28 May 2012

After nearly nine months working in a commercial property seat at Woodfines,

Claire How

you might think that I had experienced all there was to experience within the department, but this is not the case at all. There is always something new to learn, something different to challenge you, meaning the work never gets boring or repetitive. Since my last blog, I have been working on a case involving the assignment of a lease, where our client is the landlord and we are dealing with the Licence to Assign. I have worked on assignments of leases before, but the difference in this case is that there are multiple parties involved – a Superior Landlord, the Landlord, the tenant and the assignee. Completion of the Licence to Assign is therefore not as straightforward as the outgoing tenant calling the landlord to complete. Much like in residential property transactions, there is a chain, and release of the licence must be obtained from the party above you in the chain, then communicated to the party below you in the chain, and then the process must be repeated for completion once every party has released the licence. It is little things like this that ensure that there is no real repetition in commercial property and that no transaction is ever really simple.

I have also been involved with the purchase of a hotel business, which means that I have the opportunity to see how the different departments within the firm combine resources in order to achieve the result that the client desires. The company team and the commercial property team at Woodfines have worked together in order to ensure that both the business aspects of the transaction and the property aspects are dealt with. In my time here at Woodfines, I have learnt that the different departments at the firm do not work independently of each other but together. If you feel that there is something in your transaction that would be better dealt with by a different department, there is always someone to ask and they are always willing to assist. I really value the team atmosphere of working at Woodfines and the fact that I feel able to approach any member of the firm whenever I have a question.

Outside of work, Manny, Nicola and I attended the Client Care module of the Professional Skills Course on 8 May. The courses are run in fairly small classes, roughly the size of a seminar class on the LPC and, similar to the seminars, there was a lot of opportunity for interaction. We learnt about how to manage clients’ expectations and what they need to be told at the outset of a file, as well as how to handle conflicts of interest. As Woodfines prides itself on providing the best possible service to our clients, I feel that the module will help me to achieve this objective. I hope that what I learnt will better improve my communication skills with clients to assist in both understanding and achieving the result they desire. The next course I have signed up for is the Financial Skills and Business Module in August, which culminates in an exam.

On the social side, a few of the trainees recently attended a drinks evening organised by Bedford Professionals. This is an opportunity to get together with others working at different businesses in and aroundBedfordin order to build relationships and perhaps make some useful contacts for the future. It is nice to be able to unwind at the end of a day whilst getting to know more people in the area and I appreciated the chance to meet several people from accountancy firms, insurance brokers and insolvency practitioners. The firm has also made several new appointments recently, which is always a good excuse to go out for a nice lunch to welcome them to the firm. In addition, we try as trainees to meet up fairly regularly, which can be quite tricky when we are based at the different offices of the firm. However, we have another night out planned at the beginning of June to catch up with each other and learn about the experiences of working in other departments. It’s great to know that the people you work with are not just your colleagues, but also your friends.

Monday 14th May

Since my last blog, I have been assisting fee earners in progressing and

Vicky Richens

defending County Court claims. I have particularly enjoyed attending the County Court and have been fortunate to carry out the advocacy at a final hearing in a small claims case.

In addition to attending court, I have also been attending client meetings with fee earners and have even visited a client at their home.  As you can see, there is plenty of opportunity to work outside the office and to meet new people.

However, it is not all about being out of the office. There is important work which needs to be completed once back in the office. Fortunately, the firm encourages trainees to dictate their work where possible which helps speed up this process!

In addition to drafting, I have also carried out research for fee earners. It is true that trainees do spend a fair bit of their time researching points of law but this is something which we all must be able to do.

In addition to general day to day work, I was recently invited to assist fee earners write a column for a local newspaper and attended a networking function with existing and future clients.

With only a few months until I qualify I am certainly appreciative of the experiences which the firm has afforded to me. Having spoken to trainees from other firms I am glad I have a training contract with Woodfines and if I had the choice again I would not have trained anywhere else.

7 May 2012

I’m two months into my second run in the family department and already I have

Sarah Morris

gained a huge amount of additional experience; particularly in relation to finances ancillary to divorce and care proceedings.

