Niche Practise Firm

Developing your own team

We were approached by a law firm who hadn’t taken on trainees before but who use paralegals. The firm was reluctant to embark on becoming a training establishment and weren’t able to cover the necessary practice areas required by the SRA training regulations, but they were very keen to progress their paralegal staff.

As the firm required us to source other secondments for their paralegals, we assessed the paralegals to make sure they had the requisite skills, qualities and potential expected from our clients. We were then able to secure other secondments for them whilst they started their training contracts.

Our clients enjoy training these trainees (who will hopefully go on to become their own future solicitors) secure in the comfort that we are dealing with all the regulatory requirements and offering them support every step of the way. We closely monitor the practice skills standards each trainee is experiencing and guide them through the process from start to finish. We make sure that each trainee is day one competent and progresses through a top quality training contract. The end result is a well-rounded and commercially astute solicitor.

Our client also enjoys total security around costs, doesn’t have to take on any employer risks and has trainees present when their business needs them. This means a better experience for both clients and trainees.

Graduate case study

Helping graduates with great potential

We received an application from a graduate who had gained very high A’ Level grades and a distinction on the LPC but narrowly missed a 2:1 at degree level. As a result, this graduate was struggling to secure a training contract. She applied to us, impressing the Accutrainee team at each stage of our recruitment process and demonstrating the key skills and competencies required for a trainee solicitor.

Having successfully completed our selection process we were able to short list her for clients where we felt there was a good match. Each client that met her spotted the potential we saw and we were able to secure secondments for her to commence her training. Her training contract eventually consisted of secondments at three different organisations, two in-house seats and one in private practice.

We focused on short listing this candidate for positions where she matched the skills and experience sought by the client but also focused on putting her in front of firms who practised the areas of law she told us were of particular interest.

On the first day of her training contract she completed an induction programme with Accutrainee which explained how the secondments work, how we monitor training and development through monthly meetings with our dedicated Training Principal and how she can make the very best of the experiences gained during each secondment.

The trainee went on to receive some excellent feedback from her supervisors and was offered positions at two different organisations on qualification.