Life of Newly Qualified UK Lawyer

Most Recent Posts from Learning Lawyer.

  • Tips for a New Solicitor

    So almost 6 months of being a newly qualified solicitor/lawyer have gone and to say it has been a learning curve, would be to undersell it. I. like to think that all newly qualified solicitors go through the same thing. A journey of discovery, self doubt, nervousness, overwhelming fear – to name but a few emotions. If I was to write down a few tips for my colleagues current and those of you to come to remember, these would be the top ones.

    1. Treat everyone with courtesy. Be that estate agents, brokers, assistants / secretaries. It’s a small world. You don’t know who you might come across again;
    2. A mistake is rarely a major problem if it is identified quickly and you take action to inform superiors. Trying to fix the mistake yourself, or concealing the mistake can very quickly lead you down the rabbit hole towards dishonesty. Never take this path. Own up, talk to someone whether your supervisor or senior solicitor, own it, fix it or limit the damage, learn from it and move on;
    3. You will have a complaint made about you at some point. Don’t take it personally. Take a step back and evaluate your conduct. Could you have prevented it ? Learn from it;
    4. Make friends out of the solicitors you deal with on a regular basis if in a field such as conveyancing which is tough, lonely & demanding. A good rapport will not only help you but will make for a better process. Off course, this is not always possible in litigation or other areas but good manners and courtesy cost nothing;
    5. Manage expectations. A large majority of complaints received by firms could be negated if the clients expectations are managed from the start of the process and regular contact is kept with them. Even if there is nothing to report, it does not hurt to send a quick email to touch base which reassures them that you are on the job;
    6. Network, network, network – something I am not good at but go to the professional development courses and meet your colleagues. Talk and connect – you never know what could come off it.

    Hopefully, these will be off use to someone who reads this. Also, please feel free to connect with me:

    Twitter – @LearingLawyer

  • What about me?

    When I launched this blog, I was so eager to get writing that I skipped over a proper introduction. So here it is.

    I qualified as a solicitor in 2022, but my journey to qualification wasn’t exactly a straight line. I originally graduated with an LL.B in Law and Government Policy back in 2003, before taking some time away from the legal world (as far as possible, in fact!). Eventually, I found my way back, working as a Legal Executive before deciding—thanks to encouragement from my family and a supportive partner in the firm—to qualify fully through the LPC route, just before the SQE took over.

    It wasn’t easy. I studied the LPC part-time while working, built up my two years’ qualifying work experience, and completed the Professional Skills Course at the University of Law. By summer 2022, I’d ticked all the boxes and crossed the finish line. There were plenty of bumps along the way, but with the backing of my family, I made it. (I still haven’t booked my graduation ceremony in London… but I’ll get around to it!)

    Now, I work in the Private Client world—wills, probate, estate administration, residential conveyancing—with the occasional dabble in civil litigation.

    Why this blog? Simple: I want to share my journey, the lessons I’ve learned, and the mistakes I’ve made, to help students and newly qualified solicitors find their way through this profession. Everyone’s road is different, but if my experiences can help even one person feel more confident—or avoid a pitfall I stumbled into—then it’s worth writing.

    ⚖️ Solicitor by day | 🚢 Cruising the seas and navigating the law | Sharing legal tips & travel tales | 📲 Follow my journey on Instagram | Threads | TikTok | BlueSky |

  • Never work with children, animals or the general public!

    Obviously if you want to avoid contact with the general public, working the legal sector, especially in private client, is certainly not the way to go. Usually, every day you will be contacted by someone, usually your client, looking an update, advice or generally to query this that or the other.

    I have slowly learning three important things to remember before taking a phone call, or even responding to an email from a client. Those being:-

    1. Take a deep breath, clear your mind, prepare to listen;
    2. Do not rush to give any advice, or react – take time, think, choose your words and if necessary delay any response in favour of getting as much information as you can;
    3. Set your own personal feelings, thoughts or reactions aside – take a step back and step outside the situation.

    All too often I have been guilty of trying to give advice too quickly, too soon and without thinking it through. Often leading to the client being confused, me being confused or just getting it wrong.

