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What key skills do trainee solicitors need, and why?

Your first few years as a junior lawyer will be spent learning the ropes. Understanding key legal processes and learning how to project manage these; familiarising yourself with key legal documents and how to draft these; learning how to interact effectively with clients and balance a number of matters at once; learning how to communicate with clients, junior lawyers, other internal teams, supervisors, partners, and external advisers; learning how to take instructions and delegate effectively; learning how to negotiate; honing your legal and business research skills, as well as your ability to present your findings to the satisfaction of intended recipient. The list goes on…

With this in mind, let’s start by summarising the key attributes/characteristics required to succeed as a trainee. 

You must be very, very well organised, as throughout your training contract you will most likely at times be balancing multiple (sometimes dozens of) different matters/projects, managing a number of competing deadlines (some of which may be brought forward with little warning), coordinating numerous internal and external teams/advisers and working on a wide range of documents for the first time. You will be expected to demonstrate enthusiasm and a willingness to help, especially when the workload (and therefore your stress levels/tiredness) really picks up. You will be assessed on how well you are able to use your initiative and be resourceful, as doing so effectively can make your supervisors’ lives easier and save them a lot of time. And of course, you will be expected to produce work that is accurate and technically proficient, especially considering you can never be certain that the work will not be forwarded onto the client without an additional proofread. In this respect, always try to avoid the easily-avoidable mistakes!

How to demonstrate key skills during a training contract

There are a broad range of skills and attributes that trainees will be expected to demonstrate and develop throughout their training contracts. Below, we delve into a number of these, and provide related examples of typical feedback received by trainees during training contracts, both positive and negative. The tables contain a collation of actual feedback taken from trainees’ appraisal forms, so bear these points in mind during a training contract (and avoid the mistakes that we made!).

On that note, you should regularly seek feedback from both senior and junior colleagues (essentially anybody you have worked for). Although it might not be appropriate to interrupt your supervisor for feedback after every task or on a daily basis, there’s no need to always wait for your appraisals (by which point, it might be too late to do anything about the feedback and demonstrate your ability to quickly improve). 

At the very least, seek feedback after the more challenging and/or long-term pieces of work. It could be as simple as asking whether there was something you could do differently next time. This is important, as asking for feedback shows you are interested in your own professional development, that you value others’ opinions, and that you’re therefore a team player.

Initiative 

You will be assessed on how well you are able to use your initiative, as doing so effectively can make your supervisors’ lives easier and save them a lot of time. Different departments will expect you to use your initiative in different ways and to differing extents. Some teams might want you to have a go yourself before asking too many questions, whilst others may be more restrictive in terms of what they will let you do without further approval. 

Positive feedback

Negative feedback

  • Asks well thought-out questions: clearly thinks about the wider issues underpinning client matters and consequently asks well thought-out questions.
  • Considers the next steps: demonstrated initiative by asking about next steps that needed to be taken and offering to help.
  • Going above and beyond: drafted a proposed email to go onto the client despite me not asking them to.
  • Too cautious: should be more ready to have a go at a task first rather than asking too many questions at the outset and having too cautious an approach.
  • Lack of initiative: should try to avoid asking too many questions at the outset in respect of issues that they could at least partially resolve themselves.

Key advice: have a go at a task first rather than asking too many questions at the outset/having too cautious an approach. 

Communication and teamwork

Communication skills are essential for junior lawyers. A key part of your role will be to translate legal wording and concepts into easily digestible language, so that you can effectively convey and explain important legal ideas, concepts, and risks to those who need to understand, and take action in connection with, those ideas, concepts, and risks. Your ability to effectively project manage legal matters (another key part of the role of juniors) will also depend very much on your communication skills. In particular, you may need to coordinate and communicate clearly with a broad range of different stakeholders, from clients and your supervisors, to lawyers from other practice areas and offices, paralegals, and external advisers.

Communication skills can also help you to effectively manage your time. You should always keep people up to date, especially if you are busy and have a deadline approaching. The associates you work for will not usually know what else you are working on for other people and it can be difficult for you to work out how long certain tasks are going to take. Informing your supervisors in good time if you are at risk of missing a deadline or might lack the capacity to further contribute to a particular matter can give them the opportunity to staff other people on the relevant matter if necessary.

Conversely, failing to keep the various associates you are working for up to date with your workload can lead to you being set work that you don’t have the time to complete (and consequently having to hand it back to the delegating supervisor). Moreover, knowing when to say no can be difficult, especially when deadlines are not particularly clear and your supervisor does not know whether they will need much from you in the short-term. Clear and regular communication with all parties involved can therefore be key.

Positive feedback

Negative feedback

  • Communication: good communicator – did a good job of keeping those they were working for up to date on their matters, availability and competing priorities.
  • Teamwork: strong team working skills – works well in a team environment and well liked within the team.
  • Relationship building: able to establish strong and effective working relationships with colleagues, including PAs, paralegals and other support staff.
  • Managing competing priorities: struggles to manage competing priorities, in particular keeping other supervisors abreast of their capacity and other work commitments.

 

Key advice: keep supervisors abreast of your capacity and progress to avoid letting them down at the last minute. 

