Training at Irwin Mitchell and life as a Newly Qualified Solicitor
Irwin Mitchell is a friendly firm to work for, a
place where diversity is actively encouraged,
and where individual's strengths are identified
and nurtured alongside a recognition that
the team, and ultimately the firm, benefit
from the wide variety of skills offered by its
employees. Irwin Mitchell encourages a team
approach, and has developed a strong support
structure around the training and development
of each employee.
Looking back at my path to becoming a
solicitor I would ...
Read the full article
Jessica O'Gorman on training at and qualifying with Dechert LLP
Dechert is an international firm with offices
across the globe. The leading London firm of
Titmuss Sainer Dechert was an established
and successful outfit before it merged with
US firm Dechert Price & Rhoads in 2000.
Since then the London office has kept much
of its British identity and office culture, and
retained a lot of UK-based clients and work.
The American influence has manifested itself
in attracting a much greater variety of work
and transactions of a far more ...
Read the full article
Bird & Bird
I could not be further from war torn Basra
city sweltering in 50 degree heat. A couple of
years ago I was on my second tour of duty in
Iraq with the British Army, now I am training
with international law firm Bird & Bird.
Having completed a degree in Applied
Marine Biology and worked as a voluntary
research scientist, I joined the Army looking
for adventure. I trained at Sandhurst and
joined an Infantry regiment. It turned out to
be an exciting time to join the forces. Within ...
Read the full article
Introduction to Law Firms
Law Firms as Businesses - What Type of
Companies Are They?
The legal market is highly fragmented
The top end of the market mainly serves corporate clients and is dominated by large firms which can offer a wide range of legal services.
Small firms can compete successfully by providing specialised expertise or by operating locally.
London and New York house the greatest concentration of law firms.
These cities house ...
Read the full article
Finding the Right Solicitor Training Contract for You: Food for Thought
So you're on your way to completing the academic
requirements, and now it's time to start looking for a solicitor training
contract. Where do you start? How can you possibly choose between all
those firms? And once you've chosen, how can you convince them to take
you on? Give some thought to each of the following points and you'll be
well on your way to finding the right legal training contract for you.
Why do you want to practice ...
Read the full article
Tread Safely on the Path to Getting a Training Contract and Becoming a Solicitor
Getting into law is no easy task. It is a long journey that is
embarked upon by would-be solicitors, and not without difficulties. You can
make it though, with our guide to the road ahead. With our help, you'll avoid
the potholes and sail smoothly to your destination.
You
key selling points are the qualifications you hold. Do not lose sight of this.
Whilst there may be much noise made about the multitude of aspects which make
up a CV, your top priority before entering ...
Read the full article
Training Contract Applications: 3 Mistakes to Avoid &hellip
Spelling
or Grammar Errors
This is the number one training contract application mistake to avoid on every
recruiter's list. There are good reasons for this.
It is something that can be easily avoided. Quickly pasting your work into a
word processor for a grammar and spelling check should get most of the job
done. Printing a hard copy and proof reading it, with a pen in hand, will do
the rest. Do this when you are completely cold to what you have written, the
next morning for ...
Read the full article
Get a Legal Training Contract Grant of £30,000!
The
Legal Services Commission (LSC) provides funding to support the training of new
legal aid solicitors. The package includes over £30,000 per grant.
Need some funding? The Legal Services Commission (LSC)
runs a grant scheme offering over £30,000 per grant! This covers tuition fees
for the LPC and PSC, plus a 75% contribution to salary costs for the 2 year
Training Contract.
The Training
Contract Grants Scheme (TCG) was introduced to support ...
Read the full article
Choosing a Law Training Contract Firm: Five Crucial Factors to Consider
Practice Areas
This is undoubtedly one of
the most crucial factors for you to weigh up as part of the process for choosing
a training contract firm.
There is a big difference
between studying the law and practicing it. As a law student, it is easy to believe
that what you learn at university will correspond to the workplace. You may not find the books and lectures of a
particular subject especially interesting, but the same subject may be ...
Read the full article
Eight questions you must ask yourself when choosing a law firm
The
decision to apply to any law firm for a training contract can be daunting
enough without having to decide on which ones to apply for. Though it may be
tempting to apply to everything you find to increase your chances, this can be
counterproductive. Not only will it be time-consuming to go through each
application process but your answers to application questions may become
generic and unfocussed. It is therefore a good idea to pick only a few
companies ...
Read the full article
Training Contracts - Six Types of Firms Explained!
Amongst the
myriad of law firms offering training contracts, choosing the right one for you
can be very daunting- especially as you are expected to decide which firms to
apply to well before finishing your post-graduate training (LPC/CPE). This quick
guide will help you distinguish between law firms according to their typical
sectors, work environment, main clients and salaries. Keep in mind that these
are generalisations and you will need to research specific ...
Read the full article
LPC to Training Contract - Making it Pay
Law
student debt can reach £40,000 by the time you start a Training
Contract (TC). The fees for the postgraduate, pre-training "bridge"
Legal Practice Course (LPC), which
should ensure that you are ready to take on the challenges of working
as a trainee solicitor, can cost around £14,000 alone. There
are several ways to fund the LPC, most of which will land you in
further debt. But for most people the biggest challenge is not just
the money. It's making your LPC a real ...
Read the full article
5 MUST DOs at every Training Contract Interview
Display confidence and be well prepared
Confidence and preparedness is one of the most desirable traits and
characters that interviewers look for in training contract candidates. No amount of disguise can cover a lack of confidence
and preparation, so don't test the skill and patience of the interviewers by
trying to hide anything inside, because it will invariably show up on the
outside.