    I think the best advice I can ever give when working in private client law is to take it slow, don’t rush and don’t feel pressured to make snap decisions. Think it through and work it out. Write everything down and make notes. Believe it or not, you need to remember so much at any given time, you tend to forget information that is longer than a few hours old. I never anticipated how much I would need to remember at any given time and how often clients expect you to remember what they said to you a few days or even a few weeks ago. Often I hear the phrase, “do you remember when I said…?” More often than not the answer is, “no I have no idea…”

  • Get Up, Dust Off, Move On!

    Wise words that I was told by my mentor during a particularly difficult time when I felt I could do nothing right in my job. I am probably my own worst critic, and I am told that I am unnecessarily hard on myself, especially when I make mistakes. I dwell on them, stew in them, overthink them, go over them for days in my head asking myself questions such as, 

    “Where did it start to go wrong?”

    “Could I have done something different?”

    “What could I have said differently?”

    “Did I not express myself correctly?”

    “Did I not use the correct legal terminology?”

    And around and around it goes in my head, torturing myself over something that I cannot change as it is done!  

    I was particularly down and must have seemed low one day, as my mentor asked me how I was doing. I didn’t hold back in telling him what was happening, and he just came out and said it. “You are going to make mistakes; you are just starting out so you will make a few as you learn and gain experience. What you do is, you get up, you dust yourself off, make a note of what happened whether mental, phone or paper, and you move forward from it. Don’t hang yourself over it but don’t ignore or hide it. Address it, move on!”

    Wise words and although I am still trying to implement that advice, I do not think I am as bad as I once was. I will still ponder on it for at least a few days, but yes, I soon move on from it. The words from some song come to mind – “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger!” You know something, in some limited way, the phrase is probably correct. I am getting stronger and wiser as I learn from my mistakes and move on to become a better solicitor. 

    Hopefully someday, I will be wise enough to pass the knowledge on to others. For now, baby steps. But the one main thing I did take away, is that you should admit your mistakes, talk about them, take advice from others, try to correct them and if they can’t be fixed, limit the damage, and learn.

    I feel fortunate to have at least one person in the firm that I can go to and talk to and seek help when I need it. Find that one person and you will be OK!

  • Lets start from the Beginning!

    Part 1 – From then to now…

    It all started in 2003 – well that is when I got my law degree anyway! I can’t say that I worked super hard to get it – I did what I needed to do and got what I needed. As soon as I had graduated, I got a job as a Paralegal/Legal Executive in a city firm which I hated. There was so much competition that the relationship and environment between paralegals was toxic. Everyone trying to get one up on each other, stepping over one another and being ruthless to make themselves noticed by the Partners for when the time came that the application and interview process opened for Training Contracts. It put a very bitter taste in my mouth and I decided not to pursue it. I did not want to be that “cut throat” and lower myself to the level some had dropped too. Perhaps this all would have been different if I had had contacts in the Legal World and knew somebody who could have taken me on to mentor me. The problem was, that I was inexperienced, naïve and just didn’t have a clue!

    I left the legal world, and did other things, lived in other countries and tried new areas of work. I grew both professionally and mentally and after some time, it was my wife who encouraged me to go back into the legal world. I did. It was a rough 3/4 years in a firm that was as ruthless as the former paralegals I had escaped from! Perhaps worse! I stuck it, I did not sacrifice my own morals and did things right and proper. It was noticed a number of occasions, and I was not penalised for it. In fact, as time went on, I progressed through the firm, becoming quite high up. It was then that I decided to start my training contract and finish my practical training and qualify.

    After two years of working full time, a COVID pandemic and some bumps along the way, I qualified as a solicitor. One of the biggest reliefs and proudest moments of my life besides the usuals of marriage, children etc. etc.

    So that is a very quick overview of the then and brings us to now! I am a practicing solicitor in the area of Residential Conveyancing, Private Client and Civil Litigation. Quite a varied range of areas, each with their own joys, pains and challenges!

    The question is – what is the aim of this blog? I have read that it is a good way of decompressing! Writing about elements of your life in written form and thinking through it as you write can be therapeutic – so I am told. Perhaps I will see. Of course the big thing is that it is in a public forum – a danger, perhaps a risk! I don’t know. Time will tell. Maybe it will help others who read this who can learn from my mistakes, laugh with me at some of the situations I get myself into and who knows – see where it goes.

    Until next time…