Commercial Awareness for Solicitor Apprentices Week 5

Hello, In this week's newsletter we look at the legal ramifications of a diplomatic row in Canada and also discuss legal risk and how it relates to the governments lawyers. We interview first year apprentice Alex Curd as he settles into life as a solicitor apprentice and I give my advice on how to approach networking effectively.

Interview: This week we interview Alex Curd who is in his first year of his solicitor apprenticeship.

Tell us about your background:

I grew up in a town just outside London, called Dartford, and went to an academy for my GCSEs before moving over to a Grammar school, where I sat my A-Levels. I have always been interested in sports in general but have played football my entire life and had a stint where I moved over into athletics. 

Tell us about how you found school:

My academic experience was one that I will cherish, mainly due to the friends and experiences that came of it. My A-Level Law studies were the turning point for me, in that it gave me the drive to pursue law in my further career and take this beyond just the classroom. 

What was the hardest part about the apprenticeship application for you? 

The hardest part of the apprenticeship application process for me was needing to stand out from the hundreds of other applicants for the position (not to scare anyone!). I think it's difficult to know what to write in this initial application processes, and particularly what to say to make you different from everyone else. On this I would say that it's best for people to try and convey themselves as much as they possibly can on these application forms and try and take it as an opportunity to advertise yourself.

What has been your experience of apprentice life so far?

My experience of the apprentice social life has been very positive. It was one my main concerns when choosing this option, over the alternative that is university, but it's a concern that has been laid to rest. The apprentice network around London is fantastic, with there being social events being put on by specific firms, or through wider organisations such as 'wider circle' allowing for a variety of apprentices to meet up and socialise, both professionally in these events, but also outside of them.

What application advice would you give?

My top advice for crafting high quality applications would be to make sure you are doing your research, whether that be seeing what the firm's values are or any recent cases and disputes that the company has been involved in that interests you, also ensuring you remain professional throughout the application.

Interview takeaway: Having just started his apprenticeship, Alex is clearly having a good time so far and any concerns that he did have are now gone. We all have concerns when applying to apprenticeships, but what Alex shows here is that law firms always have our best interests at heart. 

Commercial legal explainer: 

Legal risk. It is a term some people may have heard of, however many struggle to define it; essentially it concerns how likely a decision made is likely to be challenged in ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) or in court. This is seen most clearly in the government especially the Rwanda plan but also the internal markets bill which was designed to breach international law. It is incredibly risky, and can often have dire political effects and in some cases lead to criminal prosecution. 

Luckily, the attorney general Richard Hermer is drawing up new rules to increase government transparency and uphold the principles of the law, which no one is above. This is aimed to build trust in legal processes regardless of one's political allegiances. While we don’t yet know the full details, we can see very clearly that all lawyers will be expected to follow this example of adhering to legal principles regardless of the type of law they practise. 

*Interview tip: Knowing what the Attorney general themselves say is very important as their word shapes our legal world. In an interview being able to demonstrate legal reading and up to date knowledge of legal rules and ethics is great because it shows you have strong moral integrity and take a safe and cautious approach that best serves both the firm and client in the best way possible. 

Worldwide commercial law news:

Last year in Canada there was a murder of a Sikh separatist leader on Canadian soil, and the contentious issue here concerns indian ‘agents’ who are alleged to have been involved. This had led to diplomats being expelled on both sides in recent days and a noticeable shift in societal attitudes to the original murder. This brings to mind the phrase ‘making the legal political’ because murders do unfortunately happen often and an impartial legal review is conducted (comprising investigation, prosecution and rehabilitation).

The legal aspect arises from the duty of all members of the criminal justice system to be unbiased and follow the facts as evidenced by the courts not allowing hearsay or conjecture to unduly bias the jury. When there is political pressure to arrest specific people it can lead to the wrong people being arrested and false imprisonment can look extremely bad in the future for politicians. It is impossible to say the jury can be truly unbiased in this case because it has been covered extensively in Canadian news and everyone will have formed their own opinion on who is guilty and who is innocent. 

*interview tip: No matter where you go in the world, there is politics, and with politics comes a complex approach to achieving perceived justice. Here justice is perceived as expulsion of diplomats, however from the perspective of the family of the victim, justice is looking at the evidence and prosecuting the right individual.  When you can display geopolitical awareness alongside empathy for the victims in an interview it shows you can think holistically and remember the human aspect of the case that is all too often overlooked. 

Advice from someone in the same boat:

We all want to be seen and heard, and many schools encourage us to network with experts in our future field, but many of us will struggle to find a like minded community. But fear not; my top three networking organizations are LinkedIn, Young Professionals and outercircle as well as city century. As an OuterCircle ambassador myself, I can vouch for the support of like minded young people who are always willing to help out a future friend in your chosen profession, and the destinations of previous outercircle members includes magic circle law firms and other top apprenticeships and there are also current apprentices who can help with application advice. YP hosts many networking events that can be found on its socials and city century are the champions of all solicitor apprentices. To conclude, we all have a chance to be part of a great community, it's now on us to pioneer the future by taking every opportunity available to us, so lets reach out together.