Senior Associate - Property Litigation - Nick Wood

Careers in Law can be very different depending on the type you practice and the size of the firm you join. Solicitors tend to be the first port of call for legal matters whether personal or corporate and they liaise with clients to try and resolve their problems or provide a legal framework for something they want to achieve.

Barristers are called in by solicitors for their expertise in a particular area of the law or to argue a case in court. That said, the distinction between the two is narrowing slightly due to the increasing scope for solicitors to conduct their own litigation.

Like many of the professions, law offers a great deal of flexibility in terms of where you practice so you don’t have to be in the centre of a large city to have a successful career. You can practice in large firms servicing business, within the businesses themselves as an in-house lawyer or at a high street practice overseeing the matters of private individuals.

It’s worth bearing in mind that the type of firm and specialty of law you practice will have a huge impact on what your daily life is like. A private equity solicitor in a magic circle firm is going to be spending a lot more time in the office than a high street solicitor. Commercial barristers were one of the biggest shocks to us. We hadn’t quite grasped just how individual the job is and the huge hours it demands. A 6 day working week appears very standard.

Law is well known as a lucrative industry and many firms seem to have coped with the credit crunch well. As a guide, if you’re a solicitor in a top 50 city firm then on your first rotation expect a salary in the £35-40,000 range. Newly qualified's will be in the sixties and three year post qualified can be anywhere from £80-110K. Salaries in the smaller high-street firms are quite a bit lower. Barristers are self-employed so their income can vary hugely but the industry stars could give David Beckham a run for his money.

Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Nick Wood; I’m a senior associate at Nabarro which is a law firm in London.

What attracted you to this career?

I think I’m very lucky. I’ve always been really interested in the law. Right from a very early age I can remember as far back as 10 or 11 thinking that it was something that interested me and I’m probably equally fortunate to have found that actually once I started my career I continue to enjoy it and I really love what I do.

What does your job involve?

We act as a firm for a number of large land owners. I am in the property litigation team so we deal with disputes. Our clients have large property portfolios and we will act for them wherever a dispute arises in the management or development of their portfolios or their land.

What do you do on a typical day?

A typical day in the office would start with me arriving at about 9; I may have some meetings during the day with clients or a court hearing, sometimes by telephone conference or sometimes by going to the court and generally dealing with day to day work as it comes in.

Why property litigation?

I think that as soon as I had some experience of litigation which I actually got during my training contract, and coupled with the property aspects, I knew that property litigation was for me. So I suppose in summary I really enjoy the law that is involved in relation to property coupled with the litigious aspects, in other words actually dealing with disputes and going to court and so on.

What are the speicialisms within your industry?

There are very, very many. There is private client work, matrimonial work which may involve divorce and separation right through to mergers and acquisitions, international work, litigation, contract-based work, corporate and commercial work, banking – I could go on. I think those are probably the main ones.

What's the difference between a solicitor and a barrister?

In the UK, there are two main professions in relation to being a lawyer: one is a solicitor and one is a barrister and I suppose in summary a solicitor will advise a client and prepare a case for trial whereas the barrister will actually present that case in court. One of the things you’ve also got to bear in mind now is that due to the recent changes in the legislative framework that solicitors and barristers operate in, solicitors are now able to qualify as solicitor advocates which means that they will have the same rights of audience as barristers, in other words a solicitor can now appear in all the same courts that a barrister can appear in and do their own advocacy. This has a number of advantages. From a personal level it may be that somebody who was thinking about becoming a barrister will now actually prefer to qualify as a solicitor knowing that they can qualify as a solicitor advocate and do some advocacy.

How did you decide between becoming a solicitor or a barrister?

I think I ended up choosing the role of solicitor over that of barrister for fairly personal reasons. I was very interested in advocacy and becoming a barrister but the competition is really tough. Something I would say to people is that if you think you have what it takes and you really, really enjoy that aspect of it and have a particular interest in advocacy, then go for it. Yes, the competition is very tough but if you do make it then obviously you will reap the reward. The roles are very different and actually I thoroughly enjoy being a solicitor and with recent changes in the law it is possible for solicitors to do a lot more advocacy so in that sense I haven’t completely turned my back on that, but that is the difference between the two roles.

What are the best bits about your job?

I think there are two things probably. One is the intellectual challenge and actually being presented with a problem that a client has and actually being able to solve that for them, leading on to actually getting a great result, I think there is nothing better, whether it be at a court hearing or a negotiation to get a good result for your client and for them to be delighted with that outcome.

