Annual leave

Trainees, especially at the start of their training contracts, tend to be a little nervous about requesting annual leave. However, it is ok to take annual leave/use all your holiday days throughout the year. 

I have heard of some people that have received negative feedback for failing to take a break, and working (potentially) long hours for months on end without a break is more likely to result in you making mistakes/hating your job. However, try not to take a disproportionate amount of annual leave during each seat. Doing so could limit the amount of exposure you accumulate to the work the team carries out and even reduce your chances of qualifying (if you miss too many opportunities to demonstrate your capabilities, other trainees may seem like a safer bet!). However, two to three weeks off over a 6-month period should be perfectly fine.

How to determine which dates to take off

Before confirming annual leave with Human Resources, check in with your supervisor/team/any other fee earners with whom you are working to make sure that they are happy for you to take holiday during your intended dates. They may know of reasons why holiday should be avoided over particular dates. For instance, if you are sitting in Dispute Resolution, court deadlines/dates will usually be known months in advance, so your supervisor could probably give you a good indication of the dates on which it would be better that you stick around. It also means you can try to avoid missing the periods during which you are most likely to gain valuable exposure/opportunities to develop your technical skills and capabilities.

Some firms also have certain blanket policies prohibiting you taking annual leave at certain times, for instance during the first few days of a new seat (when training is more likely to take place/when you will not have had the chance to check in with your new supervisor in advance to see whether the dates are problematic). Check your firm’s policy before booking flights/making concrete holiday plans. In addition, remind your supervisors and other fee earners as your holiday approaches so that appropriate cover can be arranged.

Out of office

You would think the next piece of advice is common sense, but you would be surprised how often this is forgotten. Make sure you set up and activate your out of office automatic email replies before going away. This can be done on Microsoft Outlook by clicking: Tools > Out of Office Assistant. This means that supervisors/clients will receive a notification that lets them know you are unlikely to respond to their queries/capacity requests etc. as promptly as would usually be expected. Below are some example templates for out of office replies.

If you don’t have a PA

Thank you for your email.

I am currently out of the office, returning on [date]. I will have intermittent access to my emails but will get back to you as soon as possible. 

If the matter is urgent, please contact [specified person + their email address]/[someone else from the deal team] in the meantime.

Many thanks

[Your Name]

If you do have a PA

Thank you for your email.

I am currently out of the office, returning on [date]. I will have intermittent access to my emails but will get back to you as soon as possible. 

If the matter is urgent, please contact [name of PA] ([email address / direct line of PA]) in the meantime.

Many thanks

[Your Name]

Call forward

You must also remember to switch on your desk phone’s “call forward” function before going away. Depending on the length/nature of your annual leave, you should forward your calls either to your PA (if you have one), a team PA allocated for this purpose or your work mobile.