I am now three months into my solicitor apprenticeship at Jacksons Law. A lot has been learned over the last three months. The first three months of my apprenticeship have been spent in residential conveyancing. I was very nervous starting however this quickly went away as I was introduced to the team. The conveyancing team and the firm were very welcoming when I joined and have since been very supportive offering a lot of advice to help develop and build skills from day 1.
The first few days were spent shadowing other team members to show me how to perform the different tasks I would be completing. This was mainly opening files up, to begin with. With a busy September and October in the department, there was always a lot to do. This meant I quickly became au fait with opening new files, giving out quotes and speaking on the phone. Speaking on the phone was something that I did not enjoy when I first started but this has quickly become normal. Additionally, the busy period meant extra help was needed in other parts of the team which meant I was regularly shown how to do new things such as opening different types of files, reviewing initial documents, and eventually moving on to drafting contracts for sale files. I have subsequently been shown many different parts of the conveyancing transaction by working closely with Jonathan Wall, partner, and head of Residential Conveyancing, on a purchase file.
This file progressed quickly from start to finish, allowing me to be shown what happens at different stages in a short time. I was shown briefly how to check a title, what sort of enquiries to raise and check a client’s source of funds along with other parts of the transaction. Jonathan has provided a lot of support and guidance during my time so far; this has been a massive benefit to working at a firm like Jacksons law, where I have been able to work closely with support staff, fee earners and partners which wouldn’t always happen at bigger firms. This file was recently completed which naturally led to me being showing the completion and post-completion work that must be done.
I have now set up several files for completion. These last three months have gone by incredibly quickly and I have learned a lot from the conveyancing team. The team has been very accommodating, passing on their knowledge and wisdom. I am incredibly excited to see what the rest of my time in the department has in store and to see where I will end up in the coming years.
So far, my experience as a solicitor apprentice at Jacksons Law has been entirely positive. I believe the apprenticeship route to qualifying as a solicitor has a lot of benefits over the traditional route; mainly the huge depth of skills and knowledge that can be carefully crafted from the first day.
After Christmas, I will hopefully start to run some of my files before moving on to my next department in the spring. This is an example of the benefits of working as a solicitor apprentice where you can get hands-on experience that most other individuals, who wish to qualify as a solicitor would have to wait four years for.
