Cooley works with some of the world’s most innovative and forward thinking businesses, regularly representing current and future leaders in technology and business. Read more about the firm’s practice specialisms and learn whether the diverse, collaborative culture at Cooley might be for you.
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Contents
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Why train at Michelmores?
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Reaching your potential
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What we offer
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Our groups and teams
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‘A day in the life’ – meet our trainee Sena Guvercin
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‘A day in the life’ – meet our trainee Alex Ricketts
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Meet our Recruitment team
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Our approach to the Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE) and Qualifying Work Experience (QWE)
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How to apply for a training contract
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Contact us
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Why train at Michelmores?
D eciding where to complete your training contract is a big decision and we know how important it is to choose the right firm for you. This brochure gives you more information about what it’s like to work and train at Michelmores. It will provide you with a better idea of who we are, our values and culture, what we offer our trainees and what it’s really like to work here. We have tried to answer as many questions as possible, but if you have further queries please get in touch (scroll down for our details) or visit our LinkedIn page (@Michelmores) where you’ll get a flavour of our work and culture.
Our strategy: Destination 2030 is focused on growing our ability to be unashamedly commercial, creative and collaborative. As advisors, we pride ourselves on being relatable and pragmatic; as a firm, we never stop learning. Our people challenge the status quo and use their business acumen to achieve the best possible solution for our clients. We know that being curious and trying new things helps us all to grow: this is what we want to see from all of our people, including our future trainees.
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Reaching your potential
A t Michelmores we value diverse outlooks and perspectives because we know that these help us to deliver. We are focused on making law more accessible and aim to help our people to realise their potential while being their authentic selves. That’s why our development programmes are tailored so we can meet individual needs. Successful applicants to our training contract quickly become an integral
and valued part of our firm; they enjoy a high level of responsibility, collaboration and support from the very start and will be nurtured to become one of our future leaders. In 2023, 88% of our trainees accepted newly qualified solicitor roles at Michelmores. We are very proud of this retention rate. We are also very proud that more than 12% of our Partners joined us as trainees and have grown with the Firm.
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What we offer
High level of responsibility
Involvement in national and international work
Access to Partners
Contract tailored to your interests
Opportunity to make a positive impact
‘Recruit to retain’ culture – start your career journey
Involvement in initiatives outside of the day role
Supportive and collaborative culture
Flexibility in location
D uring your training contract you will be given the opportunity to work with four teams within our Private Client, Business and Real Estate groups. You can find out more about the areas of expertise and the services that our teams provide here . During your four seats you’ll be given the opportunity to gain first-hand experience of our teams’ collaborative approach to finding effective, commercial solutions for our clients. Our groups and teams
Private Client
Business
Real Estate
Tax, Trusts & Succession
Commercial
Projects
Transactional Real Estate
Banking
Agriculture
Private Property & Landed Estates
Insolvency
Planning
Commercial & Regulatory Disputes
Contentious Probate
Construction
Asset Protection
Corporate
Property Litigation
Family
Employment
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Trainee Sena Guvercin tells us more about a typical working day during her seat in the Contentious Probate team ‘A day in the life’
I am currently a second-seat Trainee in the Contentious Probate team, based in the Exeter office. Although each day is very different, below is a preview of what can be expected in a day in the Contentious Probate team. 8:30 - 9:00 I plan my day ahead and organise anything that is urgent to be dealt with by my supervisor and to finish off any filing/administration tasks from the day before. Once this is all done, I head over to the kitchen to make myself a cup of coffee to drink whilst preparing my to-do list for the day. 9:00 - 9:45 : I start on an attendance note for a client meeting I attended the previous day. We will be meeting with the clients again in two weeks to 10:00 - 10:30 : We have our weekly team meetings on Wednesdays where we typically discuss our current work load and if anyone has the capacity to take on new jobs or assist each other. We also chat about new clients or any business development opportunities. provide a plan going forward so I want to get the note down while it is still fresh in my mind. 10:40 - 12:30 : After a quick catch up with my supervisor regarding one of our matters, I am asked to draft a Settlement Agreement.
