DIARY OF A BABY LAWYER

ARTICLE

DIARY OF A BABY LAWYER

PART TWO

It is fair to say that the past couple of months have been nothing short of historical. In the midst of the ongoing cost of living crisis, strikes from every angle and monumental cases such as ‘Wagatha Christie’, we have also suffered the devastating loss of our Queen and a complete change in government.

During this crazy time I have completed the second seat of my training contract in clinical negligence and begun my third seat within the corporate and employment departments combined. It is difficult to explain to ‘nonlawyers’ how moving from one department to another within the same firm is essentially starting a completely different job altogether; especially when moving from a contentious area to more procedural work. I had become fairly accustomed to dealing with matters that had been ongoing for several years, communicating with the opponent and remembering to use those precious words ‘without prejudice’ and expecting to wait weeks (if not months) for reports and responses. Now, I am adjusting to a much quicker turnaround pace with matters being dealt with from start to finish within a matter of days and weeks.

Any third or final seat trainee can also likely relate to that niggling reminder in the back of my brain that I have less than a year to decide on what realm of law to qualify into. Many ‘baby lawyers’ have their heart set on a department from day one but for me that decision is still pending. I think one of the most valuable aspects of a training contract, and something I hope firms will continue to encourage once the traditional qualification route is phased out in favour of the SQE, is the ability to move around into different departments and experience various areas of law you may never have considered previously. The career plans I walked in with have continued to twist and change many times since starting my training contract but most solicitors I have met along the way have reassuringly confirmed that this is completely normal.

I entered the legal profession mainly because I was always told growing up that I had an answer for everything and even my own mother would give up when arguing with me…hence a love for litigation. However, the corporate world has always been of great personal interest and luckily I am now able to experience both areas and hopefully compare and contrast the pros and cons of both to come to a final decision. Another consideration trainees must have in mind, is the distinction between the work and the people of the department. When working alongside a great team, it is often difficult to decipher whether the work itself is something I love or whether the people within the team themselves make the work enjoyable. We must try and remember that a team will almost never remain the same for your entire career and it is important to still enjoy the day to day legal work we do without any external input or influences.

I also entered the legal profession with an initial goal of being a criminal barrister…what happened there I hear you ask. Well, I was constantly told throughout my studies and on various work experience opportunities within the courts that this was a bad idea, largely due to the longstanding difficulties faced by professionals within criminal law, to which I shall not go into detail, but it was enough to sway me into civil practice. As I write this, criminal barristers and solicitors continue in their strike action and protest against the government’s proposals on criminal legal aid. I hope that as 2022 comes to an end, so too shall this uncertainty and upheaval within the criminal sector and the next cohort of baby lawyers face a more positive outlook and greater support in progressing into a career in criminal law.

Aside from the bi-yearly adjustments we trainees have to make, the entire legal system is now subject to change as for the first time in over 70 years, we have a King. I for one definitely underestimated the impact this would have on the legal system, even if only considered from an administrative angle. On the 9th of September I was privy to many conversations within the office whereby paperwork was being amended to reflect the immediate change from Queen to King and I think we are all still trying to remember to use KC instead of QC! I am especially intrigued to see how this new combination of monarch and government will impact the legal system going forward with changes already being announced; I am sure my property lawyer colleagues and friends are already preparing themselves for the impact of new stamp duty rules and thresholds.

As I enter the second and final half of my training contract and a new year, I look forward to tackling more challenging tasks and legal issues, making more typical trainee mistakes and ultimately making that final big decision about qualification.

Eleanor Howells

Eleanor Howells is a Trainee Solicitor at Lanyon Bowdler solicitors.