Qualification at all costs?

Dear Oracle

I've been lucky enough to secure a training contract with a regional firm, but I really want to be working in the City as a corporate lawyer. Should I do my training contract and hope to make it into a bigger firm on qualification, or should I decline the offer and look for a training contract that I actually want?

The Oracle replies

This one's a toughie. It seems to us to be a question of weighing up whether the chance of securing a training contract in a City firm is worth the risk of not being able to qualify at all. Before you make any rash decisions, think very carefully about how likely you are to be able to find another training contract (or even a job) if you pass up this offer. Do you have the right academic results and experience to secure a training contract in a highly competitive City practice?

Given the competition for training contracts, we are inclined to advise you to accept the offer and hope you'll be able to move on qualification. However, there really is no guarantee that you'll be able to do this - it would depend on lots of things, including the kind of experience you will get during your training. If you gain exposure to quality corporate work and clients, you might well be able to impress a City firm into taking you on in two years' time; however, if the experience is not going to be particularly relevant to a career in corporate law, moving on qualification could be tricky.

Ultimately it comes down to how much you want to train as a solicitor and how much you want to work in a City practice. If working in a corporate environment is the be-all and end-all and you won't be happy spending two years of your life in a regional firm, you're probably better off declining the offer and chasing your dream. However, if qualifying as a solicitor is your goal and you could see yourself relatively happy in your firm for two years, why not do your training and hope for the best? Presumably you applied there because something about it appealed!

You could try asking the advice of people in the profession - why not call the HR departments of a couple of corporate firms? These people are those best placed to give you an accurate assessment of your chances and hopefully won't mind giving you a few minutes of their time. You could also contact the Junior Lawyers Division; although they no longer run their own helpline, they have a useful page on their site which includes links to a variety of other related helplines. In addition, they may be happy to field enquiries directly - email them at [email protected].

We also asked Lorraine Petheram, head of Kaplan Law School's career service, for her thoughts. Lorraine says: "I completely agree with the advice as above. Another consideration is timeline: when is your training contract due to start? Reapplying for the City means a start date of September 2017 or March 2018 - will a move delay your qualification date to September 2019 or March 2020? This could be something to think about.

"Working in a regional firm will give you great quality work with a diverse client base. More often than not a firm’s client portfolio consists of major businesses or institutions in the regions, national and international clients. It is also not unusual to receive high levels of responsibility and client interaction from an early stage in your training contract, meaning your learning curve could be that much steeper than some of your City peers!

"I would ask yourself; how do you know you want to be a City lawyer? Is this based on experience or an idea? Have you researched the differences in clients, scope of trainee work in magic, large commercial silver circle, national and US firms and what is the trainee retention rate post recession, not only for the firm as a whole, but the corporate teams in particular? Unless you have completed your research in depth, I would urge you not to throw away a solid career foundation for an uncertainty. Don't dismiss it before you've even tried."