BEST TRAINER – NATIONAL/LARGE REGIONAL FIRM
to an assessment day. Shoosmiths is also keen to open access to internal candidates such as paralegals. Lynn speaks passionately about how much rests on students’ exam results in the industry and how these should not be the be all and end all of their lives. “If you have a bad week over your finals, you can end up with a 2:2 – that’s a world of pain when it comes to applications,” she argues. “We are committed to giving people a chance to qualify as paralegals. There is then an internal route to the assessment day, where they’ll be assessed side by side with the other candidates.” Second-seat trainee Stephanie Spittle chose the paralegal route, as it allowed her to wait before applying for her training contract and thoroughly research the firms in which she was interested. She worked directly with Phil Barnes – partner and national practice group head in the Birmingham office’s medical negligence team – on high-profile, high-value cases, with the level of responsibility increasing as time went on. “During one of my personal development reviews, Phil asked, ‘What is it you want to achieve; where do you see yourself in five years’
time?” she recalls. “And I explained: ‘I want to become a solicitor here at Shoosmiths’. The whole team supported my application. I knew it was the right thing to do.” Shoosmiths is a truly UK-wide firm, with 11 offices across the country from London to Edinburgh, Southampton and Nottingham. Right from day one, it strives to help trainees realise that they are part of something far bigger than just their own outpost. “We want to give our trainees a national perspective,” Lynn explains. For this reason, all trainees – approximately 23 in each intake – gather in a single office for the first week of their training contract and spend their initial induction together. It not only introduces them to life at a multi-office firm, but helps to forge bonds between the entire cohort, no matter where they end up. “Induction involves a mix of IT training and workshops with key people from the firm including the CEO, the directors and the five practice group heads,” Samantha explains. “But there are also a lot of fun activities. There’s a Go Ape-style event, where the graduate recruitment team also takes part; and there’s also
Shoosmiths as a business is very forward thinking; it’s not afraid to make changes
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