I start off by reviewing a settlement agreement that was prepared for a similar matter and I use this as a precedent since this is the first time I am drafting one! 12:40 - 13:00 My supervisor calls me over to her desk to go over the draft agreement together. This is really helpful as I am able to see what I did correctly and where I could improve. I am glad to hear that it is a good first draft and after taking careful notes, I head to the kitchen to grab my lunch and prepare for the lunchtime session. 13:00 - 14:00 : There is a lunchtime training session on ‘Capital Markets’ for anyone who may be interested and since my next seat is going to be in the Corporate team, I think this is a great opportunity to gain some knowledge so I go along with a couple of other trainees. Michelmores hold frequent lunchtime training sessions on different areas of law and I find these to be very helpful for future seat choices and to get to know people across the Firm. 14:10 - 16:30 : I receive an email from one of our colleagues in the Tax, Trusts & Succession team who would like me to carry out an urgent research task for her. She is dealing with an estate where a car has been abandoned on the drive of the property. The
DVLA have confirmed the owner of the vehicle and my task is to investigate how we can remove the car from the drive and the procedure for doing so. I prepare a research report and schedule a call with her to discuss my findings. 16:30 - 17:00 : I finally find time to finish off the draft letter I had started on the previous day. After reviewing the matter WIP report, I set out the different payment options for the client: fixed fee or hourly rate. I send this off to the matter partner for review and approval before sending it out to the client. 17:00 - 17:30 : I am trying to stay on top of my training record so I dedicate 30 minutes at the end of each day to update this by noting down the different types of work I have experienced and the skills I have developed. This will be submitted to the Solicitors Regulation Authority when I apply to be admitted to the roll of solicitors. 17:30 - 18:00 : Since I am participating in the South West Coast Path Challenge in support of FearFree (our charity partner), I go for a short walk with a fellow trainee before heading home.
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join us on the journey
‘A day in the life’
Trainee Alex Ricketts shares his experience of a typical working day in the Commercial & Regulatory Disputes (CRD) team.
07:30 - 08:30 : I wake up and begin my morning routine. It’s Thursday today and I’m working from the London office. 08:30 - 08:45 : It’s a ten-minute walk from the trainee flat to the office at Liverpool Street. I pick up a coffee from my favourite café and listen to a podcast on the way in. On arrival, I check my emails, calendar invites and plan for the day. 08:45 - 09:00 : My seat supervisor is at her desk, so I pop over to discuss a few new matters received yesterday to be actioned for early next week. 09:00 - 10:00 : I begin working through my emails and actioning smaller tasks. It is also a nice opportunity to catch up with colleagues in the office today. 10:00 - 10:30 : I receive an enquiry call from a potential new client. In my team, trainees are responsible for taking new enquiry calls and summarising the key issues for partners to consider.
10:30 - 13:00 : Next up is a meeting with our client and counsel. Trainees are often invited to attend client meetings to take a note and feed into the conversation. We have a court hearing listed in a few weeks and the purpose of the meeting is to discuss immediate next steps, including logistics and preparation. I take a detailed note of the call and identify several action points for the Michelmores team, counsel and our client, which I circulate shortly after. One of the follow-up tasks for me is to conduct research on a set of procedural steps. 13:00 - 13:30 : I decide to head out for some lunch. Central London has a huge variety of places to eat so I’m always spoilt for choice! 13:30 - 15:00 : Much of the afternoon is spent attending a meeting with an expert witness for an upcoming trial. We work through a draft version of the expert’s report, flagging technical questions and hearing from our expert.
15:00 - 16:00 : Next up is our monthly full CRD team meeting, with colleagues in the team joining from across all offices. This is a good opportunity to hear about the matters the team is working on, as well as hearing about upcoming BD events, team socials, and knowledge sharing sessions. 16:00 - 17:30 : I have been asked to prepare a bundle which needs to be filed at court tomorrow. I am familiar with the matter and the documents, so I collate the papers and prepare the hard- copy and e-bundles. I will file at the Royal Courts of Justice tomorrow morning. 17:30 - 18:00 : I close out the day by picking up on a few discrete follow-up tasks after our call with our expert witness, including identifying points for client input and formatting amendments.
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Meet our Recruitment team
Alexandra Watson, Partner and Training Principal
Where did you train? TLT, Bristol
“At the heart of Michelmores’ Destination 2030 strategy is the attraction, development and retention of high-quality clients and high-quality people. Central to this is our graduate programme: we take the recruitment and training of our trainees very seriously and you can see that come to life with our consistently high retention rate on qualification and post qualification. We offer trainees opportunities to develop their legal and business skills, access to lawyers at the top of their field and real responsibility on interesting and varied client work. Trainees learn to work in an agile way from day one; this coupled with a flexible approach to experiencing seats across our different offices means an overall fantastic experience over the two-year contract. “Our selection process for both the vacation scheme and the assessment day are purposefully designed to give applicants the opportunity to get to know us and show us their potential. It also gives us the chance to really get to know our applicants well. Use the route you choose to ask questions, to see why we are so proud of our culture and why culture is a core pillar of our Destination 2030 strategy.”
