What attracted you to a career in law?

In my high school years, I was a member of every sports team possible as I learnt from a young age, that I enjoyed being part of team, working together towards a mutual goal. When weighing up my career path options, I knew I would need to pick a career which was intellectually challenging to keep me motivated, and which allowed me to be inquisitive and meet lots of new people. My first work experience was in year 10, at a local firm and after sitting in on a few meetings, I was enthralled. From then on, I wrote to every local firm asking for work experience; shadowed a barrister for 2 weeks; and marshalled on numerous occasions at my local court, to do as much as possible to bolster my CV before attending university.

Which departments did you train in?

I worked as a Paralegal in our Insurance Litigation department for 9 months before doing my first 6 month training contract seat in that department. I then moved to our Commercial Property department for my second seat and on to our Property Litigation department for my third seat. I expressed my interest in Commercial Property and near the end of my third seat, I was offered a qualifying role in that department, so returned to do my fourth seat in Commercial Property.

Tell us more about your training contract

All of the Partners at Ellisons have an “open door” policy so the training contract really gave me an opportunity to get to know all my colleagues, of every level, on a personal level. At every opportunity I was offered to attend court hearings, sit in on client meetings or training sessions, so I felt valued.

When did you know you wanted to work in Commercial Property?

When I did my third seat in Property Litigation, which was contentious. It confirmed to me that I enjoyed the property transactional work and was less suited to contentious work. I enjoyed the interaction with the clients and the fact that no two instructions were the same. Ironically, I did not enjoy Land Law at university!

What would your advice be for someone applying for a training contract?

Tailor your application and do not be tempted to send out a “one size fits all” application, to every firm possible. Work out what sort of firm you want to work in and target them specifically i.e. Does the firm your applying to actually specialise in the area which interests you most?

To learn more about our training contract, click here.