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Starting a training contract can feel like a significant leap from your previous experiences, with a new environment, new systems to learn and new teams to get to know. It can feel overwhelming at first but also very exciting! You have worked very hard to get to this point and so you want to make your mark as you take this next step in your legal career. To make a meaningful impact, you need to consider how you can establish yourself both internally and externally and I have outlined below what I have learnt during the course of my training contract.
Joining a local committee or professional group
You should do some research on what committees and/or groups are present in your area. Many are run by junior professionals that host networking events, fun activities and socials.
During my training contract, I have acted as the Bristol Junior Lawyers Division Committee’s (BJLD) Health & Wellbeing Officer. This role has presented me with the opportunity to not only attend these events but also the benefit of hosting them within the local community. For example, I recently organised our annual Summer Boat Party which enabled me to vastly expand my professional network across multiple law firms and professional sectors through organising and marketing the event. As I was relatively new to Bristol at the time, it also helped me to build a social group of new friends and gave me opportunities to explore the city.
Internal and external events
There are many networking opportunities that are present within your place of work. A good first step is to ask colleagues what events they are involved in and how you can take part. For example, in my Corporate seat, I became regularly involved in the monthly run club and Bristol NextGen networking events that Michelmores co-host with Deloitte. These were informal, fun and relaxed ways to meet professionals from different companies and sectors within the local area. It is important to cultivate the connections you make and build a network both internally and externally as those same people may end up acting on the same transaction as you, help create an introduction to a new client or help facilitate further connections to grow your network, enabling you to build a rapport that can benefit you for the rest of your career.
Extra-curricular activities
You can also expand your network outside of a professional setting. If you have a particular interest or hobby, you should see whether there are any local clubs or groups that you can join to meet new people. I play for Bristol Volleyball club, and I meet many working professionals in areas such as law, finance and architecture and we keep each other informed of various news and developments within our industries and invite each other to events that we host.
If you hold a committee position or host an event that aligns with such interest or hobby, you can also tap into that pool of contacts that you’ve built. For example, in my BJLD role, I organised a volleyball event in collaboration with Bristol Young Professionals, which enabled me to use the network I had established from my involvement in the Bristol Volleyball Club to expand the reach of our event, leading to a highly attended and successful event.
Be proactive
If there is a subject or activity that you are passionate about, don’t be afraid to be proactive and put on an event or start a new group within your firm. When I first joined Michelmores, I noticed that we didn’t have a Music club and so I decided to make one and the Michelmores Music Club has grown ever since. This has been a great way to network with people who are passionate about the topic of music and has even resulted in us going to gigs together and sharing song recommendations.
This proactivity presented an opportunity whereby a Partner of the firm recruited me to play in the Michelmores Band at our annual firm ball. This was an excellent opportunity for me to connect with colleagues over a shared passion and exponentially expand my internal network, particularly as I had only recently joined the firm at the time.
Article writing
Throughout a training contract, trainees are encouraged to get involved in writing articles and contribute towards the trainee blog. You can use various resources such as Practical Law and Lexis Nexis to keep informed of any developments within your practice area. Again, you can be proactive and write articles on these topics whilst also showing your personality. This helps develop your own technical knowledge of the practice area whilst also enabling you to create publicly available material for the firm’s website. This creates opportunities in which you can build a personal brand externally and reach an audience that you might not otherwise reach, potentially leading to opportunities to build your network even further.
Be yourself
It is important to identify your skills, strengths and values and know how to effectively convey them. Throughout my career, I have honed a personal brand of being enthusiastic, positive and reflective of my legal journey. Due to the reach of my content on platforms such as LinkedIn, I regularly receive messages and emails from aspiring solicitors seeking mentorship and advice on how they can navigate their own legal journey.
I have built a consistent brand from continuously sharing my experiences, milestones and highlights, including showing gratitude to all those that I networked with along the way, opening many opportunities. For example, I posted a reflective retrospective of my milestones this year on LinkedIn, including a summary of the events I attended during this time. One of these events was the Law Society Bicentenary Celebration event and the Law Society saw my post, congratulated me on my milestones and wished me all the best in my legal career. Later that day, the Law Society messaged me asking to collaborate on a media piece about my graduate solicitor apprenticeship journey.
Conclusion
There are many opportunities that you can utilise to put yourself out there throughout your training contract, both internally and externally. This period in your career is an excellent opportunity to learn from those around you and grow your professional network as much as you can. I have significantly benefitted from the networking and personal brand building that I have done so far during my training contract and would encourage others in a similar position to put themselves out there as it will greatly benefit you in both the short term and long term.
If you would like to build your own network, please feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn here and reach out if you have any questions on the contents of this blog or any networking opportunities at Michelmores.