Trainee Solicitor - Apprenticeship Content

AJ3377

Can anyone tell me what the Law Society deems to be "reasonable and appropriate instruction and experience" in each of the required blocks of training e.g. Litigation, Commercial or Corporate Law. Is there a minimum amount of experience required? Also, in Blocks 4 & 5 there are a number of legal areas listed. Is it sufficient to concentrate on one area from each of these blocks or should there be a mixture?

Thanks

Spear

Moved from N&F.

SATSUMA

In fairness you are probably better hearing it from the horses mouth!

Contact Fionna Fox at the law school, she is responsible for such queries.

blueythebear

AJ3377 wrote: »

Can anyone tell me what the Law Society deems to be "reasonable and appropriate instruction and experience" in each of the required blocks of training e.g. Litigation, Commercial or Corporate Law. Is there a minimum amount of experience required? Also, in Blocks 4 & 5 there are a number of legal areas listed. Is it sufficient to concentrate on one area from each of these blocks or should there be a mixture?

Thanks

If you're worried about not receiving enough relevant experience you can always look for a secondment in another firm to get relevant experience.

Otherwise, you'll receive instruction in Blackhall in all of the relevant areas anyway.

I wouldn't worry too much about it to be honest. Everyone apprenticeship is different and every training solicitor is different. If you feel you are not getting enough experience in certain areas such as probate, request a probate file from your training solicitor. Your training solicitor is probably not aware if you're feeling that you could do more varied work.

dats_right

blueythebear wrote: »

If you're worried about not receiving enough relevant experience you can always look for a secondment in another firm to get relevant experience.

This is good advice.

blueythebear wrote: »

Otherwise, you'll receive instruction in Blackhall in all of the relevant areas anyway.

In reality, the instruction you will get in Blackhall will not be sufficient to advise a client without having at least obtained some practical in office experience in the field. This is definitely true in areas such as litigation, conveyancing, landlord & tenant and probate. In the other minor areas you might get by with the bare minimum instruction received whilst in Blackhall.

blueythebear wrote: »

I wouldn't worry too much about it to be honest. Everyone apprenticeship is different and every training solicitor is different. If you feel you are not getting enough experience in certain areas such as probate, request a probate file from your training solicitor. Your training solicitor is probably not aware if you're feeling that you could do more varied work.

I would! It isn't necessarily as simple as requesting more varied files from your training solicitor as he or she may simply not practise in that area and in which case this would not be an option.

I know trainees and wannabees pretty much just want to get their name on the Roll regardless, but it would serve them much better in their long-term careers if they were more discerning and only accept apprenticeships were they recieve good and meaningful training.

blueythebear

dats_right wrote: »

This is good advice.



In reality, the instruction you will get in Blackhall will not be sufficient to advise a client without having at least obtained some practical in office experience in the field. This is definitely true in areas such as litigation, conveyancing, landlord & tenant and probate. In the other minor areas you might get by with the bare minimum instruction received whilst in Blackhall.



I would! It isn't necessarily as simple as requesting more varied files from your training solicitor as he or she may simply not practise in that area and in which case this would not be an option.

I know trainees and wannabees pretty much just want to get their name on the Roll regardless, but it would serve them much better in their long-term careers if they were more discerning and only accept apprenticeships were they recieve good and meaningful training.

Other than secondment issue, i was under the impression that the OP was just not getting enough responsibility and varied work from their training solicitor. If you are in an Office that only does probate, then you are not getting a good traineeship and your training solicitor should not be signing off on your indentures. If your Office is a general practise and you're getting pigeonholed into delaing with certain types of files, then you should be asking your Training Solicitor for other types of files.

I agree that people should be looking for the best training contract and that it should cover all areas that the Law Society requires and that will afford you responsibility at an early stage. This will certainly make you a much better solicitor when you qualify.

Everybody seems to want traineeships in the big 5 and they are generally the most sought after training contracts however, I would respectfully suggest that these are certainly not the best TCs. They may have dedicated training programmes but you only really get experience in very select areas of commercial law. Not an all round grounding. You will be employable in the commercial law sector but not exactly sought after for a general practise position.

Sala

Everybody seems to want traineeships in the big 5 and they are generally the most sought after training contracts however, I would respectfully suggest that these are certainly not the best TCs. They may have dedicated training programmes but you only really get experience in very select areas of commercial law. Not an all round grounding. You will be employable in the commercial law sector but not exactly sought after for a general practise position.

I have been trying to get a training contract in general practice and they all either cannot afford to take someone, or have a trainee at some stage of training already. It is had to be discerning when TCs are so hard to get!!

I think I would take anything at this stage, and then look for a secondment if there were areas I felt could not be adequately covered

galwaybetty

There are a number of blocks that a Trainee is expected to complete before PPC2. I am currently in a predicament of having a training contract but without the training. Right now Im going through the Conveyancing files and doing the secretarial work-writing letters, answering phones etc. but I have not completed any of the tasks on the blocks. I tried to discuss the training contract and my taking on more responsibility but she didnt want to discuss it at that time, saying she would give me more work later on. I'm getting worried now as Im three months in and have yet to do anything hands on.

In the meantime Ive been applying for training contracts and secondments....Im at a bit of a loss really. Has anyone else been in this position? Perhaps im blowing it all out of proportion and this is how a training contract is supposed to go........

Captainsatnav

galwaybetty wrote: »

There are a number of blocks that a Trainee is expected to complete before PPC2. I am currently in a predicament of having a training contract but without the training. Right now Im going through the Conveyancing files and doing the secretarial work-writing letters, answering phones etc. but I have not completed any of the tasks on the blocks. I tried to discuss the training contract and my taking on more responsibility but she didnt want to discuss it at that time, saying she would give me more work later on. I'm getting worried now as Im three months in and have yet to do anything hands on.

In the meantime Ive been applying for training contracts and secondments....Im at a bit of a loss really. Has anyone else been in this position? Perhaps im blowing it all out of proportion and this is how a training contract is supposed to go........

How did that pan out for you in the end? I'm in the same situation now, i fear i'll be unemployable when i 'qualify'. All my colleagues seem to be miles ahead of me when i talk to them re how work is going...

Blackrockcomet

blueythebear wrote: »

Other than secondment issue, i was under the impression that the OP was just not getting enough responsibility and varied work from their training solicitor. If you are in an Office that only does probate, then you are not getting a good traineeship and your training solicitor should not be signing off on your indentures. If your Office is a general practise and you're getting pigeonholed into delaing with certain types of files, then you should be asking your Training Solicitor for other types of files.

I agree that people should be looking for the best training contract and that it should cover all areas that the Law Society requires and that will afford you responsibility at an early stage. This will certainly make you a much better solicitor when you qualify.

Everybody seems to want traineeships in the big 5 and they are generally the most sought after training contracts however, I would respectfully suggest that these are certainly not the best TCs. They may have dedicated training programmes but you only really get experience in very select areas of commercial law. Not an all round grounding. You will be employable in the commercial law sector but not exactly sought after for a general practise position.

I understand where you're coming from and I have friends that do a lot of general practice work and they really enjoy it. However, a lot of trainees at the big 5 either have either done internships within corporate firms or studied specifically with commercial/corporate undergrad/postgrad emphasis. They know well that they won't be selling houses or in the district court, they want to work with big international business. I realise that the district court will always be there, even if the funds industry is long gone but top 5 gives you opportunities to work internationally that simply aren't on the same level for a GP trainee. I would add that the law society curriculum needs changing to reflect that most opportunities lie within the commercial realm