Do you have a law or a non-law background? Non-law – I have a BSc in Geography from Bristol University, then did the PGDip Law and LPC at UWE. What do you like most about being a lawyer? As a corporate lawyer, there is nothing I love more than the (fun) pressure of being in the middle of a transaction, pushing to get it over the line and finding a solution where all the sides are happy with the deal that has been done. What do you like least about the legal profession? Historic restrictions on access to law has meant a lack of diversity and social mobility in the profession - something we are all committed to change for future generations. And too many Latin phrases… If you weren’t a lawyer, what would you be? Back at the beginning of my career, probably an accountant.
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What is your proudest career moment? I closed a big wind farm portfolio acquisition, a joint venture between the developer and investor client with an associated debt financing – the deal was really complicated and had a very tight timescale with a hard cut off at midnight on the last day of the exclusivity period. We worked around the clock to deliver for the client and closed the deal just before the deadline… I led the transaction and was really proud of myself at the end of it. What was the biggest mistake you made as a trainee? What did you learn from it? This is a hard one, as I made a lot of mistakes and choosing the biggest one is a bit of challenge! It’s a toss-up between (a) holding up multiple completions of new leases on a significant industrial estate when I managed to do a priority search of pretty much the whole industrial estate and not just the lease area we were completing on (in the days when it was all done by fax and post and you couldn’t just change things online), and (b) missing a signature on a key document for an AIM Admission, realising after the client had just left and having to run down the street in a suit and heels at 2am
waving my arms in the air so the client didn’t get into the cab and head off (again in the days before we had widespread electronic signature capabilities). I learnt that attention to detail is key and you need to check, check and check again. If you could describe your leadership style in three words, what would they be? I expect my perceptions will differ wildly from those of my family and my colleagues! Focused, compassionate, collaborative. What is your favourite thing to do in your free time? Taking my kids to their favourite sports and watching them develop with their skills and confidence in those. Given what you know now, what advice would you give to your trainee self? Two main things (a) the words “I don’t know the answer to that, I will come back to you” are not a sign of weakness and (b) clients don’t want perfect legal solutions, they want commercial solutions, so get into the mindset early.
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Meet our Recruitment team
Georgie Lewis, Early Careers Recruitment Business Partner
How did you get to where you are today? I went to University at Birmingham and completed a Business Management Degree. I then joined a financial graduate scheme and ended up in HR where I found my passion for early careers, inclusion and diversity. I then made the move to Michelmores in 2021 and moved into my current early careers role. What do you like most about early careers recruitment? Assessment days! I love running assessment days and watching candidates who you have interacted with through the rest of the recruitment process give the two days their all to try to get a training contract. It’s really exciting to meet people who will be the future of the Firm. It is exciting to think someone you hire to be a trainee could be a Partner of the Firm, and that’s why it is so important to make sure I get it right with the decisions I am making and the processes I implement. No two days are the same and no two candidates are the same and that is what makes it an exciting area to work in. If you weren’t in early careers / HR, what would you be? When I was younger I always wanted to become a chef and set up my own restaurant … that dream was halted by my lack of cooking ability! I fell into HR but I can’t imagine myself doing anything else now.
What is your proudest career moment? Launching the Graduate Solicitor Apprenticeship at Michelmores and being one of the first firms to offer this. It is so exciting that there are now so many routes to qualification and students can choose the path that is right for them. I am really proud of Michelmores for being a pioneer when it comes to this qualification and for continuing to add to our early careers offering: it demonstrates how much we value and want to invest in junior talent. What have you learnt from your time in early careers / HR? By making changes to your early careers offering and processes you can have an impact on not just the trainees/junior talent joining the Firm in the next few years but also the future of the Firm. It also demonstrates that you really have the ability to change someone’s life whether that be through running a talk which inspires a school student or from offering someone a training contract – and that is very rewarding! What is your favourite thing to do in your free time? Eating or drinking with family and friends are my favourite things. Given what you know now, what advice would you give your younger self? Be yourself. This will help you to find the right firm for you and end up in the role you are meant to be in. Being your authentic self is so important to your personal and professional development.
