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Trainee profile

Rachel Beard is a first year trainee at our Nottingham office

Legal departments worked in to date: Corporate (Nottingham)
Education: University of Leicester (LLB) and Nottingham Law School (LPC)
Degree: LLB(Hons)

First Impressions
My training contract began with an induction week, which allowed me to get to know all the other trainees starting at Shoosmiths. It was great to meet everyone else in the same boat as me and to know I wasn’t the only one who was worried about forgetting everything from the LPC!
The first thing I noticed about everyone employed by Shoosmiths is their friendliness. From PA to Equity Partner I have had no hesitation about asking for help.
The open plan office means that there is no fear of having to knock on a Partner’s office door and I am able to pick up new skills just by listening to those around me. It also means I can hear discussions around the office about projects I am working on that I can join in with or pick up on some research I could do to help. All of this combined makes me feel like I am really part of the team.

Responsibility
The responsibility placed on a trainee in their corporate seat may be slightly different to that placed on a trainee in another department due to the nature of the work. In the corporate department you tend to work on larger projects with other members of the team rather than run your own files, but that doesn’t mean that your work is any less important or valued.
Since starting with the firm some of the work I have carried out has included drafting a call option agreement; reviewing documents to identify potential problems and liabilities of directors; checking to see if a company was compliant with the AIM rules; writing an article that was published on the website and assessing the suitability of a set of articles of association for a joint venture company.

CR and Networking events
From the moment I joined Shoosmiths I have been encouraged to take part in CR activities. We have been given a “trainee challenge” to complete which requires us to triple our given budget for our charity of the year. This challenge encourages us to work together and allows us to network with other members within each of our offices.
Alongside the “trainee challenge” I have been able to get involved with Business in the Community; this organisation pulls together a number of businesses who work together on local projects, for example in organising and participating in team challenges. This has allowed me to interact with other members of the local business community as well as further my own volunteering ambitions.
As a trainee I have not been hidden away, I have been given the opportunity to attend networking events such as the Nottingham Y Factor and a Coca Cola fashion event as well as local Nottinghamshire Law Society and JLD events.

Best moment so far
I assisted in writing an article for our external website which formed part of a trilogy of articles that got picked up as one of the “editor’s picks” on Legal Week.

 

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Get in touch

Rita Tappia

Professional Recruitment Manager
T: 03700 86 4155
I: +44 (0)121 625 4155
E: rita.tappia@shoosmiths.co.uk