Traineeships - Adapting to the Future - Trainees

Examine how the legal industry is evolving and what trainees should do to stay adaptable and forward-thinking in their careers.

• Hybrid working:

  • Hybrid working is becoming a lot more popular in many law firms including Gilson Gray.
  • When you first start your traineeship you will be in the office full time.
  • However as you progress and get more accustomed to your role, there is the option to spend 2 days a week working from home.
  • This can be both a benefit and a challenge.
  • It can be a real benefit for your lifestyle especially if you have a big commute.
  • However it can be challenging as you don’t have your colleagues around you to ask for help.
  • You therefore need to adapt by scheduling regular times to talk to your manager or your team throughout the day and discuss the method of asking for help like to draft an email to a colleague.
  • It is also something that is relevant to you even if you chose not to participate in hybrid working as your colleagues might and therefore you need to be prepared for the fact that you might not see everyone in the office every day and you’ll need to contact them when you need to ask them things.

• Digitalisation:

  • Most firms, included Gilson Gray, have digitalised most aspects of their work.
  • You therefore need to be prepared and technologically proficient in order to be able to deal with this.
  • For example, in residential conveyancing, we use an online case management system and this can be difficult to navigate if like me you had never worked in a law firm before.
  • But the most important thing is be prepared and open to learn as it is a really useful tool and when used correctly it can make the work a lot more efficient.
  • However, while many firms, have moved towards digitalisation, not all firms have, and other parties that we deal with might not have either, like lenders and clients.
  • Therefore, you need to be prepared to still revert back to more traditional methods when necessary.
  • For example, while we will meet with most clients online or over the phone, some client’s sill want to meet in person, so you need to be flexible to all options.
  • Again, in residential conveyancing, we deal a lot with lenders, and some will be fully digitalised with simple online portals, and other will still require you to phone them to obtain information and to still fax them documents.

• Communication with clients:

  • Communication with clients is a big part of the job in residential conveyancing, especially these days
  • Clients will want to know what is going on with their transaction, and you need to be able to manage your time well, to be able to carve out time to communicate with your clients, while still having enough time in the day to get all your work done.
  • It’s a balancing act.
  • Communication with the client is also a big part of giving the client good service.
  • It means that even when things go wrong, which they will, as long as you are keeping them informed, they are less likely to have a bad experience.
  • This is something that is very important now with reviews becoming a big part of a firm’s reputation.
  • It’s one of the first thing that prospective new clients will look at.

The information and opinions contained in this blog are for information only.  They are not intended to constitute advice and should not be relied upon or considered as a replacement for advice.  Before acting on any information contained in this blog, please seek solicitor’s advice from Gilson Gray.