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It has been a month since I started my second seat in the Transactional Real Estate team at Michelmores.
My undergraduate and postgraduate degree were not enough to put me off property law and, after graduation, I found myself working as a Paralegal in the Real Estate department of a regional law firm. I genuinely enjoyed the transactional side of property law and thought that the tangibility made it more interesting, especially if you were instructed on a famous building in the capital city or even a café you walked past every day on your way into the office. It was rewarding to think that I had played a part in the property being sold or a commercial tenant taking a lease and setting up shop.
After years of applying for training contracts, by the time I was successful, I had enough experience to have made my mind up on the type of law I wanted to qualify into.
The seat process at Michelmores
During a training contract and typically every six months, each cohort of trainee solicitors rotate into a new department in their firm. Six months is a particular sweet spot – it gives you just enough time to get to grips and understand the department you’re in, before you’re whisked away to set up in an entirely new team and commence the learning process all over again.
When starting a training contract, law firms are often keen for trainee solicitors to try out a broad range of seats. Some law firms also offer such a small amount of seat options that trainees have no choice but to try contrasting areas of law. The positives of this are that, if you are unsure, or have less work experience in law, you can figure out the type of law that fits your skillset and piques your interest. But you guessed it – I was headstrong on property law and wanted my training contract to focus exclusively on that.
Around two months before the start of your training contract (or new seat) at Michelmores you are sent a list of seat options available and the corresponding office. Some popular departments like Commercial are based in either Bristol or Exeter but don’t let that put you off if you’re a trainee based in the other respective office. Michelmores has a fantastic flexible working and cross-office one-firm policy which means that you are not limited to taking seats in your home office.
You are required to put down your top three seat options and some reasoning behind your choices. Fortunately for me, Michelmores offers a diverse range of seats and so I was able to put down several different property departments. I explained the rationale behind my choices and was fortunate to be given my first choice – Planning and Environment.
My first six months in the Planning and Environment department were different to my previous experience. Planning work can often be quite advisory with a varied mix of transactional and contentious work. The Planning team were also genuinely lovely people, and it was such a nice introduction to the Firm.
Trainees are told that your second and third seats are often critical. These are the seats where you will likely look to qualify (although there have been instances where trainees have qualified into their first or last seats at Michelmores).
I really enjoyed the transactional side to property law as a Paralegal and opted to put Transactional Real Estate as the first choice for my second seat followed by several other property departments. I was fortunate enough, again, to get my first choice and here we are.
I am a month into the Transactional Real Estate department and really enjoying the work that I am involved with. I have undertaken some regular trainee tasks such as filing SDLT returns and submitting Land Registry applications but I have also been asked to draft Deeds of Easement and Leases. My supervisor is generous with her time and happy to run through any drafting tasks whether over Teams or together in the office which is great for learning and development.
I have really appreciated that my interest and desire to qualify into the Real Estate department at Michelmores has been supported in the seat options I have been granted. There are also such a diverse range of seat options that I will easily be able to complete a contentious seat within the property law sphere.
The focus of my article has really been to emphasise how much you can tailor your training contract at Michelmores. Although completing seats across more than one of our practice areas is encouraged by the firm, one trainee in the Firm has currently only carried out seats in the Private Client department with a view to qualifying into one of them. Equally there are so many different seat options available in the Business department that you could likely tailor your training contract there. Each seat option brings something new to your training contract and the diverse range of options at Michelmores is a great place to start.
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