Trainee-ship Question

Alfred Borden

If one were to do a trainee-ship in a firm that doesn't do Crime or Family Law, could they then go on and work in a firm in those areas when qualified? Realistically, could a perspective employer turn you down for lack of experience?

Peregrinus

Yes, a prospective employer could turn you down in favour of a candidate whose traineeship experience was more relevant to the employer's practice.

But I wouldn't stress. Large numbers of firms do little or no criminal work, and it's entirely normal to complete a traineeship and have no criminal experience. Conversely if you do your traineeship in a firm with a criminal practice, your experience of various fields of civil practice may be limited. Equally, it's not unusual to complete a traineeship and have little or no family practice. A lot of firms focus on commercial work for commercial clients, and while they may do criminal/family/domestic conveyancing work as required for those clients, they may do very little of it, and not all trainees would be involved.

If you know you want to practice in criminal law or family law, try and get a traineeship in a firm with a large practice in those areas. If you don't have an area of specialism picked out for yourself, then don't worry unduly.

Mr. Incognito

Alfred Borden wrote: »

If one were to do a trainee-ship in a firm that doesn't do Crime or Family Law, could they then go on and work in a firm in those areas when qualified? Realistically, could a perspective employer turn you down for lack of experience?

No you couldnt

Firms that do Family or Criminal rarely do anything else so you would be stuck in those areas also at the end of a training contract.

It's up to what sort of career you want