As a trainee, once you’re given a case, it’s yours until conclusion. You don’t put down your pen and move on to a new area of law every six months. All of this means that by the end of your training, you’ve been able to build up expertise in certain areas.
You’re exposed to the law from day one. As a trainee I went to Court hearings, drafted submissions and correspondence with opponents, met a lot of clients and attended settlement meetings.
I’ve been able to develop a varied workload. I’m keen to focus on shipping, international trade and business and finance, although my case load at the moment comprises about 60% insurance, so it’s still very broad.
Trainees get to work on high profile cases and sometimes it’s just you and a partner. Obviously, anything that goes out is vetted by the partner, but the trainee is the one handling it on a daily basis. Some of the people I came up against were surprised when they realised that I was a trainee.