Elaine Davies Trainee Solicitor

I joined Whiteheads in 2006, from a Social Housing background and as I had never worked for Solicitors before, I wasn’t sure what to expect at first. I entered a whole new world of time recording, where all time (whether billable or not) is recorded to ensure efficiency and appropriate billing for clients.

My Training Contract as a Trainee Solicitor was split into 4 areas (sometimes referred to as Seats), Civil Litigation, Anti-social behaviour Law, Housing Management Law and Landlord & Tenant Law (Disrepair to me and you) and I have had to keep training records to detail all the experience I have gained over a 2 year period. At first, I shadowed fee earners at Court, which was exciting as Whiteheads attend Courts throughout the North and sometimes further afield, as far as Gainsborough, Gloucester and even Poole!!

At an early stage, I was also introduced to legal drafting and commenced drafting Notices, Particulars of Claim and the like, with plenty of coaching and feedback from fee earners. It has been labour intensive to get to grips with and become more familiar with Housing and Landlord and Tenant Law. I hadn’t realise how complex and technical these areas of law were, until I joined Whiteheads. I have taken part in quarterly reviews with both of the Directors to check how my training and experience were developing and agreed targets plus objectives were set. Whiteheads also paid for my attendance at the Professional Skills Course (approx 10 days study/assignments/finance exam (urgh!)), which is compulsory for all trainee solicitors and they supported me in exploring new areas of law, such as commercial leases.

I now have a healthy Responsible Lawyer List, where I am responsible for my own cases and advocacy, plus file reviews, feedback on case evaluation questionnaires, as well as monthly 1-1 meetings with a Director to monitor my performance and assist my personal development. In fact, every member of our team at Whiteheads has an ever increasing training programme, to keep us updated on all the new developments in law and also to keep us in touch with the Social Housing World. Last year, I led an Internal Training Session on various aspects of Housing for my colleagues and I have to say that their housing knowledge is really good, but I won’t reveal who won the quiz!!. My training contract has been structured but varied and I can honestly say, that it has been an enlightening journey!! Certainly, two things (and many more) I have learned – no case is ever the same and you never stop learning, which is great as it leads to a varied and interesting workload. Although, I did think I had left the dreaded Land Law behind when I studied this complicated area at University, but it keeps cropping up!!! I am never bored and look forward to the many challenges that the new Housing and Regeneration Act will bring. If I wanted to sum up the training contract in a phrase it would be "Pitched at the right level in a progressive and supportive environment".