Keeping up with legal trends as an employment trainee

Charlotte Gamblin is a second seat trainee in Shoosmiths’ Solent office. Here she shares her insight in undertaking a seat in the Employment department and her top tips in keeping up with legal trends as a junior lawyer.

Starting any new seat is an extraordinary challenge and a steep learning curve. This is even more so in an Employment seat. Employment, in comparison to almost any other practice area, is one of the most wide ranging in subjects and has a vast amount of constantly changing legislation. To combat this, an Employment seat trainee is gaining first-hand experience from day one and supporting legal advisers both locally and nationally on both general and specialist areas. Given the above, here are my top five ways to keep up with legal trends as a trainee solicitor in Employment at Shoosmiths.

1. Attend and present Employment Law updates

One of the key events in the calendar for an employment trainee at Shoosmiths is the Employment Monthly Legal Update. At Shoosmiths, every month a different office will take its turn to present a legal update to the National Employment Team.

Fortunately, whilst I was in my Employment seat, it was the Solent Office’s turn to present in November 2023. Therefore, throughout the month of October, I supported with the preparation for the update by collating the most important and relevant updates which had taken place in the employment sector within the last month. Following this, I then had the opportunity to present the update alongside the rest of the Solent Employment Team.

Ultimately, through both attending and presenting the monthly updates, I am able to keep up to date with the most recent and crucial developments within Employment Law.

2. Access support from Employment Professional Support Lawyer

It goes without saying that whichever seat you’re in, you will come across a variety of different topics, both niche and more general. Therefore, it can be considered particularly important to access the support around you. For instance, Shoosmiths’ Employment Team benefits from the support of its Employment Professional Support Lawyer. The Employment Professional Support Lawyer can provide support in a number of ways, whether that is through organising relevant training and updates, or supporting with individuals understanding of Employment Law.

Therefore, my second vital way of keeping up with legal trends is accessing and benefiting from the support available from an Employment Professional Support Lawyer.

3. Write and read an article

A third way of keeping up with legal trends is by regularly getting involved in researching and writing articles surrounding both recent legislative changes and new case law. Researching and reading around different subjects will not only help provide you with a good foundation into those subjects, but also a detailed knowledge into a variety of niche areas.

Needless to say, statutory legislation and judgments are often lengthy and complex. To combat this, articles will often contain clear and concise statements, summarise the key points and help you think commercially as to the effect or impact that development has. In short, both by writing and reading articles, this will enable both the law and cases to become understandable and simplified for yourself and others.

In Shoosmiths’ Employment Team, individuals are actively encouraged to both write and read a variety of articles. This could either be on an upcoming popular topic, such as redundancy (Assisting employees in times of redundancy (shoosmiths.com)) or a recent development in the law, for example in relation to Immigration Health Surcharge (Update: Confirmed date for increase to Immigration Health Surcharge (shoosmiths.com)).

4. Subscribe to Employment Law updates

Fourthly, subscribing to case law, legislation and general employment updates is another useful way of keeping up with legal trends by using your initiative – and they are conveniently delivered directly to your inbox.

There is a vast number of providers who offer regular newsletters and updates. Familiar providers include, Practical Law, Lexis+ and Daniel Barnett.

5. Keep up to date with the news

Finally, one of the most accessible sources is the news. Whether this is accessed via a phone, a television or a broadsheet, the news can support you in staying both commercially and generally aware of updates in the Employment sector, enabling you to keep up with legal trends. For example, this may include updates coming down the road and being driven by the government, changes to the national minimum wage and/or national living wage, and even any mass redundancies.

You may also be interested to read Chelsea’s blog where she discusses the importance of commercial awareness.

If you have any questions you can email us at [email protected] or have a look at some frequently asked questions here.

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