What are the worst bits about your job?

I think sometimes the difficulties are work/life balance – I think it’s known that in the profession generally we do work quite hard. Clients obviously have demands and striving to get a work/life balance can sometimes be a bit of a problem. Things are obviously time critical particularly with court deadlines so sometimes that can be a bit of an issue, but generally I enjoy what I do so I don’t mind it so much.

Do you find the litigation element of the work tough?

I don’t think it’s necessarily difficult, I think it’s a different type of person who might enjoy that kind of work. I think you’re either a litigator or you’re not. I actually particularly enjoy that aspect of the work so you are in situations of confrontation with your counterpart on the other side and the client who is on the other side. I think if you actually enjoy that it’s not that difficult, it’s actually quite a lot of fun at times actually building a case and looking at how you can attack the other side’s position and how you can achieve your clients’ objectives. So personally I don’t find it difficult but certain people prefer transactional work.

What has been your greatest achievement?

One thing that immediately comes to mind is a case that I took to the Chancery Division which is the high court in London and during the matter which I took all the way to trial, we successfully obtained a freezing order which is actually freezing the assets that the other party has so that when you eventually win the case you’ve got something against which your judgement can bite so that was a really phenomenal success and thoroughly enjoyable and the client was absolutely delighted.

Any regrets?

I don’t think so, I’m very lucky - I really thoroughly enjoy what I do and probably have no regrets.

What is the pay like and are there any perks?

I think the pay is competitive in relation to the profession and to other professions. Obviously it does vary massively between firms of different sizes but here at a mid-large size city firm I think there are rewards are there to be had without perhaps mentioning any figures and also there are number of other benefits which we would expect to have such as contributory pension schemes, subsidised gym membership, we have a subsidised restaurant here as well and so on and there are also bonuses that are paid – some are performance related both individually and in relation to the firm.

How long is a working day and do you have to work out of hours?

I think it’s difficult to say and to give an average but obviously we’re expected to meet client demand. It’s a very professional environment. I would say personally on average I might work 9 in the morning until 7 or 8 o’clock in the evening. It is on occasions longer than that and I have certainly worked weekends as well. I think most people understand that a profession such as that of a solicitor will expect those sorts of hours and particularly a firm of this nature in London and in the City, so the hours can be long at times but equally the rewards are there as well.

Is there much in the way of travel?

Personally in my role there isn’t a phenomenal amount of travel. I can certainly get out of the office and I suppose the most frequent destinations would be within London both to clients or to court or other firms of solicitors. I have travelled within in the UK but not terribly frequently. I think it’s different for other teams and departments in the firm. I know some of my transactional colleagues who have travelled as far afield as Australia to go and meet clients looking at doing deals and so on and so forth but certainly in relation to litigation and in my particular role there's not a phenomenal amount of travelling.

Do you have to be based anywhere in particular?

You certainly can go regional. I think it depends what you’re after. There’s a very different environment in London, different clients and types of work. I suppose one of the beauty of the profession is that it runs from sole practitioners operating in small towns in villages right through to multi-national firms operating in London and in every continent in the world so you can certainly find a firm and an area of work to fit you.

What is the working environment like?

I don’t have any figures in terms of demo-graphic but I understand that we are probably about 50-50. I know that we have a great deal of female partners. There are approximately 800 – 900 working here in London working at Nabarro and that ranges from paralegals and support staff to the professional staff right up to the partnership. Dress code, we tend to wear a very formal attire during the week. We actually operate a “dress-down” day on a Friday which actually makes quite a pleasant change during the week but generally speaking we would be wearing suits for any client meetings or face to face work that we are doing. The atmosphere is extremely professional and I think the office environment reflects that.

How did you get into your job?

I read a qualifying law degree which was with French as well. I think one of the beauties of the profession is that you can either do a qualifying law degree which makes your qualification route slightly shorter once you’ve left university or you can do a non-law degree and then a conversion course. Speaking to most of my contemporaries, most have done qualifying law degrees but there are certainly those that haven’t done that and have converted as a post-graduate. So I read a 4-year degree with a sandwich year in Paris, where I worked in-house for the legal team of a big multinational. I then studied the LPC at Guildford College of Law which is the Legal Practice course. That’s a course for one year which prepares you for going into practice. Once you’ve done that, you’re a trainee for 2 years under what’s known as a training contract and once you’ve done that you’re then qualified. So for me it took 7 years from the start of my undergraduate degree through to actually being a qualified solicitor. I didn’t train here (Nabarro), I actually trained at a small firm in Hampshire.

