Trainee Solicitor Review

Amazing training, genuinely nice people and insane opportunities. Feel really well looked after by the firm and it does feel like you're at one of the best firms in the world.

As a trainee you have a lot of ownership over various workstreams - specific responsibilities depend on your department, but my favorite is communicating with clients and taking ownership of workstreams.

As a trainee you get a high level of responsibility; if you demonstrate your ability to run workstreams, etc. alone, you will be treated accordingly. Feels like you're genuinely contributing meaningfully to the work and not just given things for the sake of it. Of course, as a trainee you also have to do more 'typical' trainee tasks which are sometimes more administrative in nature.

Salary is good and we are moving to a new office with free breakfast, lunch and coffee which is amazing. The gym benefit could be better as it's basically nonexistent.

I feel the role has prepared me excellently for a future in law, as I am treated like an associate already.

Very good support networks are ingrained into the formal training contract, through scheduled catch ups and meetings with the recruitment committee and grad rec. LW also has a great mentoring scheme where you get a budget for each affinity network at the firm plus a 'wildcard mentor budget' that you can use with another lawyer at the firm to do something in your own time (e.g. nails, massage, etc.).

It's fair - I think it is a skill to be improved. I think you are able to take a degree of autonomy as to when you do your work, etc. and planning your work around other things that I expect will only increase as I progress as an associate. There are ups and downs and it of course depends on the team but I don't feel as though I have a terrible work life balance or miss out on things, it just takes a lot of discipline to balance everything I want to do, for example the gym and work during the week. I barely have to work on weekends, and have hardly had to work while on annual leave.

The culture at LW is great, it is a big firm with a very ambitious feel and big enough to find your fit within it and to allow for a mix of different personalities. The support staff, building staff and reception staff are also all great and make it a positive working environment.

Diversity at Latham feels very present but also not forced, which is nice. Latham has various affinity groups which specifically focus on diversity, equality, and inclusion across different intersections.

Yes

It's a great place to work, great people and good compensation. It is an amazing place to train and wouldn't have wanted to go anywhere else - anywhere else would feel like a downgrade at this point in my career.

I did a vacation scheme prior to accepting the training contract and it gave me a good insight into the culture of the firm and the opportunities I would be exposed to.