Presentation skills

Some firms require trainees to give presentations in each department that they sit in, and you may well be assessed on your ability to deliver these presentations in a confident, concise and engaging manner. Presentations might include training sessions on new points of law, summaries of legal processes (I delivered a session on the processes to follow when project managing a due diligence exercise, for example), overviews of recent deals and so on. Trainees may also need to present to interns and open day attendees as part of graduate recruitment initiatives. 

Key advice: interact with your listeners, rehearse to avoid reliance on notes, speak clearly and use a strong structure.

For practical advice on how to present, check out our Delivering effective presentations and managing nerves course, which offers expert guidance on delivering effective presentations, including tips on how to communicate with confidence, manage nerves, prepare effectively, engage listeners, use visual aids appropriately, and present in a team.

Technical skills and attention to detail

Pretty much everyone receives constructive criticism relating to attention to detail at some point during their training contracts. “Attention to detail” does not just refer to spelling and grammar. It could mean formatting issues, inconsistencies, inputting data incorrectly, missing out necessary signature blocks or clauses, inputting inaccurate automatic cross-references (or not checking that automatic cross-references have updated correctly when amending a document), using defined terms incorrectly etc. 

Poor attention to detail could also involve copying the wrong people into emails, forgetting to copy in all the relevant parties or forgetting to attach a document (guilty, guilty, guilty!). Proofread the “To:” and “cc:” boxes before sending an email (and the subject line!) with the same degree of care as you would the main body of text. On that note, proofread everything you send out at least twice, and always proofread again after making even minor amendments.

Using defined terms incorrectly is a real rookie error. Whenever you have a defined term in a document and you paste sections of that document into a new document, consider whether that defined term is still relevant/used/consistent with the rest of the new document (and if not, make the necessary amendments to the pasted text). For example, if a party in one document is referred to as “the Company” and you then paste sections of this document into another document, check that the new document also uses the phrase “the Company” throughout. It might instead use (for example) “the Seller” or an abbreviation of a particular company’s name (in which case the new wording won’t make sense in the context of the new document).

Positive feedback

Negative feedback

  • Research: strong legal research.
  • Attention to detail: technically accurate and careful. They have a real eye for detail and are very thorough.
  • Understanding: Able to quickly grasp and discuss the issues at hand and confidently answer follow-up questions.
  • Asking questions: asked sensible questions and demonstrated that they quickly understood the issues at hand.
  • Attention to detail: needs to take more time over proofreading.
  • Efficiency: they need to balance detail with efficiency.

You will likely be judged on your legal research, including the structure, whether a summary is provided, the sources you consulted and whether you managed to find the answer. All of this can give an impression of your technical prowess. Providing a summary is (typically) essential, as this can save your supervisor ample time if he/she just needs a quick indication of the answer. Some questions will not have a simple answer and where this is the case, it is important to state why the answer is unclear and explain the sources that you have used.

Key advice: proofread everything one more time, even if you really cannot be bothered!

Organisation 

You must be very, very well organised, as throughout a training contract you will most likely at times be balancing multiple (sometimes dozens) of different matters/projects, managing a number of competing deadlines (some of which may be brought forward with little warning), project managing legal matters (including coordinating numerous internal and external teams/advisers), and working on a wide-range of unfamiliar documents. As mentioned earlier, make sure you have a well-organised system in place for noting down (and updating) instructions. If you record everything in a particular notebook, always have this to hand, as you never know when someone will approach you and start giving you specific instructions. Also make sure you have solid email and document filing systems in place (we cover all this in more detail in the Staying organised section of the Professional Skills chapter).

Positive feedback

Negative feedback

  • Responsiveness: very responsive to emails.
  • Project management: strong project management skills, delivering work on a timely basis even when under pressure due to a heavy workload. Very reliable and always meets deadlines or gives advance notice if they will struggle to do so.
  • Responsibility: takes ownership over their tasks and drives them forward. I could trust them to commit to tasks and see them through in order to meet deadlines.
  • Organisation: well organised and manages their matters well.
  • Delegation: made effective use of support staff and delegated effectively. Diligent in handovers: provided detailed holiday notes.
  • Disorganised desk: fails to keep their desk, notes and files in good order.
  • Notes: took notes on a series of post-it notes when receiving instructions, which didn’t leave me feeling confident that they would fully understand the task at hand when returning to their desk. 

Key advice: always have a pen and notebook handy and start using effective email and computer filing systems from day 1.

Attitude and work ethic

You will be expected to demonstrate enthusiasm and a willingness to help, especially when the workload (and therefore your stress levels/tiredness) really picks up. If you are always one of the first to volunteer to help (even if this means sacrificing evenings/weekends), this will reflect well on your work ethic, attitude and aspiration to learn. 

Staying positive and friendly when interacting with members of your team, even when stressed or sleep deprived, can also reflect well on your character and may be noted in your appraisal. If you tend to be snappy when you are stressed, or unenthused when tired, this could indicate that you would not be a positive addition to the team (especially if the team is known for long working hours). Your appraisal may also include comments on your propensity to actively seek and take on board feedback, as this can demonstrate a real desire to improve.

