Size and practice areas
What type of firm would you like to join? The type of firm you join has a huge impact on your training contract and your career as a solicitor. The size of the firm will determine the amount of client contact you have, the areas of law you will practice in and opportunities you will have for travel. It is therefore important to think carefully about where you would like to specialise during your training contract and post qualification.
Once you are qualified i.e. after completion of your training contract you are able to move on to another firm, but which firm you train in will have a direct bearing on the type of firms. It is impossible, for example, to move from a High Street firm to a Commercial firm directly after qualifying as you will not have had the required experience, client contact or training.
In private practice there are three broad types of firms:
High street firms - these are usually small firms dealing with individuals with housing, employment and immigration problems. Not may opportunities exist in this area for international students as smaller firms do not usually offer work permits and few of these firms offer training contracts due to financial limitations.
Medium sized firms - these firms may offer specialist advice on a niche area e.g. media, family or IT but others will offer a huge spectrum of services from Corporate Finance to Private Client. Opportunities for international students exist in this area particularly if you have experience of an industry that a niche firm practices in (see right) although overseas offices might be fewer.
Large commercial firms - these large firms offer the best pay, the biggest clients and the most training contracts. Due to their international presence they are also the highest employer of international students.
Magic Circle is a term which is used to refer to the top five UK law firms: Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Freshfields, Linklaters and, sometimes, Slaughter and May. Last year,
The Lawyer reported that the magic circle accounted for 32 per cent of billings of the entire
The Lawyer 100.
Opportunities also exist
outside private practice in the
Government and charitable organizations as well as with some large companies. These opportunities are quite rare and it is far more common for these industries to employ qualified lawyers. This may be an area to investigate for your future career progression.
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Clients
This is a factor closely related to size and practice areas. Ask yourself who you imagine your future clients to be. Would you like to work for individuals or large international businesses? For the homeless or for artists? Identifying the sort of clients with whom you would like to work to help you target law firms and practice areas.
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Working conditions
It is no secret that whilst the larger commercial firms can offer you the highest wages they too can offer you the least work-life balance. Trainees can expect to work long hours. Think about what you want from work, does money matter more than time?
Even in the current economic downturn City firms announced salary rises in June 2008. Firms across the City have recently announced modest salary increases, but several have frozen pay.
http://www.lawcareers.net/information/news/Detail.aspx?r=2028
CMS Cameron McKenna has announced its new salary rates for the current year, with newly-qualified (NQ) lawyers at the firm seeing a £2,000 uplift taking their basic pay to £66,000. The City firm's new rates equates to a rise of around 3% on last year's figure of £64,000 and puts the junior lawyers on par with those at firms including Clifford Chance, Linklaters and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. Meanwhile, first-seat trainees see their pay increase from £36,000 to £37,500, with second-year trainees pocketing £41,500 up from £40,000.
What kind of culture would you like to work in - a 24/7 word hard, play hard atmosphere or a more relaxed, sociable environment? Consider what is important in your life and asses firms by this.
Legal Week research for the
Law Student Report 2010 states that among women, it is the most important attribute they want to see in a law firm, getting 55% of their vote, putting it ahead of salary as an issue. For men, it is the second most important issue, beaten only by pay, and gets 52%.
You will be able to find out what firms can offer in terms of salary by looking through the
Training Contract and Pupillage Handbook published in November or by using one of the
law websites we have listed on our website. You can also find a list of the firms offering the best funding package for the Graduate Diploma in Law and Legal Practice Course at
RollonFriday.com.
And what about once you start with the firm, will you be kept on after training? Trainee retention rates have dipped significantly since 2005, despite the massive salary increases seen in the legal profession in recent years. Make sure you find out what the firm can offer newly qualified solicitors as well as trainees.
*information correct as of November 2007
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Location
Location may be affected by many other factors such as specialism and size of firm. Most of the large commercial firms are based in London although firms such as
Eversheds do have offices around the country. Where are your friends and family based? Do you see yourself in London for the next three years or are planning on moving to the suburbs?
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