As I have said before you never stop learning and with every new experience comes a great deal more confidence.  This week I attended my first gateway meeting.  This is a meeting between the local authority (social workers and team managers), parents and their legal representatives in cases where social services are already heavily involved and care proceedings are a looming possibility.  It is a pre action measure which is used as a ‘last chance saloon’ to raise concerns in relation to the care a child is receiving.  It was challenging because on one hand I was there to support and advise my client and be empathetic at a time when they believed everyone else in the room was against them; whilst on the other hand I too had to consider the ‘evidence’ such as it was and provide realistic advice because if they do not take on board the concerns and improvements are not made, they risk proceedings being issued and possibly losing their child.

Although I have been given a level of independence in attending certain meetings on my own, I always work closely with my supervisor and the fee earners on the team.  My colleagues are always willing to explain things or answer questions when I am unsure and I have therefore learnt a great deal from their advice and experience.

I am getting used to the procedures involved in different matters, for example the court procedure in divorce.  However, things like court forms seem to change on a very regular basis and so I keep my eye on websites like Family Law Week and subscribe to newsletters such as Family Lore Focus to try and keep in touch with the changes any updating case law.

It has been a brilliant opportunity to undertake a second seat in this department as it is the area I wish to qualify into and therefore the extra six months will be invaluable in preparing me for a career in family law.

I will be attending court on my own this month to appear in front of the district judge on an application for a charging order.  Last time I went to court it was like being in the firing line of Jeremy Paxman on University Challenge!  I now know to be prepared to pre-empt the Judge’s questions, so watch this space to hear how it goes…

30 April 2012

I am now in my last seat as a trainee, working in the ‘Commercial Team’ in the Milton Keynes office. This comprises commercial, commercial litigation and commercial property. It is fantastic to be able to move around the offices as I have done, not only because all the offices work in a slightly different way to adapt to the needs of their clients, but also because the nature of our client base varies from office to office.

Having worked in the Commercial and Commercial Property Departments in Sandy, many of our clients are in agriculture and so their requirements are different to our commercial clients in Milton Keynes, which vary from SMEs to educational institutions and blue chip companies to the drainage board. From a trainee’s perspective, this means that you have to adapt quite quickly because working for such a broad spectrum of clients means that every problem and solution is different.

In this seat I have been given a broad range of work with which to involve myself, including drafting a deed of variation of a loan note and the ancillary company documents, reviewing a franchise agreement, assisting with the advice given in respect of the risks involved in a new business start-up, drafting of pleadings, particularly in relation to debt collection, responding to a letter from the other side in respect of a defamation claim brought against our client and assisting with the advice given in relation to an insolvent company and the potential personal liability of the directors.

Having been in this seat for two months now, it is evident that giving clear, coherent legal advice is not enough. One needs to get to grips with the clients’ business and tailor the advice accordingly. If you do not know the law, it is easy to look it up, but what is not so easy is learning how to apply it, whilst at the same time, thinking about the commercial implications of the advice you give.

 

23 April 2012

Claire How

It has been a few weeks since I wrote my last blog, but life as a Commercial Property trainee is as hectic as ever. There is still a large amount of work in the department to keep me occupied and allow me to expand my knowledge every day. Nicola is exactly right in the way she describes transitioning from your degree, through to the LPC and then into a training contract. The degree gives you the core knowledge to understand the foundations upon which Commercial Property is based, as it is necessary to understand what an easement is before you can decide whether one is needed in your client’s transfer.

I am making exactly those decisions at the moment, as I am preparing a Transfer of Part for land that is being sold at auction. Usually, it is the buyer’s solicitor who prepares a Transfer, but when land is sold at auction, the draft transfer document is commonly included in the legal pack. As this is a transfer of part, it is necessary to consider what easements can be granted and what easements will need to be reserved over the land to be retained, such as rights of way and rights to use services. I also need to consider whether any covenants will be required (e.g. to erect and maintain a fence around the land that is being sold off) and, as the land is being sold with development potential, whether any provisions must be contained in the Transfer to restrict what can be built on the land, or provisions to deal with the disruption that may be caused whilst building is taking place. The multitude of elements to consider means that preparing a transfer of part can be quite complicated, but this allows the opportunity to draft various provisions and to ensure that the client’s requirements are satisfied as fully as possible.

