Your Training Contract

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) determines the standards that must be met by both the trainees and the organisations that train them. An organisation intending to provide training must agree to the mandatory standards before being authorised by the SRA as a training establishment to offer training contracts.

The SRA has granted Matthew Arnold & Baldwin LLP recognition as a training establishment and we currently offer four Training Contracts each year. During your Training Contract with Matthew Arnold & Baldwin LLP we aim to provide our trainees with supervised experience in legal practice, through which you can refine and develop your professional knowledge and skills. This training contract is the final stage of the process to your qualification as a solicitor.

The customary contract mab offers is a two-year full-time training contract, with a trainee working full time after satisfactory completion of the Legal Practice Course (LPC). Where a trainee has worked in a legal environment and gained equivalent experience before commencing their training contract, Matthew Arnold & Baldwin LLP may at their discretion agree to consider any such relevant experience and take this time into account so as to reduce the period of the training contract. This principle is known as ‘time to count’. Each case will be considered individually by the Training Principal, who must be satisfied that the experience gained previously, meets the appropriate standard. Further details are available from the Training Principal and HR Department.

Your Training Contract sets out the contractual obligations for yourself (the trainee) and Matthew Arnold & Baldwin LLP (the training establishment). Both yourself and the Training Principal are required to sign the Training Contract, which must be registered with the SRA within 13 weeks of its start date, or within 28 days of it being signed. It cannot then be amended without prior approval of the SRA. Once the contract has been registered, the SRA will notify you, confirming the expected end date of the training contract.

The key training requirements as set down by the SRA are that trainees must:-
 Be paid at least the prescribed minimum salary
 Gain practical experience in at least three distinct areas of English law, including opportunities to develop their skills in both contentious and non-contentious work.
 Be given opportunities to develop the skills they will need in practice so as to meet the skills standards
 Maintain a training record, linking the experience they have gained to the skills they have developed
 Be closely supervised by qualified solicitors or others with the appropriate experience in English law
 Receive regular feedback and appraisals throughout their training with at least three formal appraisals during the training contract
 Be allowed paid study-leave to attend courses prescribed by the Law Society, such as the Professional Skills Course. The training establishment must pay the Professional Skills Course fees

At the beginning of your training contract Matthew Arnold & Baldwin LLP will arrange an induction programme. This programme is an opportunity: -
 To clarify the roles and responsibilities of those who will be involved in your training,
 To familiarise you with MAB’s office procedures,
 To introduce you to colleagues
 To explain the nature of the work you will undertake.

Your induction will include:-
 An introduction to Matthew Arnold & Baldwin LLP
 Further details of the training scheme, including how your training will be organised and how your Training Record should be completed
 The SRA’s skills standards and the LLP’s expectations of the trainee
 The LLP’s arrangements for supervision, performance review and appraisal of its trainees
 Details of the LLP’s general office induction programme
 Details of the LLP’s IT and office equipment and systems for time-recording and billing
 Details of the LLP’s library and research facilities
 The Pastoral-care arrangements for trainees

Supervision of Trainees
At Matthew Arnold & Baldwin LLP we recognise the importance of good supervision and are committed to ensuring that all trainees receive appropriate support and supervision throughout the duration of their training contracts. The lessons trainees learn through their supervisors will stay with you throughout their careers so the value of good supervision cannot be underestimated. The following people will play key roles in your supervision during this period:-

The Training Principal (Laura Seaman)
Our Training Principal fully appreciates the requirements and commitment given under Matthew Arnold & Baldwin LLP’s Training Contract and will ensure that:-
 
 Anyone involved in the supervision of our trainees has appropriate legal knowledge and supervisory experience or training
 Trainees maintain an adequate training contract record
 Trainees receive regular feedback and performance reviews
 There are suitable pastoral arrangements for trainees
 
The Training Principal may delegate these responsibilities to others, but where this happens the name of the person or persons appointed will be notified to you

At the end of your Training Contract, the Training Principal is responsible for certifying your training. He must be satisfied that you have received the appropriate training and achieved the required skills.

