Personal support
While you train:
Once you have started your training contract, the Trainee
Development team will work with you to plan your seats. Obviously,
we have to meet the needs of the business, but it's also in our
interests to give you the kind of experience that you want, through
seats and secondments.
As you pass through each practice area, a Group Trainee
Solicitor Partner (GTSP) will oversee your progress in that
particular seat. The GTSP works with your principal to give you
feedback on your performance and development points through
periodic appraisals. While the Trainee Development team provides
continuity and big-picture support, the your principal and the
GTSPs provide highly focused support at a local level.
Most trainees will tell you that they receive a lot of
encouragement and help from their peers, especially the other
trainees they joined with. This can be practical as well as moral
support. When the going gets tough, it can be very useful to bounce
ideas and thoughts off someone who is in the same boat as you and
understands the pressures.
Teamwork:
Relationships built up over time can be very powerful because
you understand and trust each other. But there's also a fundamental
commitment to teamwork at Linklaters that means people enjoy
working together effectively, even if they've only just met.
Working in teams is both efficient and creative; it promotes
communication and multiplies the thinking power available to meet
challenges and solve problems. This is why we encourage an
open-door policy; even the most experienced and senior lawyers in
the firm try to make themselves available to everybody, including
trainees, for advice and encouragement.
Continuing support:
The support for your development doesn't finish when you
qualify. But the source of support switches to senior lawyers
within your own practice area, backed up by local HR teams. And
every associate has a mentor partner from their department. As
ever, you will guide and drive your development, but we provide a
range of resources (from leadership training programmes to online
knowledge systems) to help you on your way.