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David Myers is a second year trainee at Rollits in Hull.
David's current seat is in Property.
Below, he gives us his account of what it's like to be a trainee at Rollits, along with his description of a typical day in the life at work! |
I have now commenced the final seat of my training contract with Rollits. This is a particularly important time for any second year trainee as you now need to consider what area of law you want to qualify into. Following on from this you also have to bear in mind what positions are available within your own Firm and whether you wish to stay on or look elsewhere upon qualification.
Rollits have an excellent policy whereby the last 6 months of your training contract (or in some cases longer) are spent in the seat which you wish to qualify into. This therefore allows you to build up your legal and technical knowledge in that particular area. The main reason behind this is to make qualification that bit easier as you certainly don't want to be put in the position where you qualify into something that you have not encountered for a significant amount of time. To be left in such a position would take you back to square one, but within a much more pressurised environment. This is something that Rollits always seek to avoid.
Accordingly, this decision is obviously very important and requires in depth consideration of all of the previous seats that you have completed.
In my first year at Rollits I was able to complete seats in Corporate, Employment and Commercial Property. I enjoyed all of these Departments immensely, particularly Commercial Property.
The first six months of my second year as a trainee have been split between the Litigation Department and the Private Capital Department.
As part of your training contract you will be required to complete a contentious seat. As already noted I had already spent a period of time within the Employment Department. However, I also needed to spend some time within the Litigation Department.
Regular contact with your trainee supervisor is something that Rollits wish to push at all times. A new supervisor is appointed to be your mentor within your new Department every time you move seats. Through an initial meeting with my Litigation trainee supervisor I was able to inform her of my interest in Commercial Property. This is a common theme throughout the Departments where you are able to discuss areas of interest that you have and then the specific Department will try to provide as much work and experience as possible within that area. Accordingly, my Litigation supervisor was able to inform the Department of my preferences and therefore provide me with more property focused litigation matters.
This in itself gave me an insight into the process when a matter becomes contentious within the Property Department and is then passed over to the Litigation Department.
I was also then able to spend 3 months within the Private Capital Department. Again I was able to do a significant number of property related matters within this seat. I had studied Private Client within the LPC and had informed Rollits of my interest in this area. The fact that Rollits were so flexible with my training again represents how willing they are to provide you with experience in a wide area of law if you show an interest.
As you may have guessed, I have made the decision to qualify into Commercial Property. I have now moved back into the Commercial Property Department to complete my last seat. I will be focusing more on the planning and development side which represents a unique opportunity for me to enter a very progressive area within Rollits. As such, I look forward to my qualification in September.
