I joined Nockolds in September 2018 as a trainee, having gone through the training process the most direct route possible, starting with a law degree, moving straight onto the LPC and then straight into my training contract.
I’m now in my final seat and will qualify in September 2020 having done a mostly contentious training contract with seats in Dispute Resolution, Family and Personal Injury.
I couldn’t write a blog about all the things I’ve learnt in the last couple of years, it would be more like an essay, but there are a few nuggets of advice that I was glad I found out or I wished someone had told me when I was applying for training contracts:
Don’t be afraid to be yourself
Anybody can learn the law – they can understand it and they can apply it, but not everyone can learn to be a solicitor. Not everyone has the skills to handle clients and to manage heavy workloads and various obligations as well as having a personality that fits in with the firm’s own image. Ultimately, it is not just about you finding a firm that suits you but also finding a firm that you suit as well. In many ways, it’s about matching the trainee’s personality to the firm’s.
Nockolds’ unique selling point is looking after its clients and caring for them. I can’t express enough how kind, supportive, friendly and welcoming everyone at Nockolds’ is and providing that level of service is not something that will come naturally to everyone. Nockolds will be looking for people who are naturally like that.
If you want to stand out for any firm you are applying to, but particularly Nockolds, you need to be able to demonstrate that you and the firm are a good match and the easiest way to do that is to be yourself. Let the things that make you ‘you’ shine through. Ultimately those are the things that will decide whether you and the firm are a good fit or not.
Be open to the seats you do and the areas of law that you train in
I have been lucky enough to enjoy every seat I have done here and the trainees at Nockolds will always get the chance to request seats they are interested in doing.
Being at a full-service firm has meant that I have a lot of options to choose from. Whilst I can’t say I would be interested in qualifying into all the seats I’ve done, I have been able to learn skills and take things from each seat that have been key to my training and have helped mould the solicitor I will become.
Regardless of the seats you choose and whether you enjoy them or not, there will always be opportunities and experiences that can be gained and you should grab them all with both hands. You may also be surprised at how different some areas of law can be in practice compared to academically, and therefore areas you thought you might enjoy/dislike might not be the case when you come to do them in your training contract.
Find a training contract that will really prepare you to become a solicitor
It sounds like a no-brainer, but the one thing I really appreciate about training at Nockolds is the quality of the work I have been given from my first day. I have always been given substantial work that really teaches me the skills I will need as a solicitor.
Overnight we go from trainee to solicitor – which is a daunting thought wherever you have been training. But I can take comfort from the fact that at Nockolds, I’ve had lots of client contact, I’ve been given plenty of responsibility, I’ve been challenged but supported throughout my two years and I know that regardless of where I qualify, I am as ready to handle qualification as I could be.
Nockolds has opened its applications for training contracts starting in September 2021 and September 2022.