Joely Hopwood’s journey into the legal industry

Meet Joely: A Flex Trainee with a passion for in-house law

In this insightful interview, Joely shares her experience as a Flex Trainee, the challenges she has faced in breaking into the profession, and the invaluable support she has received along the way. Whether you're an aspiring lawyer navigating your own path or an employer looking to better support future legal talent, Joely’s story offers valuable lessons and inspiration.

What did your personal journey into the legal industry look like?

However, despite this great start, it hasn't always been easy. The high standard of aspiring solicitors combined with ratio of aspiring solicitors to training contract places makes getting into law difficult. At times, low self-confidence has held me back and it was actually Sophie Gould at Flex who made me realise that during my interview for Flex Trainee. She helped me to see the power of rooting for yourself and that self-confidence will help you to come across as a positive person who is willing to get stuck into work, which is ultimately what an interviewer wants to see - so thank you, Sophie!

Do you feel the legal industry is accessible enough to aspiring lawyers?

The introduction of the SQE is the biggest change in respect of accessibility to the legal industry in recent years. In many ways, this has improved accessibility through the traditional training contract no longer being the only route to qualification, allowing people who may have been doing legal work for years to qualify as solicitors. However, I think it's important to talk about the cost of studying the SQE. The exams themselves are expensive, and preparation courses are considered critical to success, which can cost around £10,000. This means that the route to qualification is arguably not as accessible as expected, as it means that getting a training contract where your SQE is funded by the training contract provider remains the only option for most aspiring lawyers from disadvantaged backgrounds.  

That's why Flex Trainee has been so important for many disadvantaged aspiring solicitors who are able to qualify without having to face these economic barriers.

One positive change in the last 10 years to the accessibility of the legal industry, in my view, has been the increasing number of legal influencers! Through influencers' content on LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok, aspiring solicitors can hear from trainees and qualified lawyers about what it is actually like to be a lawyer. When you're applying to vacation schemes and training contracts, you have to show an understanding of the work of the firm or company. That can be quite difficult when you've never actually set foot in a law firm or a company! Showing this understanding is a lot easier for aspiring solicitors nowadays because they can rely on the insight they have gained from legal influencers' careers in law, improving accessibility in the legal industry.

How has the Flex Trainee programme influenced your experience?

I hugely appreciate the opportunity Flex Trainee has given me to train in-house. It is so rare to be able to do so, let alone to be able to do so with such a supportive team behind you. Things like the Readiness Programme, the ongoing training sessions we have throughout the training contract and the networking opportunities afforded to us through Flex's events have only enhanced my experience training in-house, helping me to develop my legal and commercial knowledge significantly.

Can you talk to us about what kind of work you’ve been doing, and what the highlights of your placement have been?

I have been lucky enough to be supervised throughout the majority of my training contract by the General Counsel. I have learnt a lot from my supervisor and feel very grateful for the degree of responsibility I have had as a trainee. Having this degree of responsibility, as well as receiving positive feedback from my supervisor and from senior colleagues, has massively boosted my confidence and has helped me to see the value I bring to the business.

Where do you see your career heading in the future following Flex Trainee?

Finally... what 3 pieces of advice would you give to new trainees joining the programme to get the most of the scheme? And what should their supervisors be thinking about to get the most out of their trainees?

Pay attention to everything you can within the business you're working at. The acronym EBITDA or the concept of KPIs might seem at first like something you don't need to be concerned with as a lawyer. I have visited two of Accsys' sites and seeing the manufacturing process has helped me significantly to further understand how the business operates. Understanding how the business works and what is important to its success will set you apart as an in-house trainee. Doing this will show your colleagues that you are curious and that you understand the company, and it will likely mean you are given a greater breadth of work and more responsibility.

Remember that it is your training contract and you can shape it in any way you want! Yes, there is set work your role involves and you should ensure this is done. But if you feel passionately about trying a certain area of law, speak to your supervisor about it. They want you to have a varied training contract and for you to do what interests you. They will be happy to see that you are taking your training into your own hands and will likely do everything they can to support any interests of yours.

Observe how your supervisor and colleagues speak to senior colleagues and external counsel. Being able to communicate clearly and effectively with senior colleagues and external counsel are skills an in-house lawyer must have. As a trainee, you have a unique opportunity to be present for lots of these conversations without having significant responsibility yourself. Learn everything you can from what they say and how they present things. This will be critical to your success as an in-house lawyer.

For supervisors:

I appreciate you might not always feel you have time to delegate tasks to a trainee. At first, this might be especially difficult. You may feel that a task is too complicated for them or that you're the best person to do it because you've done it a million times. The latter may be true, but by giving the task to your trainee, explaining it as clearly as you can and creating an environment where they can ask questions about the task at any point, they will probably surprise you! They will appreciate the trust you put in them to let them have a go at the task and they will learn a lot from completing difficult tasks. I have been fortunate enough with both of my supervisors to be given difficult tasks and these are definitely the tasks I have learnt the most from.