Career Clinic: Is a London TC better than training in the regions?

Is the Pope Catholic?

MC Trainee -20 Aug 2009 | 10:08

City Assistant

There's no harm in asking politely. But make sure you're speaking to the right people - maybe get a London partner on the case rather than just going through HR.

City Assistant -20 Aug 2009 | 10:35

I trained at the regional office of a large firm before moving to London on qualification. Overall I would say I had a much better work/life balance as on average I left the office at 6pm and as I could afford to rent accommodation 5 minutes from the office (something which I doubt many City trainees can afford to do) I could be home by 6.05 and had my evenings to myself to do as I pleased.

In terms of work I was also given more responsibility than my friends in the City who seemed to spend a lot of time photocopying and scanning documents until the early hours of the morning so I don't feel like I missed out. It is better to play a larger role on a smaller deal (as you will in the regions) than play a minor role on a massive deal (as seems to be the case in the City).

I therefore think you should base your decision on where you think you will be happier. I am now happier in London but that is because my friends and my other half are here and has nothing to do with the work.

I'm not sure how relevant your excellent grades will be when Graduate Recruitment come to consider whether to allow you to swap offices. Your work experience in London is more relevant, i.e. if you can prove that you are settled living and working in London and that moving to the regions to start your training contract would be disruptive to you then Graduate Recruitment may decide that it is the best interests of both you and the firm to let you move. Good luck.

Anonymous -20 Aug 2009 | 11:00

Go with where you want to live. You will be there for 2 years of your life.

You should get great training in large firms in the regions (I did). The poster above is right when then say you can get more responsibility. It is not unknown for trainees to move offices mid-TC (when you have proved yourself) and also on qualification.

Anonymous -20 Aug 2009 | 11:46

Just pick up the phone and ask them, for goodness sake!

Annon -20 Aug 2009 | 14:57

Headhunter

Have I missed something? Just pick up the phone and ask someone!

Wynder K -20 Aug 2009 | 15:19

One word: initiative. Use it.

Anon -20 Aug 2009 | 16:02

That was three words. Attention to detail...

Anonymous -21 Aug 2009 | 16:46

There are so many obnoxious people who leave snide comments on this website! The point of a career clinic is surely to help people rather than chip away at their confidence.

Anonymous -21 Aug 2009 | 17:14

My experience is that the best solicitors are based in the City.

I moved from a top ten firm to an organisation that said at my interview they were "the Clifford Chance of Newcastle".

The drop in the quality of work was awful - I went from being involved in £900m deals to trying to sort out someone's £5,000 shareholding in a cabinet-making company.

Bamber -24 Aug 2009 | 11:51

They told you they were the 5th best in Newcastle and you jumped?

. -25 Aug 2009 | 14:07

Anonymous writes about MC work being more photocopying and the mundane than the work at smaller regional firms. I often read about photocopying and it does confuse me. I qualified a couple of months ago at Linklaters. I sat in corporate, corporate, finance and banking. I have never photocopied anything. I don't know how to. The other day I needed a copy of my passport for a visa and had to get my secretary in to do it because I didn't know how the photocopier worked. I could probably learn to use the thing, and to be honest I'd love to think someone would pay three hundred quid an hour just to have me use it, but I don't think they would. I also think my bosses would be pretty hacked off to think I was spending my days watching the photocopier. I can scan a doc if I need to email something and I do that fairly often, a couple of times a week maybe at probably 4 minutes a go. I'd be interested to know if any other MC trainees ever photocopy? Photocopying for bibles etc. is a full time job (for the photocopying department), however, I would be pretty worried about the prospect of going to a firm without a dedicated photocopying department. For that matter I wouldn't jump at a firm that didn't have a proof-reading department, or a travel office, .. the list goes on.

Tom E -26 Aug 2009 | 00:02

Photocopying & Scanning

In support of Tom E: I am an associate at Freshfields, have trained there and - while I wouldn't quite go so far as to say "I don't know how to photocopy" (it's the green button, Tom), I do find it amazing how often this idea of "trainees only photocopy and number pages at MC firms" is trotted out.
The reason that MC firms have vast photocopying departments, employ droves of word processing specialists and recruit paralegals is not (self-evidently, one may have thought) so that they can pay their trainees (with many years' legal training) £40k+ a year to copy pages.
It is self-serving and disingenuous at best (and detrimental to the careers of those that read this paper at the beginning of their careers at worst) of people to claim that MC trainees/ junior associates never experience anything other than staplers.
It is also patently untrue: I give my trainee as much responsibility as he or she has shown him or herself able to handle, whether that is "performing basic tasks and filing forms" in the first instance or "negotiating and running discrete aspects of - or whole - closings" in the latter stages of their training. The reason for this is purely self-serving: if they are good and they have the time to do a job, I would rather they got on with it (asking for help as needed).

The conclusion? Do your TC in the place where you think will best serve your future prospects: if you ultimately want to work in London, with the varied and exciting mix of work on offer here, I would politely enquire as to your chances of transfer. If you would rather live with the better work/life balance and smaller deals outside the capital, go for that. But don't discount one or the other merely on the basis of idle chatter from those who have not experienced the other side.

SicTransGloriaLegis -26 Aug 2009 | 11:00

I started my TC in Manchester and moved to London halfway through, and I've loved it. I haven't found the work/life balance to be much worse, and I found that the huge hike in earnings more than made up for the increased living costs - I live 15 mins walk from the office in a shared flat.

If you want to move, I'd say mention it straight away, and if you can't move at first, keep pestering grad recruitment for a move every seat change. It may take a while but hopefully they will give in eventually! Best of luck.

Mid TC mover -26 Aug 2009 | 16:26

Do you have any contact with the current trainees at your firm? If you're concerned about the quality of training if you move to the London office, then you could have a chat with them to make sure that you're still going to get the most out of your training contract. Before making a concrete decision try and ask them about workload, responsibilities, work/life balance etc just to see how they match up. At the end of the day though, go where you're going to get the most out of your two years, and where you are going to be the happiest.

anon -27 Aug 2009 | 15:06