Trainee Blog – August 2021
My Nowell Meller journey so far
I joined the firm on 2nd March 2020, working as a Senior Caseworker within the family team. Though it felt great to have autonomy and my own caseload, the start of my time with the firm was quite unnerving as the country was forced into a national lockdown just 3 weeks after my start date. However, I was wrong to worry as the directors and everyone at the firm pulled together to weather the storm. So, as you might imagine, I was delighted when met with the news in November 2020 that the firm were going to offer me a Training Contract to begin in January 2021.
My training contract began on 5th January 2021 and will run for a period of 18 months. My training will be slightly different than a “traditional” contract, as I’ll be continuing my work in the family team throughout, whilst simultaneously sitting seats in other departments. Whilst this type of set-up isn’t without its challenges, it’s a great fit for me and the firm, which is all that really matters. I sat my first seat in the Family department, and so things didn’t really feel all that different to me at first (aside from having some shiny new business cards and mountains of training logs to complete). However, in June 2021 I started a seat with the Wills and Probate team, which is certainly different to the work I am used to completing. More on this next time!
On a more personal note, life is quite hectic for me at the moment, which has taken some adjusting to after 18 months of being able to do hardly anything. At home, my fiancé and I have an excitable (and massive) 11-month-old Labradoodle that we are attempting to raise (with varying degrees of success) and we’re getting married very soon. It turns out planning a wedding isn’t that hard, but it’s time-consuming! Oh, I’m also finishing up my LPC studies, how could I forget that! The point of me writing about this isn’t to attract sympathy (which I’m certain it won’t), but to illustrate my message to any future or prospective lawyers, which is simple – keep working hard but make every effort to allow yourself “downtime”. Resting and recharging is equally as important to you as the fees that you generate or the feedback you receive. Remember, that email can wait.
Matt
