I went to court (the Royal Courts of Justice, no less) this week for a proper hearing! It wasn't a full-on trial, but I can assure you it was just as exciting. It was amazing to experience true courtroom drama! It was incredibly tense as the judges delivered their verdicts; I can't imagine how the actual clients must have felt at the time. It was also great to see two top QCs in action. They make advocacy seem so easy but anyone who's tried it will know that's definitely not the case.
Actually this leads me onto a practical point about being a Trainee Solicitor. One thing I didn't realise beforehand is how much of a privileged position us trainees are in. I don't know if this is the case in other firms, but at my firm they are very much of the mindset that we are there to learn as well as do work for them. They are perfectly content for us to take time out of chargeable work to do a little research if we feel we need to read more about an area of law or a practice point. My whole excursion to court was on a case in which I had next to no involvement, but I asked to go and they agreed that it'd be great experience. When I compare my situation to that of the paralegals or legal executives - who constantly have to worry about meeting their billing targets - I do indeed feel quite privileged!
Anyway, LEX returns tomorrow. The pessimist inside me is flourishing & I'm quite apprehensive of what she'll say about the work I've done on her cases! However, my supervisor says I've done well and that LEX should be very grateful.
Righto, it's Sunday evening and as much as I'm enjoying this blogging thing, I think I'd like to think about something other than work for the next few hours! Tune in next time when I will consider all the blundering errors I have made on the job so far :-)
Sunday, 23 October 2011
Wednesday, 19 October 2011
Performance Review (6 weeks in)
Six weeks into the training contract and things seemed to be going ok. I've settled into a rhythm and I generally know what to do - and if I don't, I'm not afraid to ask for help! I have even started to get a little bit excited when I go to collect the mail from my pigeon hole (ok, it's not mine, it belongs to the woman with whose cases I'm dealing (let's call her LEX for now), but it's basically mine until she returns). I'm usually disappointed when I flick through the mail and read a bunch of snide letters from other law firms, but there's the occasional nice surprise, like a settlement for a case we had all but given up hope for!
Anyway, one thing I had realised was that I had no idea how well I was actually doing. In the first few weeks I didn't expect much evaluation as I was still getting used to everything, but after a month or so I really wanted to know if I was doing good work or not. Well, last week I had my first performance review. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand the verdict is....................... yeah, I'm doing fine.
While I do talk to her a lot, it's nearly always about cases, or just general chit chat. And while it wasn't a gruelling assessment of my progress to date, it was nice to sit and talk with my supervisor about my general experience at the firm so far.
I think the real performance review will occur when LEX returns and discovers what I've done with all her cases! And I sure hope she's happy with my work, because when she comes back, my supervisor goes off on holiday and I'll be taking care of her cases for a couple of weeks. Needless to say, my supervisor's cases are a bit more complex so I'd really like to take control of them on the back of some encouraging feedback from LEX!
Other than that, everything is fine. I've had some amusing moments, some awkward moments and some facepalm moments. And I'm guessing you wish I'd written this blog post about the facepalm moments! Well tough, you'll just have to wait until next time! :)
Anyway, one thing I had realised was that I had no idea how well I was actually doing. In the first few weeks I didn't expect much evaluation as I was still getting used to everything, but after a month or so I really wanted to know if I was doing good work or not. Well, last week I had my first performance review. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand the verdict is....................... yeah, I'm doing fine.
While I do talk to her a lot, it's nearly always about cases, or just general chit chat. And while it wasn't a gruelling assessment of my progress to date, it was nice to sit and talk with my supervisor about my general experience at the firm so far.
I think the real performance review will occur when LEX returns and discovers what I've done with all her cases! And I sure hope she's happy with my work, because when she comes back, my supervisor goes off on holiday and I'll be taking care of her cases for a couple of weeks. Needless to say, my supervisor's cases are a bit more complex so I'd really like to take control of them on the back of some encouraging feedback from LEX!
