The NQ dilemma: this is what you could face when your training contract ends

“I am soon to be qualified as a solicitor, what should I do now?”

It’s a typical dilemma that many trainees are facing or are likely to face. The thrill and exhilaration of securing a training contract during your University days soon gets taken over by the laser-focused approach, the sweat and long hours in court, in the data/due diligence room, in the print house, or the law library spent during your 2-year training contract to become fully qualified as a solicitor.  

Your focus is so strong that your first few months blur into one. At the blink of an eye, you’re midway through your 2nd seat. And before you know it, you’re one month away from completing your training contract. Panic sets in! No one has discussed what happens when your training contract ends!  What do you do? Who do you turn to?  What will happen?  

This is an all too common theme, and unfortunately it’s a product of how law firms work.  It's surprising, given how most major law firms in Hong Kong and Singapore hire 2 years in advance of the training contract, that laying down plans for hiring Newly Qualified (NQ) solicitors seems so rushed. But a lot of firms need time to assess their business needs and growth forecast to see which departments need to grow.

To their credit, some firms will publish their openings 2-3 months before the end of the contract.  But all too often, firms may not release their NQ openings until the final month of the training contract period. In some cases, the vacancies don’t arise until 1 day before, or even on the day that, the training contract ends!  So it's little wonder then that if you’re a trainee solicitor you need to plan ahead and think about how you transition yourself and be in the best place possible to securing a permanent qualified contract in the practice area you want to focus on, or think of other long term career options.

Here are some scenarios you are most likely to be in once you come towards the end of your training contract.    

Scenario 1

You want to stay but your current firm isn’t retaining you. 

Sadly, disappointing things do happen in life.  It could be a case that the firm when forecasting for the long term at the time of hiring you, they over-estimated the demand in business at the point of your training contract ending (either for the whole office, the firm globally or in certain practice areas).  

In the worst case scenario, you may not have proven your passion in the work or in the firm (this can be for a myriad of reasons, whether it be for family reasons causing you to lose focus and time spent on your role, a clash of personalities with one or more people in the firm, the culture of the firm not being agreeable to your personal beliefs or the firm not having a practice area that you always wanted to gain exposure in, and forge a long term career in).

"In reality, when all things are considered, it’s not the end of the world."    

Whatever the case, you should certainly reflect on why things are not working out in the way you had wished.  If you didn’t get one with one more people at the firm (or their clients), what do you want in your new role (by a process of elimination). But always focus on the positives — write a comprehensive list of what you got out of your training contract.

In reality, when all things are considered, it’s not the end of the world. Sometimes it doesn’t even have anything to do with you really (perhaps business is genuinely down and they cannot afford to retain their trainees).  Accept this and move on.  Don’t beat yourself up about it.  You already did very well by obtaining the law degree, passing the PCLL and securing and completing a training contract.  Never ever lose faith in yourself.  

Scenario 2 

You want to be qualified in the Litigation Department but your firm is offering a NQ position in the Corporate Department. 

Quite a dilemma, but at least you’ve secured a permanent role, which is much to celebrate! At least give yourself a pat on the shoulder and say to yourself, well done! So going back to the dilemma in hand, let’s take a step back and think: Why did you study law in the first place?  Was it because of your passion towards a particular field of law or did you pick law because potentially it could offer you a better career path with a decent salary?  How’s the current legal market doing in general?  

"...think about your long terms plans, keep your options open but at the same time be realistic..."

As with any industry, the availability of legal jobs is down to supply and demand.  If you’re in a period which coincidentally is seeing a surge in litigious actions, even though your firm isn’t hiring in this space, there’s a good chance that there will be demand from other law firms to hire someone of your calibre. You can afford to take a risk and say, "thanks, but no thanks," to the offer to join the corporate team.

