Training Contracts: Seats & Qualification

[paripassu]

A bit of a niche question.

DD has a training contract with a US law firm in London, we don’t have any lawyers in the family, nor is she friends with many. The firm is very finance focussed.

She needs to pick her first seat soon. Is there any area which is particularly good to go into for starting?

A second thing she has mentioned is that it seems that some of her intake are already gloating somewhat that they will get kept on/given the area they want upon qualification. Dd did her vacation scheme sitting with the pensions team and thought it might be something she would end up qualifying into. Obviously she won’t know until she’s working though. But since accepting the training contract, one of the paralegals in the pensions team was offered a training contract at the firm and is now in dd’s intake. This paralegal has been saying that they’ve been promised a job upon qualification and they are essentially expected to qualify into the pensions team.
Is this sort of thing normal? As it seems a tad unfair, especially when the team only recruits one per year for qualification.

Does she really get to pick? That is quite unusual at the most state a preference and then get assigned anyway.

There is no guarantee of being kept on - some areas will take on more NQs than others but a lot depends on market etc. Often there is also generally room for an outstanding candidate but in reality the money has to work so there needs to be enough work to keep the billing high enough to cover salary, overheads etc.

I wouldn't worry about preference based on a vac scheme of tops 2 weeks? In the event that she did want pensions and no NQ position was available at her firm was available - pensions is a pretty niche area and junior lawyers are sought after as it isn't a popular qualification choice. The paralegal might think it is a done deal but it won't be - they will be at an advantage though of hitting the ground running.

My advice would be to shelve worries about qualification - think about what seats interest her and go for making the best impression on the partners/senior associates. It is a long first 18 months (4th seat pressure more off) and a steep learning curve.

If there is an area she thinks she'd really like, I'd save it for the second seat all things being equal .... but Pensions tends to take small numbers of trainees each seat. On that basis I'd put it down then she should have some chance of getting it for one of her seats.

...... unhelpful comment but does she know how insanely hard she'll work at a US firm?! Great pay but they get their money's worth from people.

I agree with all this.

I think a good general m&a or litigation seat is a good first choice. Gives you a sense of the structure of deals or cases and there is lots of work for trainees to do. If she ends up wanting to qualify there she can then do a more specialist but related seat down the line.

I would leave specialist departments such as pensions, tax, competition until at least second seat.

If she knows what she wants to qualify into then I’d suggest doing that third- she’ll know the ropes and have a whole seat to impress. But I wouldn’t put too much weight on the fact she enjoyed pensions- it’s the only things she’s tried so plenty of time to find out about other areas.

Don’t worry at all about what people say about being given the nod- it’s all balls. The firm doesn’t even know at this stage whether they will be taking anyone on in the department in question. Trainees may try to talk as if a job is theirs for the taking to discourage competition- ignore it.

I think the crucial thing is to try to get a contentious seat and a non contentious seat in your first two. She needs to find out whether she’s a litigator or a non contentious/transactional lawyer and can then pick her final two to complement her leanings (to the extent that it’s possible).

The usual advice is to try to get the areas you think you want to qualify into as the second or third seats. The thinking is that in the first seat most people haven't got a clue and are pretty terrible so they are unlikely to impress. Decisions are usually made a couple of months into the fourth seat so you don't have long to make an impression. The second and third seats are the best time to impress the team you want to work with.

As for the paralegal, that sort of thing can happen but she might just be talking herself up. I have known situations where a team has had a brilliant paralegal, they have gone off and qualified and then come back to the team. But I've also heard trainees come out with a load of BS!

Don’t listen to the boasting of your fellow trainees.
I would go to a big busy set for first seat - if it is a finance firm then banking, or corporate. There will be lots going on, they will be used to having lots of trainees including first seaters, she will get deal flow and a sense of how the firm works with other more satellite departments etc. she will probably also meet a lot of people in the dept and the firm as there are usually large deal teams. I wouldn’t personally start in litigation, you can get stuck on one thing that you come half way in on, teams may only be a few people, less cameraderie in my experience (litigators don’t shout at me it’s true) and for a trainee the work can be boring as she does not know enough to be useful yet. Agree try and sit in your favoured seats in seats 2 or 3.

I agree with everything said above (am a lawyer and of my children are and 2 others are currently trainee solicitors). By the way I wasn't kept on after my training contract, never mind having a choice about which department to pick although most people are.

You can express a preference as to first seat, but not usually decide (eg everyone might have expressd the same preference). As said above pick a first one which may not be your best first choice of seat. I would try to ensure you do litigation at some point.

Don't worry about the pensions team issue - she may like a different area by the time she qualifies. Ignore boasts of others. I will always remember one firend of mine was a trainee who boasted about the "path that had been laid down for him" the firm - he didn't stay more than 2 years after qualifying and his path was clearly elsewhere, laughing as I type.....
Also don't worry about what is unfair - i t might be unfair the paralegal has worked for a few year sbefore getting a TC and some others go straight from their law courses right into the TC and the paralegal might have better experience of pensions law so might be the best candidate anyway and things are unfair in life anyway so she should just go into it and aim to enjoy all 4 seats and work hard in them..

I agree M&A or litigation are good first seats. My own order was property, taxation, litigation, corporate/commercial. I definitely did ot want to do property and that was probably best to do it first. I did a lot of work in litigation being sent to courts all over doing small applications on my own but I had a year in by then so more experienced by then. It was a pity I did corporate last I ended up doing commercial/corporate law long term. I thought I might want to be a tax lawyer as won a prize in i t at university as was top etc and was doing an extra tax qualification and they let me go into tax but then I decided that was not for me. I probably picked it second because I would have had 6 months to be not very good in property first and did not want tax as last seat as jobs tend to be allocated by then ( not that they offered me a job at all...... so I went from there to having 3 offers at 3 of the best firms in the UK so not being kept on ended up being one of the best things ever...)

Good luck to your daughter. Fix no social plans ever for during the week. Go to bed as early as possible whenever she can. Try to stay fit eg cycle to work every day.

Good advice above esp from @FotheringtonThomasMinor. Though I actually qualified into my first seat so it does happen, it would have been better to have done it with a bit of experience under my belt. I’d save anything she knows she’s not keen on for 4th seat.

This is good advice.

Keep in mind that they will probably have some seats that are compulsory, so she may only get to pick two.

Her views as to what she might want to qualify into are likely to change many times over the next couple of years! There is no need to get stuck on that now, plus depending on the size of the firm they may well take multiple trainees on on qualification.

I ended up qualifying into by 4th seat.

Good look to your DD. Tell her to eat well, sleep well and look after herself as much as she can!

M & A/Corporate seats are not available for first seaters at my DH's firm as it is too fast paced and busy. They prefer the trainees to have already gotten to grips with the firm's internal procedures and systems before they get to them.

I agree, select something you probably don't want to work in and save the later seats for the areas you'd like to work in so that you are up to speed, more useful and confident and therefore more likely to impress.