From the 22nd - 26th June 2020, myself, Alice and Lucy all took part in the Legal Cheek virtual vacation scheme comprising of multiple talks by many different legal professionals from a variety of backgrounds. We all learnt so much which will undoubtedly help us in our future careers so we thought we should provide a summary to help pass on the knowledge. In addition to the sessions mentioned below, there was an initial introduction explaining the week in general, a welcome quiz on Monday night, leaving drinks on Friday night and networking opportunities daily.
Monday
'From Lehmen to COVID: The Coronavirus case study in context'
- Alex Aldridge (publisher and founder of Legal Cheek)
The first session of the week focused on a highly prevalent topic in society currently, Coronavirus, and how it will likely impact the economy and legal sector, based on a comparison to the 2008 recession. In 2008, the recession was caused by banks lending money to people with poor credit and consequently the loans couldn't be paid off, meaning banks started to collapse. Due to their essentiality however, they were bailed out by the government, similar to businesses currently being bailed out by furlough schemes. Following this recession, the stock market changed completely so tech companies, such as google and apple, started to take over and it is predicted that a similar change will occur as a result of coronavirus. The big question is however, what will take over from tech? Arguments for AI and video-gaming appear to be leading at the moment, although given the significantly increased demand for technology as people have been forced to work from home and connect virtually, it is possible that the tech sector will remain dominant. It was noted by the speaker that those who followed tech development from 2009, before it was the leading sector and people were aware it would be so big, are now the ones doing very well, so it is important sometimes not to follow the current market.
'Understanding the commercial legal market'
- Dan Kayne (general counsel of Network Rail) and Phillip Dupres (managing associate at Addleshaw Goddard)
The commercial legal market sounds complicated but simply refers to the buying and selling of legal services and sees law firms from a businesses perspective which was highlighted by the speakers to be an extremely significant consideration. It is often not considered that companies need, in addition to everyone else involved, many different types of lawyers to be successful. For instance, property lawyers to manage their land and employment lawyers to ensure employees are protected, which is a service that must be bought. Traditionally, companies would buy these relevant legal services through looking at panels of different law firms, however it is now increasingly common for large companies to have in-house lawyers. An 'in-house lawyer' works for the business they are employed by, rather than a law firm and are generally less specialist than those in firms in order to cover a wider array of issues. Presently, around 20% of solicitors work in-house and this is continuously growing, however there remains a lack of training opportunities in companies, so most lawyers will begin in private practice with the option to move in-house later.
The idea of the 'O Shaped Lawyer' was also discussed which attempts to make lawyers more rounded by helping them develop more soft skills such as communication rather than focusing entirely on academics. This can partially be seen in the development of the SQE taking over from the LPC (more on this later...), however there is a strong belief that university education needs to be modernised to teach how a business works and the necessary soft skills.
The key takeaway from the session was looking at a what a client wants and working backwards from there. Examples given included: building a trusting relationship through understanding and cooperation, and giving genuine advice that will help them move forward given the context of their issue.
Tuesday
'Life as a debt finance lawyer'
- Jacob Bennett (associate at Ropes and Gray)
As the first sector specific talk, this was particularly interesting to begin to hear about how law works in the debt finance area which could later be compared to other areas. Debt finance was described generally as the borrowing by a company for the purpose of raising money to fund their everyday activities, however there are many smaller specialisms within this. The job sounded very varied with no 'typical day' due to the unpredictability of the job and, although it can sometimes be very full on, intensity ebs and flows. Specific to this sector however is that it is a very globally present area so it is not uncommon to work with foreign firms on different markets compared to the UK, which arguably allows the development of broader skillset and oftentimes their work is reported so a definitive outcome can be seen unlike in some other areas of law. Many different legal terms were brought up in this talk with the most notable being different types of law firms. For example, some firms are described as 'full service' meaning they have numerous teams covering a variety of sectors/areas, comparative to others described as 'sector focused' which may still have numerous teams however they only operate in one particular sector, such as property. Jacob Bennett also provided some amazing advice to not let your rejections hold you back, particularly in such a competitive career, and always attend any events to show your commitment to the profession.
'Meet the legal technologists'
- Dana Denis-Smith (founder of Obelisk and First 100 years), Nishant Prasad (associate at Nivaura), Catherine Bamford (founder of BamLegal) and Toby Willcocks (UK deployments at Ironclad)
Within this session, each speaker had a very different role to the others, however the one common factor was their use and advocacy of the use of tech in law firms. Dana Denis-Smith discussed the importance of coding and its role as a series of instructions telling a computer what to do. Most notably however she centred her talk around the importance of the 'three Cs' - curiosity, creativity and common sense - all of which are of vital importance to have in the legal tech sector. Nishant Prasad and Catherine Bamford similarly spoke about the implementation of legal tech such as GLML which allows lawyers to become coders by changing legal documents into code from Microsoft word. A fascinating example of the benefits of legal tech was given in the comparison of Blockbuster and Netflix as by using technology Netflix has made 36x the value of Blockbuster with only 7% of the headcount, clearly showing its efficiency benefits. The legal tech area of law is incredibly unique and one personally I wasn't aware of, however it is being increasingly supported and developing hugely, particularly with the current coronavirus situation placing more reliance on technology.
