. As Winckworth Sherwood invests its energies into just five trainees a year, the support and knowledge each trainee is given is extensive which I think is extremely important throughout your training.

However, it definitely isn't all work and no play! I have recently become a member of the Social Committee and am helping organise the Summer Event. At Christmas I attended the party held at Shakespeare's Globe, which was a great success! The trainees are encouraged to socialise and it is always good to meet up after work for a catch up!

My advice to anyone considering applying to Winckworth Sherwood would be to be yourself and let your enthusiasm come across. If you want to be exposed to a variety of different areas of law in a very unique law firm then I would encourage you to apply!"

March 2011

Jonathan Church, 3rd Seat Trainee, Employment:

I am now approaching my final training seat with Winckworth Sherwood and working closely with Jo Keddie, an acknowledged leader in employment law.

The firm's employment practice is growing and its work is varied. We represent claimants and defendants, companies, public bodies and individuals in contentious and non-contentious work. The result of this breadth is, in my opinion, a better understanding of the needs of all clients, not to mention a more fulfilling training experience. This range of experience is a central theme of training with Winckworth Sherwood.

Another theme that comes across quite strongly from mine and others' experiences is the sense of trainees being entrusted with responsibility and nurtured and not being treated purely as a resource. The firm's approach in this regard must be due partly to the small number of trainees and the extra value they therefore have to the firm. Still, it needn't necessarily be the case and I do think it is part of the firm's culture to treat trainees as 'solicitors in training' - which, presumably, is the idea! Trainees here are drawn from a range of backgrounds - a fair proportion, like me, from past careers in other sectors and many, also like me, having done their first degrees in something other than law, or even the humanities.

My first six months were spent in the Ecclesiastical & Education department, neither area of law being one I had previously encountered. There was, though, no soft introduction: I experienced one-to-one client contact from my first weeks and was given my own files to manage. The learning curve can be steep but, as I was told by the firm's Training Partner, if you don't sometimes feel out of your comfort zone, then something is amiss. Having been led to believe by friends at other law firms that a training contract would be all about photocopying, my time so far at Winckworth Sherwood has been a pleasant surprise. My subsequent work in Social Housing & Regeneration and Litigation & Dispute Resolution was in much the same vein.

If prospective applicants are not clear where one department ends and the next begins, this is because to a degree they reflect the needs of clients which often span a range of sectors.

Each trainee shares an office with a single solicitor, usually their supervising partner and this is a valuable experience in itself. I feel I have learned a great deal just from observing at close hand the (very different) ways that senior practitioners manage their affairs. I am also lucky enough to be heavily involved in the organisation of the firm's Vacation Scheme; it is very rewarding and a great opportunity to gain managerial experience. I have also been able to get to know others in the firm through, for example, the good work that is done by our CSR Committee and I have always found colleagues here to be constructive and down-to-earth.

Since my first weeks at the firm I have been involved in everything from an exhumation application to matters of school discipline; from the agreement of licences over church towers to commercial leases in social housing developments; from breaches of copyright to breaches of the Equality Act 2010; from maritime regulations to EU Regulations. And I still have one more seat to come!