February 25, 2016
It is that time of year again! Hundreds of trainee solicitors are coming to the end of their training contracts with firms of all sizes across Leeds (and wider Yorkshire) and Manchester (and the North West). Despite the fact the vast majority of trainee solicitors will successfully remain with the firms they trained, it is still a time which causes panic amongst even the most confident trainee solicitor. It is with good reason – they have worked hard throughout their whole lives with the aim of getting to this point and they still have fresh in their minds (and still hear from slightly older colleagues) the traumatic tales of qualifying in the recession.
Let’s be clear and positive, though. The legal market has recovered significantly in recent years, with transactional work (particularly in real estate, corporate, banking, construction and commercial) activity levels dramatically increasing.
That said, not all law firms can guarantee their trainee solicitors a role upon qualification, despite this improving year-on-year. CapeClarke Legal Recruitment can help, however, in those instances where retention is not an option.
For the past three years we have produced a series of blogs to offer advice to trainee solicitors qualifying into private practice law firms. This year, we hosted two Careers events aimed at trainee solicitors qualifying in 2016. We have again produced blogs and an E-book reflecting the content of those events.
The feedback on these blogs has been excellent so we have always kept to the same format as trainee solicitors seem to value their clarity and conciseness. This year is no different and over the coming weeks, we will be publishing this year’s series of “The Qualification Season” blogs. They will provide a discipline-by-discipline guide as to market conditions and how they will affect you in 2016, together with expert opinion and advice from two prominent figures in the Leeds legal market. There will also be a blog dealing with responses to some questions frequently asked by trainee solicitors year after year.
We hope that you find the blogs useful, informative and reassuring. Of course, should you wish to discuss your qualification options in more detail, please do not hesitate to contact one of our team:
Terry Cape – Director – m: 07979494938 e: terry.cape@capeclarke.com
Chris Clarke – Director – m: 07753688794 e: chris.clarke@capeclarke.com
Nathan Abimelech – Consultant – m: 07867427181 e: nathan.abimelech@capeclarke.com
This is the third year we are publishing our series of blogs about NQ opportunities in the North. We received some great feedback last year and we hope this year’s trainee solicitors find them similarly useful.
In the meantime, as many of you will not have a CV, please click here to view and download our Trainee Solicitor CV template. We will also offer tailored advice in relation to your individual CV.
If you would like to discuss this blog, have been thinking about a move or would just like some general advice about options in the market, please feel free to contact Terry Cape or Chris Clarke on 0113 2385965.
CapeClarke is a leading niche legal recruitment consultancy operating across Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield, Nottingham, Newcastle, Liverpool and London. Please feel free to check out our priority legal vacancies by clicking here. Please note these legal vacancies are only a small selection of those we have been instructed on, so please get in touch if you do not see a role which looks suitable.