Wednesday
'Wellness breakfast'
- Eloise Skinner (associate at Cleary Gottlieb)
Wednesday morning started off very differently to the other days with a yoga class given by Eloise and then a brief Q&A with the most asked question being how does she have the time do be a yoga instructor as well as a lawyer. Her answer was that it is really important to make time for things you enjoy, such as yoga or going to the gym, to ensure you maintain the work/life balance and have a way to relieve any stress and tension from work. Although not an academically or legally informative session as the others were, this was highly beneficial as it force you to take time out, relax and think about everything going on in your life, which was a perfect start to moving forward with the second half of the week.
'Life as a litigator'
- Chrissie Wolfe (associate at Irwin Mitchell), Rajiv Bhatt (barrister at Hardwicke) and Matthew Mills (barrister at Radcliffe Chambers)
Within this session, the three speakers each had very different jobs and backgrounds however all had the responsibility of litigation which meant the talk provided different perspectives on the topic. Typically as a solicitor it is expected you won't litigate for your client, that instead will be done by a barrister and the solicitor will merely focus on the 'behind the scenes' work outside of court.
Chrissie Wolfe's job however, despite being a solicitor, involves both as she does non-contentious work, giving advice, and contentious work, litigating for her clients. She discussed her job in foreign personal injury, a very niche sector which focuses on compensation claims for British people injured abroad or, sometimes, foreigners injured in Britain, and in particular, compensation for cosmetic surgery when it goes wrong. As she is involved in some litigation it means she sometimes follows her clients all the way through their cases, allowing the build of a stronger relationship and a final result compared to other solicitors who merely work on the case but then get no closure.
In comparison, the two barristers who spoke highlighted that they cover multiple practice areas which can vary significantly. They often have around 20-25 live cases at once however they will likely all be at different stages as when a barrister is brought onto a case can vary significantly, sometimes it will be just before trial, whereas other times it will be right from the start. Contrary to popular belief, little of their time is spent at actual trials as many visits to court are for hearings or other reasons and oftentimes a lot of litigation goes on outside of court. As barristers are generally self-employed, unlike solicitors who work for a firm, they also often write articles, go to events and go on secondment to build up relationships and develop a client base.
Thursday
'Hot practice areas of the 2020s (1): The Green Economy'
- Tom Gillett (projects lawyer at Burgess Salmon), James Wood-Robertson (commercial law partner at Shoosmiths), and Laura Kiwelu (energy finance lawyer at Norton Rose Fulbright)
This talk formed part one of a two part session on 'hot practice areas' and focused on the green economy, discussing environmental law, projects and finances. Currently there are numerous projects going on as the UK attempts to reduce its green emissions, for example the '25 year plan' and the new environment bill, interestingly however this is all likely to change very soon as 80-90% of environmental law comes from EU law which will no longer be relevant to the UK after Brexit. As environmental lawyers, the speakers discussed their day to day jobs which included looking at regulatory matters such as climate change, advising on delivering energy products and the buying and selling of existent renewable energy practices as fewer are being produced now due to a deceased in support. Laura Kiawelu in particular discussed environmental work abroad, having worked in the Middle East, Rwanda and Tanzania, and how it differs to the UK with a focus on geothermal energy sources particularly. The talk highlighted the large impact that renewable energy has begun to have on the UK, however there is still a long way to go to move away from gas usage, for example in heating, and to decarbonise mobility, for instance by relying more on electric cars).
Employability Expo
The employability expo was a double length session in which there were multiple available talks to choose from, each lasting at most 1hr, some prerecorded and some live. We each did different sessions so we could get as much out of it as possible and completed 8 of them between us as listed below, each with a small description.
Application strategy: the speaker explained the importance of having technical, leadership, administration and, in particular, followership skills as 90% of a law firm is made up of followership. It is important to be the right kind of follower however not just a sheep, you must be effective through, for example, being energetic, taking initiative and asking for forgiveness not permission.
Commercial awareness: simply put, commercial awareness means having an awareness of the UK and global economies and business markets, and how a law firm operates. The speaker highlighted the PESTEL analysis as a way of showing commercial awareness by looking at the political, economic, social, technological, ecological and legal sectors and relating these back to the firm being applied to. The main takeaway however was that commercial awareness is "not about knowledge, it's a way of thinking" (a graduate recruiter at TARGETjobs) so it requires consistent effort in keeping up with the news and listening to podcasts for example.
Excelling at assessment centres: many employers use assessment centres either in full or parts of it in which candidates are given a series of exercises to assess performance and skills in a simulated work environment. The examples discussed by the speaker included: group exercises, presentations, drafting, case studies, interviews, psychometric tests and social activities such as formal lunches or office tours. Each tests a different set of skills and a candidate may be asked to complete all of the above or any set number depending on the firm.