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Meet our Recruitment team
Ffion Crossland, HR Advisor
How did you get to where you are today? I was lucky enough to stumble upon an HR Apprenticeship role which felt perfect for me at the time. Although knowing very little about HR and where this career could take me, my 18-month apprenticeship filled me with a range of great experience and knowledge that I have taken with me throughout my career so far. What do you like most about early careers recruitment? Being able to have a positive impact on candidates’ careers and sharing wisdom with them is extremely rewarding. Watching candidates go from their initial application to offer and then through their training with us is inspiring. Their growth is always admirable and I am often very proud of how far they have come. If you weren’t in early careers / HR, what would you be? I always wanted to be a midwife when I was younger. Although a very different career path, that is likely what I would have progressed if it were not for my HR career. What is your proudest career moment? My proudest career moment has been studying my CIPD course alongside full time working. This was certainly a challenge and tested my time management skills but the relief and feeling of reward at the end of the course was worth all the stress.
What have you learnt from your time in early careers / HR? To always ask questions and to dive into difficult challenges whenever they arise. Working in HR means you get to dip your hand into most things, and being able to immerse yourself into these situations can only better your career. What is your favourite thing to do in your free time? I enjoy going on long walks with my dog and looking at beautiful scenery. I also love cooking and taking time away from daily stress to taste new foods. Given what you know now, what advice would you give your younger self? All experience is good experience. Always put yourself out there to gain as much experience as possible in any capacity, as this only ever helps your career in the future.
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inspiring you to make a difference
Our approach to the Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE) and Qualifying Work Experience (QWE) F rom 2025 all trainees will have completed the SQE qualification and we won’t be accepting the LPC. This means that if you are at university or already have a degree, your training path will take one of the two following routes:
Law degree
Non law degree
Post Graduate Diploma in Law (PGDL)
SQE 1&2
Begin training contract where you will gain your QWE
In addition to these two routes, we offer a Graduate Solicitor Apprenticeship . This gives graduates the opportunity to study towards their SQE while working at the Firm. You can find out more about the Graduate Solicitor Apprenticeship here.
If you are offered a training contract with us, we will sponsor you to complete the SQE exams through the University of Law and you will receive a £5,000 bursary whilst studying the SQE1 & SQE2. We also sponsor the completion of the PGDL (if applicable).
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How to apply for a training contract
assessment day
vacation scheme
T here are two ways to secure a training contract at Michelmores: you can choose to go straight to the assessment day or take the vacation scheme route .
About our assessment day route If you choose to attend one of our assessment days, you’ll be applying for a training contract via a recruitment process that does not include work experience at the Firm. This route is great for those who know they want to pursue a career in law, have previous legal experience and/or are confident that Michelmores is the right firm for them. It is also a good option for people who are unable to dedicate a week to attend our vacation scheme. About our vacation scheme option Our vacation scheme is a week-long opportunity to experience our firm and culture first hand. You’ll gain an invaluable insight into Michelmores, our people and our work and it will help you to decide if we are the right firm for your training contract.
A quick guide to our vacation scheme • you can choose to spend the week at our Bristol or Exeter office • the scheme takes place in June and July each year • you will sit within one of our legal teams for the week, work on a group project, attend talks and workshops and should aim to build your knowledge and skills • you’ll complete the assessments we need to decide if you are the right candidate for us • you will be paid the Real Living Wage • you’ll benefit from a great opportunity to build your network and find out about the Firm.
Hear from our trainees about their experiences on the vacation scheme
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I t’s important that you choose the right option for you; we don’t have a preference and throughout each we’ll be looking for applicants who demonstrate the skills, values and behaviours we require in our trainees.
Submit your initial application
Successful applicants: complete a video interview
assessment day applicants
vacation scheme applicants
Successful applicants: attend a pre-vacation scheme interview
Successful applicants: attend a pre-assessment day interview
Successful applicants: attend vacation scheme and complete assessment day during the week
Successful applicants: attend assessment day
Successful applicants: offered training contract
Successful applicants: offered training contract
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Contact us
If you have any questions about our graduate recruitment process please email: gradrecruitment@michelmores.com LinkedIn @Michelmores Instagram Michelmores careers Instagram Michelmores michelmores.com
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2023
michelmores.com
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