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When the opportunity arose to spend my second seat in-house with a FTSE100, industry-leading company, I didn’t hesitate to take it. For the past five months – and for the next one – I have been embedded within Severn Trent’s Legal Team, gaining exposure to a broad range of work and valuable insight into the role of an in-house lawyer.
Severn Trent’s Legal Team is made up of several specialist functions, but my time has been split between the Environmental team and the Strategic Resource Option (SRO) team. The former focuses on regulatory compliance and supporting the company’s environmental commitments, while the latter delivers major national infrastructure projects to safeguard future water supplies and improve water resilience across the UK.
The secondment has challenged me to think differently about legal practice. As I approach its end, I wanted to share some of the key lessons I have taken away from the experience.
Seeing legal advice through a different lens
As trainees in private practice, we spend a great deal of time learning how to analyse issues thoroughly and communicate advice accurately. What I had less exposure to before secondment was what happens once that advice reaches the client.
Working within a client’s business has shown me that clients are often balancing competing operational, financial, technical and reputational priorities alongside legal risk. This became particularly clear during my work on an SRO project, where I prepared a position paper on land acquisition and access powers for pipeline infrastructure. This exercise challenged my assumption that there is always a single “right” legal answer. While one option presented the lowest level of legal risk, the project team also had to consider practical implications, administrative burden, stakeholder relationships, and ultimately, whether departing from the industry’s usual approach was justified. Seeing those factors weighed alongside the legal analysis reinforced that clients are not making purely legal decisions; they are making business decisions informed by legal advice.
Understanding the question behind the question
Another lesson I have taken away is that effective client service is not always about answering the exact question that has been asked.
Being immersed in the business has given me greater visibility of the wider objectives driving particular instructions. Often, a client’s initial query is only one component of a broader issue they are trying to solve; occasionally, it is not even the right question.
By taking the time to understand the wider context, it becomes much easier to identify what support will genuinely help resolve an issue or move a project forward. In many cases, understanding the underlying objective is just as important as understanding the legal issue itself.
A greater appreciation of the client-firm relationship
Secondment has also given me the unique opportunity to work with a number of external law firms from the client side. Observing those relationships has given me insight into what clients value most from their advisers.
Technical expertise is, of course, expected. However, what often distinguishes exceptional advisers is their ability to understand the environment in which their advice will be applied. They are responsive, pragmatic, and able to tailor their recommendations to the client’s broader objectives.
As trainees, the term “commercial awareness” is ingrained in us, but having spent time in-house, I would argue that “commercial empathy” better captures what clients truly value. Putting yourself in your client’s shoes and understanding their priorities, what keeps them awake at night, and the many factors influencing their decision-making leads to, in my experience, better legal advice.
Finding purpose through your work
One unexpected lesson from my secondment has been learning more about what motivates me.
I have realised that I am most engaged when I can see the wider purpose behind the work I am doing. Whether contributing to projects that will secure future water resources for millions of people or helping the business to navigate environmental challenges, I have found it incredibly rewarding to understand how legal advice fits into a much bigger picture.
More than anything, the experience has shown me the importance of stepping outside my usual environment (and comfort zone). Client secondments are not simply an opportunity to learn more about clients; they are also an opportunity to learn about yourself, your interests and what you find most fulfilling.
Conclusion
If the opportunity to do a client secondment arises during your training contract, I encourage you to seize it with both hands. Few experiences offer such a direct insight into the solicitor-client relationship or such a different perspective on legal practice. The lessons you learn will stay with you long after the secondment ends, and you may even discover something new about the kind of lawyer you want to become.