Preparing for interviews for Inns of Court scholarships: know your cv, anticipate common questions (such as name a time when you overcame a problem or why do you want to be a barrister) and ensure you address the question, attend mock interviews, record answers and watch them back and assume everyone is assessing you from the minute you enter. Common exercises you may be asked to do include statutory interpretation, case analysis or debating, where you're given a statement and asked to argue one side of it)
Preparing your CV for Inns of Court scholarships: treat yourself as a client when looking at your cv to ensure it covers everything a client would want to see and always use evidence, show don't tell and be concise. It needs to include education (including excellent marks in specific modules/essays), scholarships and awards, legal experience, employment, public speaking (e.g. mooting or debating), pro-bono/volunteering, responsibilities and achievements, interests (e.g. extra-curriculars) and publications.
Top tips for video interviews: always address everyone interviewing you (e.g. all members of a panel), sit at a desk/table and check the background is suitable, turn off any distractions to ensure you always look at the camera, ask engaging and non-generic questions and use the STAR (situation, task, action, result) structure when answering questions on competency.
Understanding the SQE: the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) is replacing the Legal Practice Course in September 2021* however they will run alongside one another for the first few years so anyone who started university before that date may choose which to study. There are two parts to it: the first consists of 6 multiple choice exams to test legal knowledge and 1 online skills assessment, the second will consist of 10 skills asssessments*, all of which will be standardised for anyone studying the SQE, regardless the individual course provider. After this you must also complete 2 years qualifying work experience which most will take in the form of a training contract and after this, provided you meet the character and suitability requirements, you will be able to apply to SRA to become a solicitor.
(*this isn't fully set in stone and may be subject to change)
Using social media to stand out: this specifically focused on the platform 'LinkedIn' and its importance in opening opportunities, networking, self-promotion and researching firms. The key takeaways were to keep it professional following a similar format to a cv but briefer, connect with those in the legal industry/colleagues but ensure you always send messages with requests and post any achievements, events you've attended or articles you have an opinion on.
Friday
'Hot practice areas of the 2020s (2): Counter-cyclical work'
- Jessica Ling (counsel in Akin Gump's London restructuring and insolvency team), Oli Ward-Jones (senior associate in Squire Patton Boggs' restructuring and insolvency team), Fintan Wolohan (managing associate in Womble Bond Dickinson's restructuring and insolvency team) and Demi Hughes (trainee qualifying into Squire Patton Boggs' employment team)
This talk formed part two of the session started yesterday and similarly gave an insight into an area of law that none of us had considered before and weren't really aware of. In summary, insolvency and restructuring legal teams provide advice to individuals (e.g. elected liquidators for a company) or companies when they run out of money to pay off any debts. There are two different stages involved as can be seen in the job titles of the speakers: restructuring, which relates to the period of time companies begin to realise things are going wrong and need to reorganise themselves to pay off debt, and insolvency, when the company falls into debts and require the legal advice to save them from liquidation. As part of this there are many options available before a company is forced to or voluntarily liquidates (shuts down), for example tangible assests, such as stock, may be sold off, or they may rely on intangible assets such as any claims the company has, potentially related to contract breaches or debts they're owed by others.
Jessica Ling provided a great demonstration using water in a jug and tape to mark the positions of those who put money in and how much. There was tape at the bottom to reflect the banks and much higher up there was tape reflecting bonds. Provided the water remained above the tape at the top, the company was fine, however as soon as it fell below below this, problems began to occur and the companies must pay off the lost 'water' to get the level to be above the tape again. All speakers agreed that this was a very varied job day to day and, although very complicated, it is a very rewarding area of law that is present in every day life.
'Legal aid and pro bono in practice'
- Siobhan Taylor-Ward (solicitor at Merseyside Law Centre) and Sam Cottman (director of pro bono and senior counsel at Travers Smith)
This final session concluded an incredibly insightful week and discussed the pro bono and legal aid side of the law which was a stark contrast to the other speakers who mostly mentioned million and multi-million pound deals. Pro bono work is effectively working for a client for free as they cannot afford to pay and is being increasingly taken on by major law firms, as they realise the importance and necessity of it. Many people can't afford to access the legal advice they require due to high fees and so turn to legal aid, however there are too many clients for the number of lawyers so, although this gap is being slowly reduced, there remains a significant number of people who can't access help. Both speakers gave very inspiring talks, giving stories of their work, such as domestic violence cases and working on the Hillsborough inquest, and explaining the emotional demand of it. It was eye-opening to hear about those so dedicated to helping their community and working on cases from beginning to end in comparison to the stereotypical image of lawyer as a businessman.
Top Tips and Key Points
Be enthusiastic about any area you're given an opportunity in as skills will likely carry across
Be open minded when going into the legal career as it changes all the time to meet demand so your ultimate job might not exist when you start
Be yourself to maintain individuality and discuss any interests outside of law to make yourself stand out
Always ensure you maintain some form of work/life balance and look after yourself and your wellbeing
Do as many different things as possible and get as much experience as you can, any form of experience will help
Many thanks to go out to all the speakers from this week and Legal Cheek for running such an incredibly insightful and well-organised event. Feel free to ask us any questions about our experience this week or anything discussed above either in the comments or on our instagram!
This is a brilliant summary, well done!
Love this