The Training Supervisor
The Training Supervisor’s role is a key role within all Training Contracts. The Training Supervisor is responsible for providing practical day-to-day training and support. They will also provide trainees with appropriate opportunities to develop their legal skills and knowledge.

On a day-to-day basis, and throughout your training contract, you may be supervised by a number of different people within the LLP –including partners, solicitors or experienced legal executives. The Training Principal will however ensure that anyone who supervises trainees has the appropriate legal knowledge and supervisory experience or training to perform the role effectively.

Your Training Supervisor will encourage you to ask for help, find solutions to problems and take responsibility for your own self-development. They will help you to achieve this by: -
 
 Allocating work and tasks of an appropriate level, gradually increasing the level and the complexity of the work over time, whilst encouraging trainees to suggest solutions independently
 Providing a balance between substantive and procedural tasks that – as a whole – demands the use of a broad range of skills
 Providing clear instructions and ensuring that they have been understood
 Offering advice and guidance on appropriate research methods and materials along with sufficient information and factual background about a case or matter
 Setting realistic time-scales for the completion of work; answering questions as they arise, within a supportive environment that does not deter the trainee from asking questions in the future
 Monitoring the trainee’s workload to ensure they have a sufficient but not excessive amount of work
 Ensuring the trainee maintains an up-to-date training record, which identifies the work they have performed and the skills they have deployed
 Reviewing the Training Record regularly to ensure that an appropriate balance of work and skills is struck
 Providing regular feedback to the trainee regarding their performance, recognising achievements and improvements, and constructively addressing areas that require further effort
 Conducting or participating in formal appraisals of the trainee
 Providing an environment that encourages the trainee to take responsibility for their own development
 
Your responsibilities
Training is not a one-way process; trainees have responsibilities and obligations under the Training Contract. As a trainee, you must ensure that you understand your duties under the Training Contract, that you are familiar with the training requirements and that you know what you are expected to achieve during the training.

You must ensure that you
 Maintain an up-to-date Training Record of the work you have done linked to the skills standards.
 Take responsibility for your own self-development (completing and reviewing your training record, and reflecting on your experiences and what you have learnt are important aspects of this)
 Develop good working practices by managing your time, effort and resources effectively
 Raise any concerns with your training principal (for example, if you are not being given training in three areas of law, or you are not given a mix of contentious and non-contentious work, or you are not covering the skills standards)
 If you are unsure about the work or tasks you have been asked to do ask your supervisor for clarification
 Let your supervisor know if you are given too much or too little work or if the work you are given is too challenging, not challenging enough or not varied
 If you make a mistake inform your Training Supervisor or Training Principal as soon as possible
 Be open and honest when you are given feedback on your work and during performance reviews
 Satisfactorily complete the Professional Skills Course before the end of your training contract and before you apply for admission to the roll of solicitors

Self-development
As a trainee solicitor, you should enjoy your training, do whatever you can to develop your skills, and take responsibility for your self-development. You should: -

 Plan your own programme of development, which could include, for example, ways in which you can achieve the skills standards
 Read and research journals and keep up to date with new statutes and regulations
 Build up a personal file, which could include your training record, precedents and your reflections on what you have learnt
 Conduct self-appraisals, thinking about your strengths and weaknesses, and ways in which you can develop your strengths and eliminate your weaknesses. You can then discuss this with your supervisor at your performance reviews
 Develop your social and interpersonal skills
 Suggest solutions to problems, even if you are not certain that they are correct
 If you make a mistake, admit it, and face up to any consequences
 
Practice Skills Standards for Trainee Solicitors
During your Training Contract you will develop and apply the practice skills that you will use as a qualified solicitor.

The key elements of each skill – and the types of experience that will help you to develop it- are specified in the skills standards published by the Law Society.

You will develop these skills through a mixture of the following activities: -
 Completing work and tasks by yourselves
 Assisting others
 Observing experienced practitioners

Your Training Supervisors will ensure that, over the course of your training, the amount and type of work given to you adequately covers each skill and is of an appropriate level and complexity.