Other than that, everything is fine. I've had some amusing moments, some awkward moments and some facepalm moments. And I'm guessing you wish I'd written this blog post about the facepalm moments! Well tough, you'll just have to wait until next time! :)
Sunday, 9 October 2011
Legally Binding (5 weeks down!)
Well, it's been a stimulating couple of weeks. Stimulating - one of those euphemisms for HARD AND STRESSFUL.
I have been given a few dozen cases to oversee for a few weeks, and it is a lot different to doing work on other peoples' cases. Instead of spending 3 hours drafting one statement, I'm now working on many, many files every hour. Each task carried out needs to be recorded for billing purposes and case tracking purposes. This is easy when only working on 3-4 cases a day, but now I'm working on so many cases all the time, and having to switch my attention suddenly when I get a (dreaded!) phone call, it has thrown me a bit.
This is what they don't prepare you for during your degree, or on the LPC. Sure, I have a good idea of the actual law, and I know how to write (thanks more to primary school than the LPC, although they both teach it), and I'm pretty good at making tea, BUT I was not prepared for time recording or the administrative bits & bobs that have to accompany every piece of work I do. I could blitz through loads of standard letters asking for medical records or CCTV evidence etc. I'd feel like a king doing so much, and then a while later I'd realise that I hadn't recorded my time for something, or I hadn't updated the case tracker thing, or I hadn't scheduled a follow-up to one of the letters. VERY ANNOYING, especially because then I'd have to stop what I'm doing and go pull out the file and load it on the system and figure out what I should have done... and then file it away again. That all takes time.
I guess it's all part of the learning curve and I think I am getting better at it, but it's something that the LPC should have some regard to. On the other hand, lots of things from the LPC - such as legal accounts - appear to apply solely to qualified lawyers and are of no use to trainees. It seems to me that it'd be better if they taught us more about being a trainee. But perhaps other trainees are having a different experience.
Anyway, sorry for the rantlet, the administrative side has been bothering me a lot lately because I feel like I'm getting a lot less work done than I could if I didn't have to worry about all the faff. But I guess it goes with the territory.
The good news is that nobody seems to think I'm doing a bad job, though I think the woman who sits next to me is starting to get annoyed with all my questions! Big Christmas present coming her way!!
I have been given a few dozen cases to oversee for a few weeks, and it is a lot different to doing work on other peoples' cases. Instead of spending 3 hours drafting one statement, I'm now working on many, many files every hour. Each task carried out needs to be recorded for billing purposes and case tracking purposes. This is easy when only working on 3-4 cases a day, but now I'm working on so many cases all the time, and having to switch my attention suddenly when I get a (dreaded!) phone call, it has thrown me a bit.
This is what they don't prepare you for during your degree, or on the LPC. Sure, I have a good idea of the actual law, and I know how to write (thanks more to primary school than the LPC, although they both teach it), and I'm pretty good at making tea, BUT I was not prepared for time recording or the administrative bits & bobs that have to accompany every piece of work I do. I could blitz through loads of standard letters asking for medical records or CCTV evidence etc. I'd feel like a king doing so much, and then a while later I'd realise that I hadn't recorded my time for something, or I hadn't updated the case tracker thing, or I hadn't scheduled a follow-up to one of the letters. VERY ANNOYING, especially because then I'd have to stop what I'm doing and go pull out the file and load it on the system and figure out what I should have done... and then file it away again. That all takes time.
I guess it's all part of the learning curve and I think I am getting better at it, but it's something that the LPC should have some regard to. On the other hand, lots of things from the LPC - such as legal accounts - appear to apply solely to qualified lawyers and are of no use to trainees. It seems to me that it'd be better if they taught us more about being a trainee. But perhaps other trainees are having a different experience.
Anyway, sorry for the rantlet, the administrative side has been bothering me a lot lately because I feel like I'm getting a lot less work done than I could if I didn't have to worry about all the faff. But I guess it goes with the territory.
The good news is that nobody seems to think I'm doing a bad job, though I think the woman who sits next to me is starting to get annoyed with all my questions! Big Christmas present coming her way!!
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