Advice for Trainee Lawyer

[sandrage]

DD is about to start a training contract at a well known US law firm in London. She has excelled academically, and has a double first from Cambridge.

What advice would you give her if you were to start training as a lawyer again?
I'm aware the legal profession changes massively, especially with expectations between practice areas and type of firm.

Say yes to everything. No one wants a fussy trainee. Yeah, she's clever, but so will all the other trainees in her position be.

Save as much as you can of your pay. The firm will pay her handsomely but will beast her, and few can survive in that environment for many years. If she does decide to leave, a decent nest egg to show for her hard work will be appreciated.

Expect it to be very very hard, late nights and weekends as standard.

If she has quieter times, offer to help, and not just with fee-earning work. There will always be know how/business development work that she could help with. Or more mundane tasks.

Pay attention to detail. Nobody will expect her to know everything, but they will expect that things are done to the best of her ability.

Input timesheets promptly.

Be a good roommate.

She'll work very hard and I would second the advice to save so that she can decide down the line whether this type of firm is for her. Some people thrive in that environment, some don't. But training at a respected US firm will set her up to be able to choose.

Being clever is great but not enough on its own. Attention to detail is vital for a trainee, along with confidence and common sense. Never let the client think "why am I being charged £XXX an hour for this person to be in the room?"- no prizes for being a shrinking violet. It's also never too early to be thinking about business development and an awareness of this will make her stand out- the ability to build relationships with clients and grow the business. Doesn't have to be anything dramatic- might just be asking her supervisor if the briefing note she's drafted would be of interest to client X as well as client Y, taking an interest in what's happening both in the legal world and relevant commercial sectors etc.

Time recording- don't get behind with it. Don't discount her own time at recording stage (eg thinking "I spent 2 hours on that but I should only have taken 1 so I'll input 1")- that's a decision to be made at billing stage and probably not by her. Just make sure that the description of what she's done in comprehensive. Contrary to popular belief, most lawyers in the city are under-recording their time rather than over-recording- bad for them and bad for their firms.

If she makes a mistake (and at some point in her career she probably will) the thing to do is tell someone- her supervisor, while she's a trainee. Pretty much all mistakes can be fixed. What can't be fixed is getting struck off because you've tried to hide a mistake and ended up being dishonest to do so- I know two people who have ended their careers like this. There will be a whole chain of senior people above her who can make decisions about how to put a mistake right and the firm will have insurance which covers any loss, but none of this can kick in until she tells someone. I know you'll be thinking "but she won't make any mistakes" and maybe she won't, but it's worth passing this advice on to her in the hope that, when she's lying there awake at 4am worrying about whatever it is, she remembers it.