A Training Contract on the South Coast – Sun, Sea and CPSE’s

It’s 6:30AM now, I’m in the sea and spend the next 2 hours surfing Bournemouth Pier and catching up with the other regulars before it’s time to get ready for work. It’s not your conventional morning exercise but if you’re going to live and work on the South Coast making the most of the sea is a must.

Usually, I’d go straight home after my session but I have a bit of printing to do in the office this morning so I walk up to the office, shower, get changed and I’m sat at my desk for 8:50 (yes my office is a 5 minute walk from the beach). I’m working in Commercial Property at Steele Raymond LLP Solicitors in Bournemouth. I spend the next hour printing and binding Leases and contracts which I will be taking to a client next week. It’s not the most exciting job but it is a trainee job.  After everything in the office is sorted I’m working from home for the rest of the day.

I make it back to the flat just in time for the Property Team meeting over Microsoft Teams. We do this twice a week just to make sure everyone is doing ok, monitor workloads and share our good news stories for the week or the weekend to come. It’s nice to share the positive stories, I get a kick out of that and it makes me feel part of a team even though I’m working remotely.

Trainee Solicitor Taylor Anderson making the most of life on the South Coast.

After the meeting I check my to do list and spend the rest of the morning finalising a report on title. Once I’m happy it’s in final form I send it to Emma (my supervisor) to check.  It’s about 13:00 now so it’s time for lunch, a baked potato, I still feel like a student sometimes then out for a quick walk to get in the sun. After lunch I spend some time checking through my emails and updating a spreadsheet for a project I’m working on, which involves buying over 50 properties for one client. It’s important that we can convey to the client that we are on top of each file and its my job to demonstrate that by keeping tabs on each file and updating the spreadsheet with our progress.

In the afternoon I’m answering some Commercial Property Standard Enquires (CPSE’s) for a property sale and drafting the property transfer but I’m unsure on what restrictive covenants to include. I call Emma for some guidance. Whilst she is very busy and doesn’t always answer the phone straight away, she always gets back to me the same day and if she’s not available, I can just call someone else. Even though I’m working from home I feel supported by my supervisor and my colleagues. There’s always someone to ask and I don’t feel isolated in the slightest.

At about 4:30pm my mate Alex asks me if I want to go for a bike ride after work. After checking my to do list I’m pretty comfortable there is nothing else that needs my immediate attention today. At about 5:30pm I pack a bag with a few beers and my speaker and we cycle over to Poole Harbour for the evening to watch the sunset. It’s been a busy week, but as I sit catching up on the week’s events whilst the sun dips behind Brownsea Island I can’t help but think there is no place I would rather be to see in the weekend.

Training Contract Applications

Come and join our friendly team in one of the South Coast’s leading firms and together let’s kick start your future legal career. If you have any questions in relation to the training contract application process, please contact Lindsay Halliwell. Alternatively, you can download a 2023-25 training contract application form here (submission deadline: 31 May 2021).