Aspiring Trainee Solicitor? My journey to securing a training contract at Michelmores
The road to securing the ever-elusive training contract can often feel relentless. I decided at...
As a trainee at Michelmores, you will find the best blend of varied, high-quality work in a flexible and supportive environment.
Alongside building your understanding of the law, you’ll gain a real grasp of the commercial realities that affect our clients and how we help them make the most of their opportunities.
From day one, you’ll have access to partners and industry experts who will show you how we collaborate to deliver an exceptional client experience and do so in a supportive, friendly, and flexible environment which allows you to grow and thrive.
You will be joining a firm that wants to make a positive difference to the world around them, for their people, their clients, the local communities we work in and the planet. Find out more by clicking here.
We want our trainees to be our future leaders. Trainees are a key part of the firm’s future so we invest heavily in our future talent to ensure we grow exceptional solicitors who think creatively, commercially and work in collaboration with their clients and colleagues to enable them and everyone around them to thrive.
We’re looking for trainees who can bring diversity of thought, innovative ideas and a creative, commercial approach.
At Michelmores we value diverse outlooks, creative thinking, ambition and collaboration. We never stop learning, being curious and trying new things.
We also really care about what we stand for. Conversations about impact and sustainability are an intrinsic part of the firm’s culture and we work in some incredibly exciting areas of the sustainable economy.
Our training programme combines excellent legal training with varied, high quality and challenging work, all within a flexible, supportive and collaborative environment.
Trainees are given responsibility and autonomy from day one. No two trainees are the same, so we give every trainee a tailored experience, reflecting their own ambitions, skills and approach. We’ll support you to complete seats which will help you to develop your skills, give you a broad and varied legal knowledge and align to your interests and future qualification area ambitions.
During your training contract you will work closely with partners and other leading lawyers and build strong working relationships with colleagues and partners across the firm.
Our expertise covers everything from corporate and commercial, to transactional real estate and development, from agriculture to construction, and from family law to complex private wealth work. We cover a range of sectors, including technology and innovation, consumer brands, public sector and the sustainable economy. We work with a variety of clients from multi-national firms to private individuals. You’ll have the chance to work with clients both nationally and internationally too.
Our training contract gives you the flexibility to experience the areas of law you’re interested in and tailor your seats if you know where you might want to qualify. You’ll get to experience both contentious and non-contentious, litigious and non-litigious seats. The 4 seats will give you the breadth of experience you need to go onto fulfil your potential and choose an area of law you love.
The two-year training programme is just the first step on the journey as a lawyer at Michelmores. We recruit to retain and that is a key part of our story. We’ve retained over 88% of our trainees in the past four years. We’re passionate about supporting you to build an exceptional career with Michelmores so the training doesn’t end once the training contract does. You’ll have a tailored training programme for every stage of your career. We don’t believe one approach fits all. One size fits one.
Outside of work, we encourage our trainees to get involved in all aspects of life at Michelmores – such as our ESG and pro bono work, D&I initiatives, sporting activities, client events, socials, and much more. If you have an interest we’re keen to support you to experience it.
Applications are now open for our Spring Assessment Day, Vacation Scheme and Summer assessment day, you can apply here.
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Read through our Graduate Recruitment brochure for more information about what it’s like to train at Michelmores. The brochure also includes interviews with our recruitment team and two of our current trainees. |
If the trainee route isn’t right for you, we also offer our Graduate Solicitor Apprenticeship aimed at University Graduates wanting to become a Solicitor. Find out about this programme here.
If you have any questions, email gradrecruitment@michelmores.com.
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Creating a culture of respect for wellbeing is central to our ethos. As a Firm, we are committed to an environment that promotes positive wellbeing, and in which everyone feels able to talk openly about their mental and physical health and be supported. We work hard to create a working environment in which everyone feels psychologically safe, fully supported, and able to openly talk about personal situations that may be affecting them
We partner with highly regarded organisations to provide the right benefits, policies, training courses and workshops to help us to create opportunities for our People to prioritise wellbeing.
We want to bring our shared values of mutual support and inclusion into every aspect of work at Michelmores. We understand how much of an impact our relationships at work can have on us so providing opportunities for our People to establish healthy and collaborative connections is part of our commitment to helping everyone at the Firm to feel valued.
We provide expertise and resources to support financial wellbeing and independence; we want our People to have the financial freedom to make choices that allow them to enjoy their lives without needing to worry about day-to-day expenses. Our financial wellbeing benefits range from discount vouchers to help your money go that little bit further or allowing you to claim money back for healthcare treatments through Medicash, to providing insurances to support you and your family through difficult times and a pension scheme to enable you to plan for your retirement.
Our flexible working and family support policies have been written to provide additional assistance for our colleagues when they need it most. We provide enhanced parental leave, family leave support and a family buddy scheme to support the return to work after the birth or adoption of a child; we also have policies that cover fertility, pregnancy loss, domestic violence and premature births.
We believe our people work at their best when given choice about where and how they work. Our approach is based on the assumption that here there is no “one size fits all”. We remain committed to agile working and are constantly looking to improve how we work together.
HOW WE WORK
At Michelmores we are committed to supporting colleagues to reach their full potential and to thrive. We believe in treating people as individuals, tailoring their development needs so one size fits one and encouraging our people to develop in areas that excite them or make them different. That is how we nurture the brightest and best lawyers.
Our Trainee Development Programme is designed to develop you into a trusted adviser who understands commercial challenges and opportunities, rather than one who just knows the law.
Our Trainees are given high value and meaningful learning opportunities from the very start of their training contract with the Firm. Our tailored development programme has been specifically designed to build the key skills our Trainees will need to flourish and to be part of a truly collaborative team. Alongside this, all Trainees embark on a Professional Skills Course (PSC) to help them to master the legal knowledge they will need for the rest of their career. Throughout the two-years, our Trainees benefit from workshops targeted at Business Development, Personal Impact and networking, and are fully supported to make the very most of the knowledge they have gained as they progress through their seat rotations. You will also be enrolled on to the Leading Minds Trainee Resilience Programme which equips our Trainees to deal with key health and performance challenges as well as self-management, emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills.
Alongside more formal learning, we offer opportunities to come together with colleagues from across the business for workshops as well as sector-specific knowledge sessions. These opportunities enable us all to build strong connections, share experiences, and collaborate through learning.
“The variety of work available at Michelmores was one of the reasons I selected the firm – to give me the best experience to help shape my career journey. However, what has really stood out to me after actually working at the firm, is the quality of the work and level of responsibility Michelmores offers to trainees. At no point have I felt as though I was expected to do administrative or repetitive tasks – I’ve been constantly challenged and expected to be proactively and practically involved in both seats I’ve enjoyed so far. I feel that Michelmores has struck the balance perfectly between exposing trainees to complex, challenging work without overwhelming them.”