You have to think, is it worth compromising your beliefs and career ambitions just for the sake of staying in the law?  If you have always wanted to be a litigator and you had 2 job offers available to you, litigation and corporate, with the litigation role paying 30% less than the corporate role, would you take the litigation role? If you chose the law because in general it offers good career prospects, what harm is there to enter the corporate law world?

The takeaway here is, think about your long terms plans, keep your options open but at the same time be realistic – you don’t want to be out of market for too long with no job and no income (which could cause a negative impression on your CV/resume).  And in that sense, if you won’t know what NQ roles will become available at your firm until the last minute, speak to a recruiter 2-3 months before the end of your training contract, firstly to get a feel for the legal jobs market, and secondly to allow them to assess your suitability for roles at other law firms (or corporations, if there are any NQ roles available). 

Scenario 3 

You have received an offer from your current firm, but you aren’t sure whether a lawyer's path is what you want for life. 

It sounds unreal, yet it’s not uncommon.  Why has this occurred?  Have you lost the passion because you are not working on fascinating cases which you would have expected, or were the working hours too long and you’re simply looking for a more work-life-balance role?  Do get qualified first and experience what it is like but you shouldn’t ‘shut the door’.  

"Lawyers are great communicators and listeners." 

To quit law after all these years of effort would be a hard and important decision to make – only do so if you are 100% sure.  After all it is your life, your own career, opt for the route which you’d never (or less) regret!  But I can assure you, there are plenty of alternative and excellent career options that are available to you should you not pursue a career in law in the long term.  

Lawyers are great communicators and listeners. Getting to where they are requires strict discipline, keeping to your beliefs and obligations, dedication and stamina.  Some lawyers will pick up different skills as a lawyer/trainee lawyer, from project managing skills, critical thinking and lateral thinking skills, training skills, marketing and entrepreneurial skills, operational, organisational and logistical skills, inter-personal skills, business and commercial acumen.

These are critical and invaluable skills in a large number of industries and we often see lawyers transition in these areas (at all levels): 

• In-house legal – in the last 5-7 years, sadly in-house legal roles for NQ lawyers are few and far between but from time to time an employer will exercise flexibility on their hiring requirement 
• Professional Support Lawyer (PSL) in a law firm — keeping your team up to date with the latest laws and regulations, knowledge management, and providing input on pitch documents for tender
• Recruitment and HR (organisational, marketing and inter-personal skills) – take a look at Star Anise for example, several consultants are former practicing lawyers.  Me too!  I completed my training contract and decided to embark on a people focused industry, hence recruitment has been an ideal fit for my personality traits and ambitions.  
• Business development — for law firms, banks or corporate services providers (companies which provide back office support, including company incorporations, trusts administration and company secretarial services, and payroll)
• Marketing — including events management, fund raising for non-profits  
• Start-ups (particularly tech start-ups) 
• Social enterprise (non-profit)
• Operational roles– indeed many Chief Operating Officers (COOs) in companies often have a legal (professional or academic) background
• Management roles (organisational, project management, people skills, motivational skills
• Public speaking 
• PR and communications 
• Corporate governance — including risk and crisis management (cool head) 
• Company secretarial (putting your corporate experience to good use)
• Coaching (listening, inter-personal skills)
• Compliance or other banking roles may consider legal qualifications to transition into a new role
• Teaching/academia
• Family business – quite often in Asia, lawyers will have a family who run their own business.  Some lawyers will actually use their training contract and early qualified years as a training ground with a view to returning to the family business or setting up their own non-legal business.  By doing so, they can add value with a different skill set and outlook in order to keep the company ‘fresh’ and ‘current’ with the modern times. 

So whilst you're in a dilemma, always look at the positives from your experience (and the fact that you have completed your training contract and will soon be admitted and qualified as a solicitor is a huge accomplishment in itself). The qualification of a solicitor is highly prestigious, and the training you receive means you will be adaptable to different career scenarios and you would have the tools to pursue a life outside the law. Stop to consider, there are a lot more options open to you than you may have realised.  Go out, explore, talk with people in your network and see what career suits you the most.