We caught up with Ellie, fourth seat trainee at HFW to hear their thoughts on securing a Training Contract.
Tell us a little bit about yourself!
I grew up in a working class family in a village outside of Leicester in the East Midlands. Nobody from my family had ever gone to university so when I went to Newcastle University to study law back in 2014, it was a lot of firsts for everybody around me.
I loved university and wouldn't have changed a thing, but it did open my eyes to the amount of underrepresentation of state-school students, something that I still see in the legal profession. So, I have always tried to do something about it – I was the first ever Aspiring Solicitors ambassador at Newcastle back in 2015, and I am involved in HFW's work experience schemes for students from underrepresented backgrounds. I think it is important to help others. As someone who has been there, done that (and is still going through that!) I understand the difficulties we face and the importance of being scared, and doing it anyway.
Describe your journey into becoming a trainee at HFW.
I am now in my fourth seat, sitting in Corporate and Commercial but it still feels like yesterday when I got my training contract offer. I had been a paralegal at two other law firms before I did my vacation scheme at HFW in Summer 2019. I remember I had just finished my paralegal position and did the two week scheme straight after. I had flights booked on the Friday evening and so I missed the end of vacation scheme celebration drinks – but it was worth it to get to Bali of course!
I was still in Indonesia when I got a call from graduate recruitment to tell me I had been successful and the feeling was one of excitement but also relief. Getting a training contract is difficult, and it was good to know I had secured one that would mean I was sponsored through law school as I would not have been able to afford to fund myself. After my offer, I still had two years to go before I started in 2021 so I paralegalled again for another year before doing my funded LPC remotely as it was during the pandemic.
What is the culture like at HFW?
It is hard to explain a culture through text as when I was researching firms I found they all pretty much said the same thing – no firm would say on its website that it is hierarchical and all the partners are scary! And I know everybody says this about every firm, but at HFW people are genuinely nice people. There are people at all levels who will support you and listen to you, and it was important to me that I would work with people who are approachable and friendly.
I would recommend going to as many open days and law firm events as possible. You will be able to speak to the people who work there and truly understand the culture at each firm to decide if it is for you. Going to these events will also develop the softer skills required to be a lawyer such as networking and communication.
What has surprised you most about being a trainee?
I think the amount of trust and belief that people put in you, which is often more than you put in yourself. I started out in the legal profession with no idea of what it was all about – I had no family members who had worked in offices, let alone in law firms in London, so I didn't have those role models growing up and most of the time I felt that I had no idea what I was doing.
It therefore surprised me how much people were willing to explain things, go through my work and listen to my thoughts and opinions on things. The word 'trainee' makes it seem like you are very junior, and we are in the grand scheme of things. However, as time goes on you do get more responsibility and the expectations people have of you are higher, and in smaller departments, the level of responsibility has surprised me.
What’s been your favourite project/thing you’re most proud of from your time so far?
I love working on projects with an ESG / sustainability element – I think this is something that is not only going to grow exponentially throughout my career, but ensuring businesses embrace the energy transition is vital to ensure our planet continues to be liveable.
When I was on secondment in Singapore, I was in aviation and we were asked to do a red flag review of a 'Book & Claim' system. This system was created to allow a sustainability claim to be separated from the physical use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). This means that airlines could purchase SAF without needing to be close to a supply site, thereby displacing a certain amount of jet fuel emissions, and sell on the environmental benefits to their customers who could then claim they have helped to reduce emissions from their flight. The idea is that this will increase demand for SAF, therefore increasing economies of scale and making it cheaper and more widely used.
This was one of the first pilot schemes in the aviation industry so it was incredibly complicated to understand and advise on. However, it was really rewarding to be involved in something with so much potential to help the aviation industry reduce its GHG emissions.
What top tips would you give those wanting to secure a Training Contract?
Get experience in any way you can – my first paralegal job I got by messaging the main partner on LinkedIn and asking for a quick chat about the role before I applied. If I hadn't got that job, I wouldn't have been able to move to London and my life could have gone on a different path altogether. Also, remember that any experience is useful in some way – so even if you don’t have legal work experience, make the most of what you do have. Push yourself out of your comfort zone, speak to as many people about as many different things as possible and take experience from everything that happens to you.
You also really need to understand each firm's niche or unique selling point. It is hard to differentiate between law firms sometimes, but if you look closely enough, each firm will be selling something different to its clients and offering something different to its employees. Think about what kind of work you want to do – do you want a good work/life balance or is a high salary more important? Are you okay with a regional firm or would you like to do an international secondment? Do you know you want to do disputes, or competition law, or you don't know at this stage so a full service firm would be better? Does somebody you went to university with work at this firm and could you reach out to them to ask for some insider information about the culture?
When you apply to a firm, they will almost always ask (1) why this firm, and (2) who are our competitors. If you can answer this, and the basic competency questions, you will be making good progress.
Anything else you’d like to add?
I know it sounds cliché but believe in yourself and try not to be disheartened by rejection. Everybody gets rejected at some point, and as I said above, getting a training contract is very difficult.