You also need to be able to present your preparation and confidence to
the interviewers with ...
Read the full article
Training Contract Application - 5 Common Mistakes To Avoid
Too many spelling or grammar problems
This is the undisputed cardinal sin of written submissions.
Nearly all spelling and grammar errors are picked up by word processors,
and with some good proofreading you can eliminate the rest of the errors. Apart from giving them the impression that
you're not one for close attention to details, it also conveys a lack of
professionalism to your prospective employers.
If you are also looking for a well-written and presented applications,
then ...
Read the full article
How Non-Law Graduates Can Get a Training Contract: Six Easy Steps
Didn't choose to study law? Enjoy your course but after
two years of soul searching realize that a career in law is the thing for
you? If this is you, take a step back, relax and follow this four-step
guide. With a little patience and a lot of passion you'll be well on your way
to plotting a successful career as a solicitor.
You should know that the law training contract is essentially
the last and most difficult hurdle for those wishing to become solicitors. With
competition now ...
Read the full article
Thinking of Taking a Law Conversion Course Followed by a Training Contract?
A fast track into the challenging
and potentially lucrative profession of Law could be yours with a conversion
course. Here's how it could work for you...
What is a conversion course?
A law conversion course enables graduates of non-law
degrees to enter professional training as either a solicitor or a barrister.
Conversion courses normally last one year, or two if taken part-time. The
conversion course comes in many guises, all of which are roughly equal in
content ...
Read the full article
Graduate Market
How does
the graduate market for the legal sector compare to other industries?
Well,
firstly you won't be lonely since law hires a large portion of all graduates
(7%).
Hiring rates are very stable because law firms
hire three years in advance of qualification.They
have to play safe unless they are willing to make a bet on the economy three
years down the line.
Unlike
banks which grow and shrink their workforce in line with market conditions.
Salaries:Secondly,
you will ...
Read the full article
Recent History and the Future
The top 20 law firms in the UK have remained largely
unchanged.
Reluctant consolidation among smaller firms.
Legal industry recovering after 3 years of tough
conditions.Firms
have pruned partners to preserve PEP.
But
have emerged leaner and in better shape for the future.
Legal
services will be liberalized by the LLP model.
A new phase of growth is anticipated.
The
UK's largest firms have followed a path of international expansion.This
has led to an ...
Read the full article
Top UK Firms' Practice Sectors
Companies are often best described by the products they
sell and law firms are no exception.
If you want to work in a specific practice area,
or want to get an objective flavor of how a firm is positioned, it pays to see
where their business comes from.
Evidently the large firms can handle work in all service
areas and have specialist partners in each of the four main practice areas of
Corporate, Finance, Real Estate and Litigation.
Most of the firms pride ...
Read the full article
The UK Market
The UK legal market is carved up into firms that can be
grouped into four broad categories: The Magic Circle, The Silver Circle,
International Firms and UK National Firms.
Whilst revenue volume, strategy and client base define a
firm's position in the market, employees should also be interested in PEP.
However, PEP can overestimate margins and remuneration for fir ms with a high number of non-equity
partners.
In support of Robert Joffe's point regarding ...
Read the full article
Go Global or Stay Local - The Jury Is Still Out
Introduction
Other
professional service industries such as accounting and advertising have
consolidated to produce big global generalists. For example, these include the
"Big Four" accountancy firms: Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PwC and
advertising agencies such at JWT, Omnicom and Publicis.
Whilst
there are some law firms with a truly global footprint, there are relatively
few internationalists compared to other industries.
Why
hasn't a cross-border ...
Read the full article
Law Firms as Businesses - What Type of Companies Are They?
"When billions are at stake, nobody is sacked for
hiring the best lawyers." - The Economist
The legal market is highly
fragmented.
The top end of the market mainly serves corporate clients and is dominated by large firms which can offer a wide range of legal services.
Small firms can compete successfully by providing specialized expertise or by operating locally.
London and New York house the greatest concentration of law firms.
These cities house the world's ...
Read the full article
Consolidation Trends of Legal Services
Consolidation
is driven by the desire of some corporate customers, who require a host of
legal services, to have one firm handling all of their needs, a
"one-stop-shop".
Firms
typically add specialist lawyers and practice groups to do this. However, they
can achieve this more rapidly and on a grander scale by merging with other
firms.
Non-global
players traditionally share an international mandate with a local player, or
refer the client to a firm which they recommended. ...
Read the full article
Partners not Shareholders - Law Firms are Different
Margin
not Profit
Unlike
limited companies which aim to maximize total profits for their shareholders,
almost all law firms operate as partnerships or LLPs.
With
no shareholders to worry about, the profits are distributed across the
partners. Therefore they are
incentivised to maximize profits per equity partner (PEP).
This
makes them potentially more concerned about maximizing profit margins (by
keeping headcount down, for example) rather than increasing revenues by ...
Read the full article
What Is A Training Contract?
A
training contract for solicitors is a practical training
period for law graduates in the UK who wish to qualify as solicitors.
A full-time training contract typically lasts for two years, and is undertaken
by students who have completed the Legal Practice Course (LPC) , which is the
professional phase for becoming a solicitor in England and Wales.
The
training contract is mandatory for all law students graduating with a law
degree or with a ...
Read the full article
Home 
Blog Posts