Positive feedback

Negative feedback

  • Personal development: their effort, enthusiasm and positive attitude reflects a real desire for personal development that will stand them in good stead as they approach qualification.
  • Feedback: good at seeking feedback and receptive to feedback given. Listens well and is keen to take on board constructive development points. Sought out feedback on one particular piece of work even after they had left the department.
  • Progress: acts upon feedback. Worked hard on the areas discussed in their last appraisal and the objectives set during that meeting. Good progress has been made. 
  • Personality: energetic, engaged and flexible. Enthusiastic, pleasant and fun to work with.
  • Work ethic: willing to take on any task that came their way. Showed a real willingness to learn and engage with tricky issues. Happy to commit to the more routine/mundane/administrative tasks without complaint and always sees them through. Willing to seek out follow-up work and demonstrated that they are willing to work hard, late and over weekends without complaint. Grateful for their support after they stepped in to help with a difficult situation.
  • Awareness of others: particularly impressed that they took the time to provide feedback to those they had delegated to.
  • Dealing with pressure: can seem outwardly flustered when under pressure, which can diminish colleague’s confidence in their ability to handle their work.
  • Composure: must ensure they retain their composure and do not come across as rushed when their workload and the pressure on transactions increase.
  • Confidence: needs to demonstrate a higher level of confidence in order to have a more positive impact on colleagues and consequently develop a greater level of trust.

Key advice: be one of the first to volunteer to help, always remain enthusiastic and friendly and seek/act upon feedback.

Client handling

Depending on the type of firm at which you train, you may not experience a lot of client contact during a training contract. However, you are likely to be assessed on the interactions that you do have with clients. This includes your demeanour on phone calls (are you confident, well prepared, professional, polite?), your email style (typo-free, concise, courteous, responsive) and face-to-face interactions (for instance, during a signing or a client-related social event).

Positive feedback

Negative feedback

  • Handled clients well.
  • They have a friendly, but not informal manner, which clients will (and did) warm to.
  • They should take greater care to consider the recipient of emails/work and tailor their output appropriately. For example, they should ensure that emails intended for clients are as short and concise as possible.

Key advice: remain professional, reliable and responsive when dealing with clients and avoid email errors.

Commercial acumen and business interest

Commercial lawyers are expected to consistently demonstrate a genuine interest in their clients (including those clients’ industries, needs and objectives), the work the firm carries out, and how the firm operates as a business. Learning about clients and how businesses work can help you to pre-empt client concerns (including any problems they may have with the advice or solutions you present), and better understand how to speak in client-friendly language. It can also equip you with the foundational knowledge needed to articulate opinions on the key events and circumstances that affect businesses and everyday life. 

Political events. The economy. Business and industry news and developments. Public health. Global warming. The list goes on. As a trainee, you will therefore likely be assessed on the extent to which you demonstrate an active and noticeable interest in the broader context of the matters you work on. But how can you demonstrate this interest?

Supervisors can usually pick up on your interest through the questions you ask and the discussions you take part in. Carrying out background reading before a new seat can give you the necessary context to ask good questions. Looking up meeting attendees in advance (and reading about the companies represented by external attendees) might give you the necessary background to contribute to commercial discussions. 

Asking questions about a meeting after the meeting concludes can demonstrate your interest in the subject matter and show that you were switched on during the meeting. Attending training sessions on business issues and industry trends can broaden your knowledge and outwardly demonstrate your interest. Getting involved in business development initiatives can indicate your interest in how the firm operates as a business. And keeping up to date with key socio-political events can ensure you’re not caught off guard or left out of conversations.

To that end, perhaps set up Google news alerts for key clients, subscribe to industry newsletters, and allocate time to catch up on business and legal news relating to your practice area. Your firm might also have paid for firm-wide access to a plethora of insightful resources, so take the time to check out the firm’s intranet. This can all be relevant to your appraisal. On my appraisal forms, there was a section specifically dedicated to identifying which non-fee earning activities I had been involved in, including business development, training and knowledge management. 

Positive feedback

Negative feedback

  • Curiosity: commercially curious and keen to learn and improve.
  • Commercial interest: consistently demonstrated an interest in understanding the bigger picture and the firm’s clients beyond the immediate tasks at hand.
  • Asking questions: proactively asks questions relating to the wider context of the matter.
  • Business development: demonstrated a willingness to get involved in business development matters.
  • Further develop your understanding: they should continue to seek to understand the underlying reasons or issues which drive particular tasks or work streams, as this will help them to deliver a better work product.

Key advice: carry out background reading, attend meetings and calls, ask questions and assist with business development.

Willingness to learn

Finally, trainees are often assessed on their willingness to learn, as this is key to their career progression. Go to all compulsory and (where possible) voluntary training sessions, as this demonstrates a commitment to self-development. Some appraisal forms might ask you to list the training sessions you attended, so don’t get caught out. Moreover, seeking feedback, and then actively taking the feedback on board, is also key to evidencing your ability and willingness to learn, and during your seat you may be assessed on the extent to which you have improved upon previously received feedback. Of course, attending training is also likely to improve your knowledge and capabilities, which is clearly something you will be assessed on!

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