Michelmores

A day in the life of... Mia Riddle, second-year apprentice, Michelmores

Departments to date: LSA in the CRD team

I am a first-year legal apprentice at Michelmores LLP, based in the Exeter office. My apprenticeship started in September 2023, so my first seat is now coming to an end. I have spent this year within the commercial and regulatory disputes team, working closely with the legal support assistants to support the wider team and provide administrative assistance on legal, non-legal and client-related tasks. This seat has allowed me to get settled into the firm, while getting stuck into and familiarising myself with all of the policies, software and processes, and getting used to balancing studying and working full-time. I have been able to experience the fast-paced day-to-day environment of the legal profession while working alongside the partners, senior associates, associates and trainees in the team, who hold a vast variety of knowledge, and which has enabled me exposure to the different areas of law and legal issues they deal with.

9.00am: My working day starts at 9.00am; I log on and read any emails I have received the night before, add any new tasks for the day to our software ‘Big Hand’ and look through my tasks already in there. I then plan for my day and start with the higher priority tasks.

10.00am: This week was month-end billing; I received instructions back from the lawyers I support on which matters to bill. This process includes billing matters, writing off time, writing down time, closing files, updating fee estimates and generally keeping all financial records in professional order. I raised several pre-bills and drafted covering letters, which were then sent to the matter lawyers for approval, before being processed by our cashier’s department and sent to clients.

10.30am: I take a quick 30-minute break from billing to join the weekly team meeting where we catch up on team marketing updates, people news, finance updates, IT queries, and risk and compliance notices.

11.30am: While actioning my billing tasks, an urgent request to finalise and send a letter to the ‘other side’ on behalf of a lawyer in the team came through. I picked this up straight away, with it taking priority over my current task. This reflects how my day can change quickly, and tasks are pushed back in accordance.

1.00pm: The rest of my morning was spent completing the billing processes, so I logged off at 1.00pm for lunch. I spent my lunch hour in the Exeter Office Conservatory, which is a communal space. It’s always great to chat to other apprentices and the trainees, so I often sit with them and catch up.

2.00pm: I had a new file opening request to complete; this was for an existing client so I completed the new matter dashboard with all of the information provided by the matter lawyer, saved all emails from the lawyer’s inbox into the system for the new matter, and checked the rates and client contact were set correctly (this can differ between matters). Lastly, I generated the scope of works, guide to litigation and terms of business. I then completed a draft of the documents, which I then sent to the lawyer.

3.00pm: Another legal support member of the team had been tasked with naming and dating a bundle of documents sent in from a client, in preparation for the lawyer to be able to review efficiently. We split the documents between us and saved them into the systems with the correct names and dates, all following the same naming protocol to provide consistency. This can be seen as a tedious task, but it allows an insight of the work being done for the client, so it is very interesting too!

4.00pm: The last hour of my working day was spent finishing off my tasks in preparation for the next day. This included emailing clients on outstanding bills, requesting remittances of monies received, and finalising and sending letters on behalf of lawyers.

5.00pm: My working day typically finishes at this time, so I finish off my tasks and log off for the day, ready to head home.

About the firm

Senior partner: Richard Cobb

Managing partner: Tim Richards (managing partner)

Other offices: Bristol, London, Sidmouth and Cheltenham

Who we are: We are an ambitious and growing firm, with our people being central to driving us forward. Therefore, we focus on recruiting to retain, as demonstrated by our recent retention rate of 7 out of 8 of our NQs.

We encourage our trainees to bring their individuality, challenge how we do things and bring in their diversity of thought to help us succeed and grow as a firm. Trainees are given a high degree of responsibility from the beginning, are supported by senior partners and other trainees, receive training and development, and are encouraged to flourish and grow a career with us at Michelmores. Our trainees are well rounded, and we believe that makes for the best solicitors.

What we do: We offer specialist legal advice to businesses and private clients over a broad range of work, so as a trainee you will be able to experience a variety of types of client and sectors across your two years. We are a full-service law firm, with over 15 teams and offer clients a full-service experience. We go above and beyond for our clients and strive to build long-lasting relationships with both our national and international clients.

What we’re looking for: We are looking for individuality; we want people to join our organisation and make a difference. Our apprentices are central to challenging our thinking, bringing in diversity of thought and driving Michelmores forwards.

We want people who are ambitious and want to build a long-lasting career with us.

Alongside this, we want people who work well in a team, are collaborative, have a strong ability to problem solve, think independently, and offer an outstanding client service. We want people who are keen to be part of our cross-office and collaborative culture from day one. We recruit to retain. We are looking for our future leaders.

What you’ll do: You’ll begin your apprenticeship by completing the Level 4 Paralegal Apprenticeship; you will start working in one of our BST teams to give you an introduction to the legal sector and help ease you into life in a professional environment. You will then move into a legal team where you will start working closely with people across all role levels and working on client work. After this initial two years you will move onto the Level 7 Solicitor Apprenticeship and rotate around the business. The final two years of the apprenticeship follow the same structure as our training contract. By the end of the apprenticeship you will have experienced nine different teams in the firm and will have built some great knowledge and experience to get you started in an NQ role. Along the way you’ll have training and learning opportunities to support you, alongside your one day out of the firm a week to complete your University of Law work.

Perks: 32 days’ holiday (including bank holidays) with an additional day off for your birthday and a day off to volunteer each year, group personal pension, private medical insurance, cycle to work scheme and a range of social events and special interest groups including our book club and choir.

We encourage our colleagues to have an active lifestyle, so we offer gym schemes, yoga and relaxation classes, running club, as well as a Cycle to Work scheme. We proactively support mental wellbeing and promote a culture of openness about mental health. This year, all Michelmores colleagues were given an additional day off to focus on our individual wellbeing.

You will have access to a range of resources and activities across the year, including subscription to Headspace, guest speakers and wellbeing apps. Should you or your loved ones need extra support, you will have access to qualified counsellors and behavioural therapists

Sponsorship

We cover all costs through the apprenticeship including completion of SQE and the assessments.

Seat options

Real estate: Projects and infrastructure, construction and engineering, planning, transactional real estate and property litigation.

Business services: Banking, restructuring and insolvency, commercial, commercial and regulatory disputes, corporate and employment.

Private client: Agriculture, contentious probate, family, private property and landed estates and tax, trusts and succession.

Diversity and inclusion