Like many a law student, I came up against a wall of rejections when applying for training contracts at private practice firms. Despite my good academics, breadth of legal work experience and an evidential interest in the future of the legal profession,an excess of law graduates over the years means these firms are spoilt for choice. The knock-on effect for many great training contract candidates is that one of the selection factors is luck, which, it appeared, was not in my favour.
After completing the GDL in 2017, I made the decision to take full ownership of my legal career. I took out a loan to complete the LPC whilst working remotely for ThoughtRiver. My routine of combining a prescriptive legal course with fresh legaltech urged me to think creatively about ways in which I could achieve my ultimate goal of qualification. I accepted a consultancy position at ThoughtRiver and was brought on full-time in November 2018.
The great thing about ThoughtRiver is its people’s collective desire to make the commercial legal world work better, so the business case was a success. Next was the paperwork, which is all helpfully located on the SRA’s website, making the administrative process surprisingly straightforward. Fast forward to now and I am proud to be the first trainee solicitor in a legaltech business. My role involves reviewing a range of commercial contracts, using our in-house technology solution, as well as assisting the Chief Legal Officer with the corporate and regulatory work that allows the business to grow.
In the “tech” aspect of my role, I concentrate on the operational success of expanding ThoughtRiver’s use case for its own solution and improving workflow across teams. I also make space to drive our outreach program, which partners with universities to educate future lawyers to the world of digital contracts using a state-of-the-art online learning environment. ThoughtRiver’s training contract is non-traditional and fully practical, as are the skills I am developing and the lawyer I aim to be. To anyone that is, like I was, up against blockers to qualification, get creative and forge your own path. If you don’t know where to start, join networks like Aspire (which has an invaluable in-house training contract guide) and Legal Geek’s mentorship program. To find out more about how we equip and educate the digitally savvy lawyers of the future, subscribe to ThoughtRiver’s newsletter. (bottom right of homepage).