A popular misconception is that this area of law is just about employment contracts. In fact, employment lawyers can be expected to handle all areas of employment law, including discrimination, flexible working, workplace monitoring and restructuring, and employee representation. They work on everything from drafting policies to dealing with inappropriate use of the Internet in the workplace.

At trainee level, lawyers assist with the employment aspects of corporate transactions and with preparations for tribunal claims, as well as attending hearings and meetings with clients and helping to draft employment documents.

Eleanor Winslet is a newly-qualified lawyer at DLA Piper UK LLP, one of the world's largest law firms. She studied English at the University of Southampton, taking the view that the conversion course offered “a great opportunity to take English at university level but still convert to law afterwards”. Going to the Bar was an option, but Eleanor decided that she preferred the life of a solicitor, “seeing matters through from beginning to end, having close contact with clients and working in a large organisation”.

Eleanor did her training contract at DLA Piper: “It was a great training contract; really broad and varied. I sat in employment, insolvency and restructuring, corporate, litigation and also had a secondment to ITV. I enjoyed the study of employment law at law school and enjoyed working in the department from the outset. It’s very legislative, topical, wide ranging and can be high profile. I also think it’s good if you’re interested in the academic side of things and want to work in a fast moving area.”

Eleanor qualified into the employment department in September 2006. She describes what her day might involve: “You never know what each day will throw up – it’s very varied. You can be dealing with matters including tribunal, county court or High Court claims, while at the same time, you may be advising on corporate deals and handling client queries that come in on a daily basis. Non-contentious issues might include contract and policy reviews, sometimes involving companies with offices in different jurisdictions, which requires us to liaise with our international offices. Small issues can have the potential to become much bigger, so you may need to hold your client’s hand through a developing process.” Right now, Eleanor is involved in a variety of ongoing matters: “I’ve been working on a breach of contract claim in relation to a redundancy policy, a few tribunal matters involving sex, race, disability and age discrimination, and two large-scale High Court injunction cases involving restrictive covenants.”

Compared to her time as a trainee, Eleanor feels that she exerts greater control over the progress of the matters she is working on, “although there’s still a lot of support. But more often now, I’m the one that has to move things forward. There’s also a lot more continuity – when you’re a trainee, you find yourself pulled in a lot of different directions, doing a discrete task on one matter and then moving on to the next”.

Eleanor’s view is that employment is a dynamic, challenging and ever-changing field of law: “You might hear something announced on the news one evening that has an impact on what you’re doing the next day. I also enjoy the problem-solving component; you have to take a different approach to each matter that falls on your desk.” The downside to any legal career, says Eleanor, “is that it is can be quite stressful. You can be just about out the door and then get called up about something that needs an answer there and then. But a more positive way to look at it is that it’s good not to have too predictable a job!”

Eleanor discusses some of the skills that are key to her job: “The issues that we deal with can become highly emotional, especially for the HR manager and the individual directly involved, so client handling skills, as for most areas of law, are very important. You also really have to multitask – you’re never working exclusively on a single big deal. Instead, it’s a question of handling lots of smaller matters all at once. You have to be able to manage client and colleague expectations, so organisation is important. Furthermore, you need to think creatively around problems and keep in touch with what’s going on legally – a case could come up that completely changes something you’re working on.”

You also need to have a genuine interest in both the field and the firm, she says: “When I was applying, I was most successful with those firms that I genuinely wanted to work for and whose work I was interested in. If you can keep an eye on, and be able to talk about, recent employment cases or legal developments, then that’s all the better.” Eleanor also advises getting as much experience in as many areas as possible and taking an informed view when applying for training contracts: “Try and see what goes on in different firms and different departments.”

And if you want to win the training contract prize, it helps to show that you really want to be a solicitor! Eleanor explains: “Lawyers tend to be quite driven, so those people that will stand out are those that can show commitment and determination, can keep up-to-date with changes to the law, and who are prepared to make a number of applications. It is such a competitive environment that it helps to be focused.”

Finally, Eleanor explodes the myth that on entering the office as a trainee you are expected to be an expert in the field immediately. She advises: “When you enter the workplace, you think everyone else knows everything and you know nothing. That’s not necessarily the case and you will get a lot of support and shouldn't be worried about asking questions. You never stop learning and it’s always good to keep bouncing ideas off other colleagues."