You will face a number of challenges throughout your training contract, and learning how to deal with these will help you to develop the necessary skills to take on the role of an associate post-qualification.

Understanding these challenges can also be useful during the recruitment process, as this might help you to determine which of your previous experiences will best demonstrate that you have the necessary capabilities to succeed throughout a training contract.

Adapting to supervisors’ working preferences

Some supervisors have strong preferences for how things should be done, others less so. Where applicable, try to identify these preferences as early as possible. For instance, some supervisors may want to know where you are at all times (so tell them if you are going to the gym, for a coffee, to a medical appointment etc.), some may expect you to come in earlier than the usual start time, some may want to sign off on annual leave dates in advance, whereas others may be far more laid back about these kinds of things. 

Supervisors may also have preferences for how you present your work, for instance: with footnotes or hyperlinked sources throughout, with a summary at the start, in soft copy or hard copy (and if hardcopy, double/single-sided printing, two pages to an A4 sheet, stapled?) etc. It’s ok to ask about any preferences at the outset.

Working outside your comfort zone

There are times when you will be taking instructions and your supervisor will use jargon that you have never heard before (let alone understand). Be confident enough to ask for clarification, unless you feel it is something you could easily Google after. You will likely also have to look into legislation/regulations that you have never come across, research into niche points of law that you didn’t know existed, and fill out forms/draft clauses with which you are wholly unfamiliar. This is all part of the learning process, so don’t let it stress you out.

The great thing about a training contract is that you are surrounded by people whose job it is – in part – to help you get to grips with this stuff. Firms also tend to have a plethora of resources available to help, so rather than panicking, start by thinking: what resources are at my disposal to help me make sense of what I have been asked to do?

Time management

It can be very difficult to manage your time as a trainee and even the most organised trainees can struggle to balance working for multiple supervisors concurrently. You may also be excluded from team meetings/client calls, which can make it difficult to know what to prioritise when receiving instructions afterwards, especially if the instructions are vague or incomplete or conflict with instructions given by a different member of the team.

If you are managing a number of deadlines/work streams, it is important to clarify which tasks need to be prioritised. To that end, gently pushing back on deadlines (or even saying “no”) can be one of the greatest challenges you will face. It is 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 if you turn down work. However, if you deliver sub-standard work on account of the fact that you lacked enough time (or were too tired) to complete it properly, this can harm your reputation and reduce your chances of qualifying into the relevant team.

Time pressure

There are times when you will be under intense time pressure to get work done. Trying to remain focused and work accurately during such periods is key. Try to manage your stress levels. Regular exercise, coffee breaks (i.e. “venting sessions”) with other trainees etc. can help you to retain your sanity and sometimes, taking 15 minutes away from your desk can help you to subsequently work far more efficiently.

Long hours/working whilst sleep deprived

One of the questions trainees receive most often from students considering a legal career is “what are the hours like?”. In all honesty, depending on the type of firm you train at, the hours can be very long at times and you may have to work on weekends/bank holidays etc. However, this is very rarely required or expected for months on end, especially for trainees. You may have a week of midnight to 4am finishes, followed by a four-week period during which you leave on average at 6pm. It can depend very much on the life cycle of a deal/case. 

For instance, if you happen to join a team right before a big court deadline or the closing of a major deal, your hours are much more likely to escalate. “Specialist” departments such as employment or real estate teams (as a generalisation) tend to work more consistent hours – regular finishes at 7/8pm at large commercial law firms - rather than a mix of all-nighters and early finishes. It’s unpredictable, and that can be the real challenge. Depending on the type of firm you work at, you may never really know what time you will be going home until you walk out the door, and even then there is a risk that you will be set other work once you get home. You may however find that the work you are given during busy periods is more interesting/of a better quality than the work you are given at other times, as if the team is up against the clock, supervisors may have no choice but to delegate more “senior” tasks to trainees. 

Long hours can also give you a flavour of what life can be like as an associate. It’s better that you experience this early on so that you can make a decision about whether the career/firm is really for you in the longer-term, rather than qualifying as an associate without really knowing what to expect. Note that working hours do tend to be more stable at firms that focus on lower value cases/transactions (e.g. certain high street firms and smaller regional firms).