Details of the skills standards as published by the Law Society are as follows:-

Advocacy and oral presentation
On completion of their training contract, trainee solicitors should be competent to exercise the rights of audience available to solicitors on admission.

This experience will enable trainees to understand: -
 The communication skills of the advocate
 The techniques and tactics of examination, cross-examination and re-examination
 The need to act in accordance with the ethics, etiquette and conventions of the professional advocate

The tasks trainees perform must enable them to grasp the principal skills required to prepare, conduct and present a case: -
 Identifying the client’s goals
 Identifying and analysing relevant factual and legal issues, and relating them to one another
 Summarising the strengths and weaknesses of the case
 Planning how to present the case
 Outlining the facts in simple narrative form
 Formulating a coherent submission based on the facts, general principles and legal authority in a structured, concise and persuasive manner

The following activities are likely to foster these skills
 Helping to advise on pre-trial procedures
 Helping to prepare cases before trial
 With one or more lawyers, attending the magistrates’ courts to observe trials, bail applications, pleas of mitigation or committal, and observing submissions in chambers, examination, cross examination and re-examination in open court
 Observing proceedings in family cases, industrial tribunals, planning tribunals or other tribunals or forms of dispute resolution
 As training progresses, and under appropriate supervision, conducting interim applications before a Master or District Judge
 Becoming involved in presentations for clients or in preparing or delivering in-house training

Case and transaction management
Trainee solicitors must begin to acquire skills in managing and running a case or transaction.

Trainees must be given work to enable them to understand the importance of: -
 Producing a schedule for a case/transaction, broken up – where necessary – into phases
 Planning out phases of work to include time, cost and risk management
 Developing techniques to diarise, follow up and revisit matters at the appropriate time
 Keeping accurate records and attendance notes
 Effectively managing files
 Regularly and fully reporting back to clients
 Co-ordinating teams to review progress and revise options
 Bringing matters to a timely, client-satisfactory conclusion
 Wrapping up the matter, closing the file, and recovering costs and disbursements

To develop these skills, trainees should work on larger cases or transactions as members of a team, or they should be given smaller transactions to run themselves, under close supervision.

Client care and practice support
To enable trainees to work effectively in an efficient practice, they must develop the skills required to manage time, effort and resources.

They should be given work that will enable them to: -
 Prioritise tasks
 Set and meet deadlines
 Review and report progress on matters
 Balance immediate and long-term objectives
 Keep appropriate records
 Understand the processes of setting fees and billing clients

Activities that will help them to achieve this include
 Planning work by the use of their diaries
 Using email, word-processing, scheduling and organisational systems regularly and appropriately
 Working effectively with support staff
 Recording expenses and disbursements and obtaining reimbursement
 Opening and closing files

Trainees should develop good working habits, and supervisors should check this regularly.

Communication skills
Trainees should understand the need to refine their communication skills so that they can present oral and written communication in a way that achieves its purpose and is appropriate to the recipient.

They should be given work that will help them to: -
 Select appropriate methods of communication
 Express ideas concisely, clearly and logically
 Use appropriate language
 Use correct grammar, syntax and punctuation
 Pay attention to detail by proof-reading, checking the format and numbering of documents, cross-referencing and using consistent terminology
 Listen actively and speak effectively
Trainees can develop these skills by: -
 Drafting letters, internal notes and memos
 Reporting to clients and others by telephone
 Taking notes in meetings
 Dictating notes and letters

The importance of keeping clients regularly informed of the progress of a matter and the client care procedures in Rule 15 should be emphasised to trainees. Trainees should be given regular advice, guidance and feedback on their performance.

Dispute resolution
Trainees should become familiar with contentious work and gain a full understanding of the skills and practice of resolving disputes, including settling, mediation and adjudication, in a fair, cost-effective and timely way that meets client needs.

