As a full-service law firm with major offices in London, Bristol and Exeter, Michelmores is focused on fostering a strong inter-office and inter-departmental approach. As a firm, Michelmores encourage all employees to pool their skills to ensure clients benefit from the plethora of skills and talent within the firm.
Head of Family, Daniel Eames, identified an opportunity to cultivate an even stronger inter-departmental approach by creating the Asset Protection seat. Asset Protection is a non-contentious mixed seat that combines the Family team and Tax, Trusts and Successions (‘TTS’) team. A trainee in Asset Protection will have the opportunity to work on the full spectrum of estate and family planning services, including wills, cohabitation agreements, trusts and nuptial agreements.
I have been fortunate enough to sit in Asset Protection as my first seat of my two-year training contract. The mix of work has been a new challenge, given that I am only the second trainee in this seat. I feel I have benefitted greatly from the exposure to two dynamic and experienced teams. No two days are the same and my work is extremely varied.
A unique aspect to my seat is that I have two supervisors – one in the family team and one in the TTS team. This allows me to work closely with two distinguished lawyers with different specialities and different working styles. Each of them supplies me with interesting and challenging work, and each of them have been very supportive and focused on my development as a trainee. The detailed feedback and the knowledge they impart has allowed me to grow in my seat so far. My supervisors have given me the opportunity to travel to different offices to work with different members of the teams, which has been a thoroughly enjoyable experience.
I have loved being in a seat that offers such a diverse range of services to our private clients. For example, I have worked with clients whose needs have included probate for relatives, wills, advice on succession planning and advice in relation to ongoing trusts and powers of attorney, for both themselves and their families. My seat allows me to assist the client to protect and make the most effective use of their assets for the benefit of their family.
I have had exposure to plenty of interesting, high-quality work at an early stage. For example, last week I attended five client meetings, was involved in financial disclosure for a post-nuptial agreement, drafted a will, a codicil, a letter of wishes to a will and two trust deeds of appointment amongst other things. To anyone who is interested in doing a private client seat, I would certainly recommend Asset Protection.
