Time management

Even the most organised trainees can struggle to balance work for multiple supervisors. This is because you generally have little control over your time or oversight over what is coming your way, meaning you must do everything you can to effectively manage your time and balance competing responsibilities.

Communication

If working for multiple supervisors, make sure you keep each informed of the work you have on for other supervisors. One supervisor may otherwise assume you are able to commit 100% of your capacity to them, and allocate work to you accordingly. This could lead to you needing to pull all-nighters to complete their work on top of all your other work, or letting them down (which will be especially problematic if they then don’t have enough time to find another trainee). Also let supervisors know about any upcoming annual leave, training sessions and other commitments (e.g. graduate recruitment events).

If you won’t initially have time to respond in depth to a capacity request (i.e. a request for your assistance with work), at least send a holding email to acknowledge the request and try to give an indication of when you will get back to the sender. Nobody wants to feel like their request has fallen into a void. Before accepting a capacity request, you might want to first ask the following questions to anyone else for whom you are currently working: Does any existing work you have been set need to be carried out sooner than originally envisaged? Is there anything else you need to do for them in the short-term? Do they expect any of your ongoing matters to escalate? And in light of all this, are they ok with you accepting the capacity request?

If you think you will be unable to meet a deadline or multiple deadlines, the best approach is usually to think before you act and to communicate with those involved. As a trainee, you may be unaware of what has been promised to clients and how your work fits into the bigger picture, so you are not usually best placed to make these kinds of decisions unilaterally.

By involving your supervisors in the decision-making, you are less likely to let anyone down (including your clients), as ultimately, your supervisors will be better placed to decide how you should prioritise your time. At the earliest possible opportunity, explain your circumstances to any supervisors whose matters might be affected and consider asking whether there is any flexibility with their deadlines. You can then re-prioritise your tasks in light of their responses and (if necessary) work additional hours to meet all your deadlines. 

Work allocation

If you consistently have too much or two little work to do, discuss this with your supervisor and/or whoever is responsible for allocating work across your team. Too much work could have an adverse impact on the quality of your output, whilst too little will stifle your learning curve (and might reflect negatively on you come appraisal time). In addition, you should regularly reflect on the range of work you have completed in your seat, and consider whether there are types of matters that you haven’t yet had the chance to work on. 

If you haven’t had the chance to experience certain work, or to work with certain people, then do something about it. Don’t allow yourself to get monopolised by one person, or to get stuck on one specific task for months on end. Sometimes teams are good at recognising this and evacuating you, others not so much. If the latter applies, speak up. After all, it’s the responsibility of your supervisors and team to facilitate your professional development, and broadening the scope of your experience can help to make you a more well-rounded lawyer, and give you a better insight into the relevant area of law (which can help to inform your qualification decision). Perhaps ask around for work, although get your supervisor’s permission first in case they know that work is about to come in (in most cases, your supervisor should be your priority). Your supervisor may also know who is working on interesting projects, or matters you are particularly interested in experiencing, so may be able to recommend someone else to approach.

Saying “no”

Saying “no” is one of the greatest challenges you will face. It’s easy to feel like you have no choice but to accept work given to you or that you would be disappointing a supervisor/missing out on a valuable opportunity to gain further experience or exposure if you turn down work. However – and remember this – a supervisor is far more likely to mention in your appraisal that you missed a deadline or produced substandard work than they are to note that you turned down work offered to you (provided you were actually at capacity!). Substandard work tends to be remembered more than a commitment to late nights.

Many supervisors actually commend a trainee’s ability to say no, as doing so can demonstrate a certain level of maturity and an ability to manage time effectively. Just because you don’t have enough work to keep you in until midnight for months on end doesn’t mean you “have” capacity. However, base your “capacity” on the capacity of others (especially trainees) in the department. If everyone is working until 10pm, don’t turn down work just so that you can leave at 6pm.  

Negotiating deadlines

You do sometimes have scope to negotiate deadlines. If someone sends you a capacity request, it’s wholly reasonable to tell them that you would like to help, but have two other pieces of work to complete by X date, so would not be able to deliver their work until Y date. Remember that the people with whom you are working will not necessarily be aware of your existing commitments, your upcoming deadlines and which other supervisors you are working with, so keep them up-to-date. In a majority of cases, supervisors will be ok with extending a deadline at the outset, or will appreciate your willingness to help but delegate the work to someone else.  

What can be especially challenging however is when supervisors grossly underestimate the time commitment required in relation to a particular capacity request. Sometimes “two hours” will actually turn into “five hours”. If you are in a situation where you can genuinely only spare the amount of time they have predicted, accept the request but make it clear to them that you only have X amount of time available that day. After delivering a piece of work, expect follow-up work, for example further questions, research or amendments. If you have let the supervisor know in advance that you are unlikely to be able to find time to carry out such follow-up work until a later date, they shouldn’t then criticise you for pushing back the deadline for such follow-up work.