OSBORNE CLARKE LLP
and to know what they want,” Zoe maintains. “From our side, we’re seeing a greater interest in a career as a lawyer – we now receive more applications than ever before. It’s a highly desirable career.” Given this, it’s perhaps little surprise that Osborne Clarke makes such efforts to set itself apart – fortunately, its main selling point appears to come naturally. “We are what we say we are,” Zoe laughs. “From all our marketing literature to every single one of our interactions, we are a high-support, high-challenge environment. We are selling what we are – it’s not a false dream. We are true and honest, and that resonates with people.” “Mark Wesker, the Bristol training growing and enhancing the legal profession as a whole I believe that a firm with the size and stature of Osborne Clarke should be committed to
recalls. “And it works both ways – if you’re at ease, people perform better. It was challenging – I was very aware that other people there are extremely high achieving – but the atmosphere was friendly and I came out feeling very happy with myself. Other assessment centres were not as pleasant.” As should be apparent by now, the resources needed to provide a good training contract – let alone an outstanding one – are significant. Catherine confides that she is often asked why Osborne Clarke doesn’t simply recruit from the market, awarding jobs to qualified lawyers rather than training them in-house. “I believe that a firm with the size and stature of Osborne Clarke should be committed to growing and enhancing the legal profession as a whole,” she argues. “One of the most significant ways we can do that is by investing in a high-quality training programme. We treat our trainees as trainees, not as paralegals – they’re here to learn. We stress test whether each and every individual would benefit from doing a training contract with us – for this we have buy-in from the Executive Board down. Our trainees are the partners of the future – we need people who will build this firm.” This fighting talk is borne out by William’s experience of his training contract so far and the quality of work he receives. At the time of writing he was in his second seat – banking – and his first was in planning. “They’re poles apart!” he admits cheerfully. “Planning was very advisory with a lot of research; I was working closely with
clients, coming up with hundreds of notices for big infrastructure projects. Banking is a lot more transactional. While it’s also client based, you see a lot more of other solicitors and there is masses of negotiation. I sit next to my supervisor – there’s always someone to speak to, for quick questions. It’s nice to have that safety net – you know you’re doing the best for your client.” “In my opinion it’s the best they could hope for in a training contract,” Catherine asserts, when asked about the level of appraisal and support within the training contract. “The two years is more than trainees gaining their hands on technical experience, it’s about learning to become part of the Osborne Clarke family.” Trainees can expect to receive a mid-seat and end-of-seat review; they themselves set objectives at the start of the seat and then take another look at these mid-seat, updating them as necessary. “For instance, at the start of this seat I wanted to improve my drafting,” William recalls, “as there wasn’t much of it in planning. Now I’m getting into bigger matters, the churn of documents between parties, the ins and outs – I really feel that I’m fulfilling that objective.” In addition to these formal appraisals, all trainees have weekly meetings with their supervisor to check on workload and general progress. Such investment is not indulgence; rather, it is an accurate
reflection of the expectations placed on trainees and newly
qualified lawyers – by both firms and clients. “They need to demonstrate commercial drive and business focus
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