Allen & Overy

Professional skills development

One of the things our trainees value most about being at Allen & Overy is the excellent training they receive.  In each seat you will sit with a partner or associate who will provide you with support and guidance, and you will take an active and practical role in the department's work, with plenty of individual responsibility along the way.

As well as learning practical skills such as drafting, transaction management, negotiation, research and legal and office procedures, the experience you gain as a trainee will develop your professional conduct including negotiation and communication with clients and colleagues.

Alongside your departmental work, you will complete the Professional Skills Course which consists of three compulsory modules: finance and business skills, advocacy and oral communication, and ethics and client responsibilities, plus elective modules specific to our needs, such as financial markets, drafting and negotiation.  Another advantage of training at A&O is the opportunity to learn from some of the world's top lawyers.  As well as regular departmental training and updates, trainees can attend client seminars delivered by our partners and associates.

All of this is supported by our impressive in-house training, which covers a broad range of legal and personal skills.  Personal development is highly valued at A&O and we offer a wide range of formal and informal training from a one-to-one session at your PC with an IT trainer, to a lunchtime seminar on time management.  Foreign language training is also available if there is a business need.

After you qualify, you can expect to continue the exellent training you have been provided with during your training contract.  Our training programme covers the following technical and soft skills:

Management/Personal Skills:

Newly qualified associates are required to attend the Law Society Law Management course which covers the basic principles of people management and business awareness.  This is an interesting insight into some basic concepts in managing both people and the business.  Key people management principles are then expanded on in the first two modules of the global Associate Development programme.  Typically junior associates will attend the first of these modules and mid level associates the second.  Later modules focus on managing client relationships and wider issues involved in starting to manage a personal practice within an existing practice group.  Our associate develeopment programmes are run off-site throughout the year and also run annually in Hong Kong as an Asia specific programme.

Transactional Skills:

All associates are invited to attend a variety of "Transactional/Legal SKills" courses, designed to give them the skills they need to be a successful fee-earner.  These may be identified during appraisal or arise from an ad-hoc need or interest.  Course typically include Presentation Skills (standard and advanced), Negotiation Skills, Pitching for Business, Selling Skills, Commercial Awareness, and Drafting.  Many of these build on the training developed during the PSC/training contract.

Specific technical training:

Individual practice groups run a "university" each year which focuses on specific techincal skills and knowledge, tow hich all associates are invited.  Our practice groups also hold regular training sessions to look at updating your knowledge in the area in which you are working.

Firm wide seminar programmes:

This is a series of approximately 25-35 one hour lectures that cover a variety of current legal issues and hot topics.  The series runs four times per year, at both of our London locations, and is open to anyone firm-wide.