It is quite surreal to think I am sat here now writing this blog, with only six months left of my training contract to complete. However, at the same time it does feel like quite some time ago that I made my first trip into the office to collect all of my work equipment and begin working from home for the Dispute Resolution and Debt Recovery Department. As I have covered in my previous blogs, I spent my first six months in Dispute Resolution and Debt Recovery and the next six months in Residential Conveyancing Department, two seats that I thoroughly enjoyed. Towards the ends of 2021, I was informed that my next seat, on my return after the Christmas break, would be in the Commercial Property Department. This news was something I was grateful to hear, as this was an area of law I have always had a keen interest in and was looking forward to experiencing.
I moved into commercial property on the first working day of 2022, and was immediately welcomed into the team by Partner and Head of the department, Erica Turner. Erica has been crucial to my development within this seat and is a major part of why have I managed to gain a real understanding of the different types of commercial property work we do here at Jacksons. I feel my knowledge of the area has increased enormously during my time in this seat and there is no doubt that this is not only down to Erica, but all of staff here in the commercial property department who have all been so willing to help me and welcome me into the team.
With regards to the types of work I have been involved with in commercial property, this has massively varied. I don’t think I quite realised when I joined the department how wide ranging the area was and how many different types of work it involved. I have been fortunate enough to have worked on files or had my own files with relation to sales and purchases of commercial properties, I have negotiated leases for commercial landlords and tenants and worked on first registrations and adverse possession claims. These are just a few of the different kinds of work I have been doing over the last six months and I believe that this is a major reason as to why I have enjoyed this seat so much.
In my last blog, I compared the differences between Dispute Resolution and Residential Conveyancing and the contrasting paces of the work in those departments. I have found that commercial property is almost a mixture of fast paced and slow paced work. Sale and purchase files naturally will be more fast paced a lot of the time and similarly to residential, can be opened and closed within a matter of months. However, this can depend on the complexity of the matter with some files taking much longer. Then you also have first registration matters which can also have the potential to go on for some time. I inherited one of these matters from the previous trainee in commercial property, which I am still working on to this day. Again, I think this is something I like about the department, no two days are the same and you are always working on different kinds of matters which require different skills.
As I approach the end of my third seat of my training contract, I am happy to say that I will be completing the remainder of my training contract here, in commercial property. I have really enjoyed my first six months in the department and I think it has definitely confirmed for me that this is something I could see myself doing long term. I have no doubt that this has everything to do with the fact we have such an amazing team here at Jacksons, one that has been a major help for my growth within the team and enabling me to be a helpful asset. I am looking forward to my last six months of my training in commercial property and I am sure it will fly by, just as the previous eighteen months has!
Richard Knaggs, Trainee Solicitor