Trainees should be given opportunities to observe and/or assist in resolving disputes so that they will understand the need to:-
 Take careful instructions
 Identify the client’s purpose and advise on the possible outcomes and costs
 Thoroughly research the parties’ liabilities
 Gather evidence from witnesses or elsewhere
 Consider all the options for resolving a dispute
 Meet deadlines and keep clients informed of progress
 Draft or prepare papers to assist in resolving a contentious matter
 Control information central to the dispute throughout the proceeding
 Represent the client and the client’s interests through meetings, conferences and hearings
 Ensure that settlements and judgements are secure and enforceable

Trainees can develop these skills by attending tribunal hearings or ADR meetings, observing proceedings and assisting with the preparation of cases. Supervisors should explain how the work the trainee undertakes fits into the strategies pursued in a case and into the context of litigation as a whole.

Trainees should be given feedback on work they have done and should be offered a perspective on the significance of their work to the case as a whole.

Drafting
Trainees should recognise the need for and be able to produce documents that are clear, precise and achieve their purpose.

They should be given work that enables them to: -
 Maintain a standard of care that protects client interests and meets client objectives
 Address all relevant and factual legal issues
 Identify relevant options
 Demonstrate a critical use of standard forms and precedents
 Draft documents that are consistent and coherent, are clear and precise and meet any requirements of form and style

Trainees can develop these skills by drafting: -
 Witness statements and affidavits
 Corporate resolutions
 Wills and trust deeds
 Statements of case
 Transfer of property documents
 Leases
 Instructions to counsel
 Contracts
The complexity of trainees’ work should be increased incrementally, and they should be given opportunities to amend drafts of documents received from the other side and to practise using standard forms and precedents.

Interviewing and advising
Trainees should understand the importance of identifying the client’s goals along with the need to take accurate instructions. They should be given opportunities to observe and to conduct interviews with clients, experts, witnesses and others.

They should be given work that helps them understand the need to:
 Prepare for an interview
 Allow clients or professional advisers to explain their concerns
 Identify the client’s goals and priorities
 Use appropriate questioning techniques
 Determine what further information is required
 Identify possible courses of action and their consequences
 Help the client decide the best course of action
 Agree the action to be taken
 Accurately record the interview, confirming the instructions and the action  that needs to be taken
 Establish a professional relationship with the client, and deal with any ethical problems that may arise

Trainees can develop these skills by observing and taking notes of meetings and interviews, whether face to face or on the telephone. The purpose of a meeting should be explained to the trainee, and the conduct of the meeting should be reviewed with them afterwards. Where a trainee is conducting an interview, the supervisor should carefully monitor any advice given by the trainee during the meeting, and give guidance and feedback on the trainee’s performance after the meeting.

Legal research
Trainees should learn to find solutions by investigating the factual and legal issues, analysing problems and communicating the results of their research. They should be given work that makes use of traditional and computerized research tools and sources, business information and other relevant sources.

Trainees could be required to: -
 Research specific legal issues and factual, historical or commercial matters
 Prepare for client interviews
 Analyse corporate searches
 Investigate title to property and other relevant searches
 Review title documents and clients’ papers
 Assist with due diligence enquiries

The person allocating the work should give the trainee: -
 Background information on the context and purpose of the research
 Clear instructions
 Defined tasks
 Information about any limitations to be imposed on their research
 Guidance on where to begin
Trainees must also be given guidance and feedback on their performance.

Negotiation
Trainees should understand the processes involved in contentious and non-contentious negotiations and appreciate the importance to the client of reaching
agreement or resolving a dispute. They should be given opportunities to observe negotiations conducted by experienced practitioners and/or to conduct negotiations under close supervision.

They should be given work that will help them understand the process of negotiation including: -
 Identifying the central issues and explaining them to the client
 Assessing the bargaining-positions of each party
 Planning a negotiation
 Establishing an agenda at the start
 Listening actively
 Using appropriate questioning techniques
 Generating alternative solutions to resolve the issues using an appropriate negotiating style
 Identifying the strategy and tactics used by the other side
 Documenting the agreement or settlement
 Explaining the benefits and disadvantages of the agreement or settlements

Guidance should be given on the purpose of negotiation, and feedback should be provided on the outcome and on the trainee’s performance.