With the recent news of the world seeming to fall in a downward spiral of doom and gloom, it can be difficult to be upbeat and positive on a daily basis. After all, another new disease, a war, ridiculous increases in food, petrol and electricity prices are all topics enough to put you off your breakfast – and yes, everyone is STILL talking about those Downing Street parties!
But it is important to try to find the positives and keep them at the forefront of your mind. My positivity has been that I recently passed the halfway mark of my training contract at Jacksons Law Firm!
When I look back on my experience at Jacksons, it all seems to have gone by so quickly. The staff have been exceptionally supportive, and I have found new areas of law that I have thoroughly enjoyed, particularly the Employment Law department with Paul Clark. It has been great to experience both working with employers and employees and getting to see both sides to any story – I have loved learning how to adapt our approach to find the best outcome for our clients.
It has also been great to assist those who are striking out on their own even in such challenging times. With our Start-Up Business package, we have been able to create employment contracts and policies for new businesses to ensure that they are launched with everything that they will need, and, as an added bonus, we can offer those businesses discounted legal advice so that they have somewhere to turn with any of their initial hiccups. It has been really inspiring to speak to people who have managed to push themselves to succeed in such a challenging time.
Outside of my current department, Jacksons gives us a lot of things to look forward to and helps to keep us upbeat. We have a trainee lunch scheduled, where all the trainees can get together to catch up about our various departments and discuss the varying work types. It is lovely to be able to talk to others who are following the same work pattern and we can encourage each other as we get more experience and advance through the process.
For anyone unsure of whether a training contract is beneficial, I would say that it is. You get to experience a range of different departments, and that means honing very different skills. Some departments are very process based and rely heavily on your client interactions and speedy responses (Residential Conveyancing), while others have an extremely broad scope of work and rely on your negotiation and drafting skills (Litigation). The Employment department has really assisted in teaching legal research skills, and how to apply the research to the specific circumstances for the client. Doing a training contract also means that you can see which departments suits your specific skill set and piques your interest – after all, you don’t do all this work and studying just to work in a department you don’t enjoy!
Anyway, I hope that everyone is able to find things about their work that they enjoy and that can keep them positive – and if you can’t, why not check out our careers page and see if there is anything you fancy? There are now more job vacancies in the UK than there are unemployed people, so if you are feeling undervalued now is a great time to move!