What's the application process like?

I think one of the best ways to go about it is to do a summer scheme placement with the firm you are looking at if that firm interests you. But in essence, whether or not you do the summer scheme it is by application to a particular firm for a training contract and they will look at your academic qualifications to date to decide whether or not to offer you that training contract. A number of firms will interview and some will also undertake assessment days, psychometric testing and so forth.

What are the key skills required for your job?

I think you need to be extremely analytical; you need to be able to deal with an immense about of information very quickly, ascertain what the key issues are in relation to the problem or the scenario that is being presented to you and then to be able to adapt those and try to seek to attain your client’s objectives using those analytical skills.

What's your top tip for breaking into your industry?

It is very competitive. One top tip I would have is obviously to identify the firms that you would potentially like to work for and try to get a foot in the door through a summer scheme. A lot of the major city firms in London will do a great deal of employment on the back of those summer schemes and it’s an excellent way of the firm being able to find out a little bit about you and equally probably more importantly for you to have an idea and a concept of what that firm is like in terms of its atmosphere, its approach and its culture.

How did you choose which law firm to go to?

I think it was quite particular for me. Nabarro actually has a very highly rated property litigation team and that’s what immediately attracted me to Nabarro coupled with the its location in London and the clients that it has. In response to your question, I think a large part of it is going to be down to research on the part of the candidate. There is a lot of information you can glean from websites, perhaps from talking to people you may know who work at a certain firm and from that you’re going to have to perhaps try and come up with a short list of firms that attract you and then try to approach them whether it be for an application for a training contract or a summer scheme and to then try to get some experience of working in that firm to see whether or not you would be interested in taking that further. There's a great deal of competition but at least that’s one way of narrowing down the field a little bit.

What's the career progress and how quickly can you move up the career ladder?

I think the profession has a fairly traditional structure. One would be a trainee for 2 years and then become a newly qualified solicitor. As a very rough rule of thumb you might be looking at trying to attain partnership after approximately 8 to 10 years depending on the firm and depending on particular opportunities that may come your way. There are some individuals who will attain partnership earlier than that, for some it may take a little longer but that’s an average. In terms of the different rungs, one would be a trainee, a newly qualified solicitor and then it certainly used to be the case that the next step would be partnership, either initially as a salaried partner or perhaps moving up to the equity partnership which would be a share in the profits of the firm. More recently a lot of, particularly the larger firms, have diversified a little bit and have created some other roles to recognise the fact that for all, partnership may not be the ultimate goal: so a lot of firms have introduced “managing associates” otherwise known as “of council” which perhaps recognises that an individual has other skills and assets and whilst maybe not introduced to the partnership would remain with that firm in a particular role. Other than that it is still quite a traditional framework. I think as you go through the years after you have qualified the role does change. Clearly in terms of the gearing for a particular firm they will be looking for the fee earning staff and the solicitors who are not the partners to be doing the majority of the actual work. The partnership will obviously be involved in the marketing, business development etc., so as you progress through your career one thing you will certainly be encouraged and will need to do is develop your marketing, business development and client relationships management skills so that not only are you technically an expert in your particular field but you are attracting and building a client base, encouraging and perhaps winning new work and taking on roles for management of those coming up lower in the ranks behind you.

Is there scope for movement during or after this career?

I think there certainly is. I think a number of solicitors do leave private practice and go in-house. A lot of multi-nationals obviously have very large in-house legal teams. That’s certainly something a lot of people do do. There are some who qualify as solicitors and transfer to the bar so I think that’s something that is a track that one could go down if one were interested in that. Equally I know a lot of solicitors who actually stop practice entirely and perhaps transfer to the board of large multi-nationals or other companies and take executive director roles and so on, and I think the skills that one learns as a lawyers particular in terms of analysis and business skills and acumen can easily be transferred to that sort of role.

What are the industry resources that someone interested in joining must know about?

The Lawyer is a free publication which is produced weekly and perhaps deals mainly with London and large city law firms but that’s certainly a very valuable resource and would be an excellent way of keeping up with trends and progression in the market place and hot topics that might be affecting lawyers from time to time - at the moment perhaps concentrating on the economic downturn. There are lots of other websites – I think most solicitors firms now have websites which are good and valuable tools. There is always “Roll on Friday” which is sort of a slightly perhaps irreverent look at the profession perhaps at the younger stage as well.

If you weren't in this career, what would you be doing?

I would love to say I’d be playing sport somewhere but I think I would probably have followed my father into management consultancy.