In addition to completing your seats within the firm, all trainees must complete the Professional Skills Course (PSC) over the course of the two years, and Manny, Nicola and I have just started looking into this. When I was studying the LPC, I was never really aware that there was another course to complete during the training contract, so I thought I would explain a bit about this for future trainees. The PSC consists of three core modules and two electives, which require you to attend teaching sessions at a course provider as well as to do some independent learning.

The core modules are Client Care and Professional Standards, Financial and Business Studies and Advocacy and Communication Skills. For Client Care, your attendance at the course is sufficient to pass, whilst for Advocacy there are mock trials that take place over the three days in which you are assigned roles. However, the Financial and Business Studies module culminates in a one and a half hour exam. I was a bit concerned when I heard this, not to mention slightly disappointed as I thought I had finished with exams, but Sarah and Vicky have assured me that if you turn up to the course and put the work in, the exam is passable.

In terms of the electives, there are various subject specific electives, such as Commercial Property: Essential Skills or Drafting Share Sale and Purchase Agreements. There are also electives concerning Higher Rights of Audience for those who are interested in this. In addition, some electives focus on how to succeed in your career as a solicitor, such as an elective concentrating on networking skills, or another concentrating on Time and Stress Management for Lawyers. Whilst the PSC is a little daunting because it is another course to complete, I believe that it will aid my training and ultimately help me become a better solicitor. We are attending our first course – Client Care – on 8 May, so I’ll be able to let you know how it goes soon.

13 April 2012

Nicola McQuillan

By the time you reach the end of the 6 months spent in a seat you are at a point where you are often being supervised rather than instructed on most tasks, you are probably running some of your own files (with supervision) and you will have steadily increased the amount you are billing as you become more efficient. It feels good to be able to contribute more, but on moving seats, you gain a new learning experience!

I moved 5 weeks ago from Company/Litigation into a Commercial Property seat and it has been an adjustment as they are quite different. The change has, however, put me in a good position to write this blog to future trainees as I am reminded of how challenging it is to be a new to everything. I wanted to use this week’s blog to tell any LLB or LPC students reading this how what you study compares to work as a Commercial Property Trainee.

The work that a Trainee does is a rather different from what we learn in the classroom. The LLB is focused on learning theory, case law and the various statutes, e.g. we are taught ‘this is what an easement is and this is the authority for it in law’. The LPC then takes this theory and works it into real life scenarios ‘this is what an easement looks like on a Transfer of Part’. When you are in practice this theory becomes reality; ‘my Client wants to buy a house on a new development; I need to know what easements he will need in the Transfer and make sure they are in the document’.

In terms of preparing for a seat as a Commercial Property Trainee I would suggest some of the following:

•  Checklists are useful to have e.g. an overview of the stages of a property transaction from start to finish.
• Visiting websites that you will use in order to familiarise yourself with their layout can help. The Land Registry website has a lot of useful guidance forms. I also use PLC a lot for precedents and, if possible, I recommend that any LPC student go to those library sessions about how to get the most out of Lexis Nexis (I have a feeling my life would be easier had I attended them!).
• Familiarise yourself with the various Forms used by the Land Registry which are available online such as FR1, TR1, TP1 etc as you will be completing quite a lot of these.

In my experience, however, the staff at Woodfines know that Trainees are learning as they work and everyone has been very helpful and patient. If you are willing to learn you will find that you pick things up very quickly.

 

 

 

 

22 March 2012

Manohar Wahiwala

I have now moved to the commercial department and have been allocated to the employment/commercial seat.  During my first couple of weeks I have already experienced a wide range of work including drafting terms and conditions for a business, analysing confidentiality agreements and drafting a partnership agreement.

I am currently working with a partner who specialises in agricultural law and I am drafting a partnership agreement for a family business on his behalf.  I am constantly learning about new areas of law including the impact of EU Law on agriculture whilst refining my drafting skills.

The commercial department also works closely with the litigation and commercial property departments.  I have assisted these departments by conducting company searches to reveal background information on businesses and legal charges on commercial properties.

In addition, I have worked with the employment partner and have completed claim forms and conducted research on restrictive covenants on his behalf.  I have also had some client exposure and I recently sat in on a compromise agreement meeting.

I am enjoying my work in the commercial department and look forward to the next few months when I am due to work on some business acquisitions.