Cathy Wilcox - Ipswich High School 1974-1981

From Solicitor to Director of Legal Training

Background to how I got into the legal profession
After leaving Ipswich High School in 1981 with A levels in French, German and History I studied  Modern and Medieval Languages at Cambridge, changing to Law after a year and graduating in 1985.
 I took the Law Society Finals (now the Legal Practices Course) at Chester and started articles (training contract) at Denton Hall & Burgin (now Denton Wilde Sapte) in 1986.  I picked the firm because it had and still has an excellent client base coupled with an egalitarian and unstuffy culture.

I qualified in 1988 into the Litigation Department.  I became a senior solicitor and then a partner in early 1996 when I was 7 years qualified – about the average seniority for partnership in a large City firm.   Partnership brings added responsibility both in terms of staff management of staff but also marketing/business-getting and a great deal of admin!  It is not for everyone but the collegiate atmosphere of a partnership appealed to me.

During my 4 years as a partner I worked very long hours on some high-profile cases.  The job is a challenging one, managing large teams of people internally, keeping clients happy and giving advice (often under time constraints) which is legally correct whilst showing an understanding of the client’s business objectives. 

Moving into training
I had a baby in July 1998 and returned to work 4 days a week – perfectly acceptable at DWS although maybe not at all large firms.  It proved difficult to balance the long hours and demands of the job with family needs and I looked for a change in direction, especially as I was not enjoying the business of giving legal advice as much as I had done.  

When Denton Hall and Wilde Sapte merged in early 2000 I asked about taking on a training role and was ultimately made Director of Legal Training for the firm in the UK and world-wide (we have 15 overseas offices).  I  work three days a week officially (it takes up far more of my time than that) but the hours are more predictable than when I was fee-earning.  DWS is unusual in also having a Director of Personal Development dealing with skills training (negotiation/presentation skills etc).  In other firms one person (not necessarily a lawyer) is usually responsible for both.  I had a very steep learning curve to build up my training expertise.  In retrospect, a training qualification, possibly through the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, might have been useful.

The job day to day
Every day is different and can include:

• Administration of courses taking place
• Delivering legal training in the UK or overseas 
•  Researching/writing strategy papers on training topics
• Developing new legal training courses (very time-consuming).
• Answering training inquiries
• Sitting on firm committees
• Benchmarking what we do against our competitors
  

Advice on a training career
For specifically legal training, the usual route would be to qualify as a lawyer (and maybe practise for a year or two) before moving into teaching.  Possibilities include teaching at the GDL/LPC institutions, becoming a professional support lawyer (PSL) and becoming a training manager within the central training department of a large law firm. 
I’m not the expert on skills training but it’s worth approaching the CIPD for advice.  Many trainers start off in organisations where they are responsible for delivering a particular course or range of courses but they do then often become freelance training consultants.

My contact details
I’m happy to be contacted by email if people would like to discuss a career in legal training.  I can’t offer work experience I’m afraid although our Personnel Department runs a small formal work experience programme for law students.