Trainee blog - Letitia Longworth

Letitia Longworth is a second-year trainee with Brodies LLP, working in commercial litigation. Originally from York, Letitia obtained her undergraduate degree in English from the University of St Andrews, and her LLB and Diploma from the University of Edinburgh. She has also completed seats in private client and energy & infrastructure and is due to qualify as a solicitor in July 2017.

What I’ve learned about preparing for NQ recruitment

I was offered a traineeship with Brodies over the phone one afternoon in August 2014. I was sitting in a café trying to distract myself from ’the wait‘ with a book and an impossibly chewy sourdough baguette when the call came in. I had to vault two tables to get a decent signal.

Fast forward nearly three years to April 2017 and, after a three-week application and interview process, I was delighted to be offered an NQ position with the firm’s shipping team in Edinburgh (also over the phone, only this time from the comfort of my own desk). With this milestone now complete and qualification fast approaching, I thought I’d use my closing blog for the Law Society to pass on some of what I’ve learned about preparing for NQ recruitment – the final hurdle of PEAT 2.

Second year is the turning point

We all know that, in many ways, the traineeship can be a two-year job interview, as well as the final step in your basic legal training (‘basic‘ because if I’ve picked up one thing in the past 22 months, it’s that the learning process will never stop). I can say for definite though that the move into second year brought a discernible change of gear.

Your fourth PEAT 2 review will be a particularly important one – it shows how you are doing at the halfway point. After that, you’re likely to be given more advanced work, and to be expected to show that you’re starting to think like an NQ. If you have access to a buddy or mentoring scheme for first-year trainees, I’d recommend signing up. Not only is it a great way of meeting new people, but helping first years acclimatise to life in the office will also help you to consolidate the things that you’ve learned yourself. You’ll probably be pleasantly surprised at how much you’ve taken in!

You’ve been here before

By the time your firm or organisation starts its NQ recruitment drive, traineeship applications will seem like a distant memory, so it’s easy to feel daunted at the prospect of summoning all that energy again once the starting gun is fired. But remember: you’re an expert at this. You put in the time and effort before to land yourself the traineeship – now you just need to do it again!

The best advice I can give is to remember that CVs and cover letters do take time, and there is no substitute for simply sitting down one weekend with your notes and tackling them head-on. Again, the upshot is that spending time looking at your whole traineeship in the round, and picking out the highlights, will give you a real appreciation of everything you’ve achieved since you started.

What do you want to do?

This sounds like an obvious question, but it is one that you should think about in addition to considering the job opportunities that are available. The transferrable skills that you pick up throughout the traineeship can be deployed in any number of NQ roles – so don’t write off a job that you think looks great just because you haven’t done a seat in that area. You may well find that you’ve had experiences in your seats that actually complement that NQ position really well.

What I would recommend, in this instance, is talking to people to get a feel for the work before you apply. You’ll be far better placed to put a strong application together if you can think yourself into the role.

I’m passing on the trainee blogging torch after this month, so all that’s left for me to say is thanks for reading and best of luck to all!