Webinar report: Using junior talent in the in-house world

Webinar host Victoria Fearne, Head of Strategic Client Partnerships at BARBRI was joined by Sinead Murray, General Counsel at Ofgem, and Oliver Storey, Head of Legal at Metro Bank.

Sharing her experience as a legal trainee was Harkirat Hallen (nee Panesar), also of Metro Bank.

Introduced in 2021 and phased in during the years since, SQE (the Solicitors Qualifying Examination) is now the only route to qualification as a solicitor in England and Wales.

As of 2025, all graduates are taking SQE as their entry point to a career in the legal profession.

Integrating SQE trainees

Trainees bring fresh perspectives and challenge established ways of thinking. They also enable senior lawyers to hone their coaching, leadership and delegation skills. To maximise these benefits, senior stakeholders need to be approachable and think about how they include trainees in their work.

Trainees are cost effective and, when coached effectively, able to complete a great deal of routine, yet very important, work. This allows the legal team to grow organically, acting as an effective talent pipeline, and to provide a holistic service to the business. 

Oliver and Metro Bank’s General Counsel, Stephanie Wallace, leveraged the above advantages to develop a strong business case which was subsequently approved by the Metro Bank Executive. 

At Metro Bank, the legal team has a general inbox for legal queries from across the business. Trainees manage the inbox and construct first responses while a different senior lawyer oversees the function each week.

Four questions Oliver urges you to consider if you’re thinking of recruiting an SQE trainee are:

• How will we plan the right spread at work for them? 
• How much time will they need for studying? 
• How do we recruit the right trainees? 
• What if they don’t pass the SQE?

Think too about how you’ll supplement a trainee’s learning. Logging their work against SRA competencies is one effective technique. Another is to emphasise the importance of understanding the organisation and the needs of each individual client. You can also draw on external law firms and consider two way secondments where your trainee spends time at a law firm while a trainee of theirs gets in-house experience with you. Aim to develop well-rounded lawyers by exposing trainees to varied work and allowing them to learn from as many lawyers as possible.

Developing talent beyond SQE

Looking beyond SQE, Sinead discussed skills that are vital to succeeding as an in-house lawyer. A solid grasp of a client’s challenge is the basis of all good legal advice. Trainees need to understand the value of listening, relationship-building and influencing skills. These skills are also indispensable when delivering unwelcome advice or initiating a difficult conversation.

Equally valuable is flexibility. In-house legal functions are more generalist than specialist in nature, so a willingness to adapt to a varied legal workload is a big part of the job. 

Intellectual curiosity goes a long way to arriving at the right legal solution for a client. Asking questions to better understand people, problems and legal options is essential to ongoing learning for lawyers (and not just junior lawyers).

That said, give juniors time to refine their technical expertise as well. Things that a senior lawyer could achieve in a few minutes may take a junior a few hours. Only by allowing them that time will they too develop the confidence to make light work of technical responsibilities. Similarly, tasking a junior to research a matter and become the go-to person for it will build their confidence.

A great tool to use when appraising juniors is the BIFF Feedback Model:

• Behaviour – talk about behaviours you’ve seen. Be specific about what they led to, but don’t judge; 
• Impact – what was the effect on the team or organisation? What are yours and other people’s thoughts on the outcome? 
• Feelings – how do you and others feel about the situation? and 
• Future – what actions will you now take? 

Retaining in-house talent

While pay for in-house talent rarely matches that at private practices, Gen Zers, who make up most of today’s junior legal talent have wide-ranging career motivations. As well as salaries, they care deeply about their employer’s wider societal purpose, particularly in the context of climate change, equality and affordability. They seek alignment between their roles and the organisation’s strategy and increasingly aspire to a good work life balance. 

Relevant training that shows commitment to their career goals will help retain junior talent, as will realistic workloads, regular feedback and a commitment to creating a career pathway.

The trainee’s view

After finishing her law degree, Harki took a job at Metro Bank as a cashier. From there, she moved into various roles across the organisation before an opportunity to join the legal team arose. Harki applied, got the job and a year later became a paralegal. When Metro Bank decided to implement its legal training program, Harki signed up. 

“It's been amazing. I’ve had a three month secondment at a private practice firm, so I’ve seen what that’s like as well.

It definitely comes with its challenges, that's for sure. You have to be really proactive from the beginning to ensure that you don't fall behind. There’s a lot to juggle and you have to figure out what works for you. It's normal to have a busy, stressful day at work, and then not have the brain space to pore over principles of land law in the evening. You need to listen to your mind and take a break when you need one.

My advice to other trainees is to start early with your revision, even if you have months before your exams. BARBRI highlights areas to revise from pretty much week one of the course, which I found really helpful. 

Plan out the months leading up to your exam. I printed calendars and stuck them on my wall with key dates for work, life and study.

I used the SQE 2 assessment specification to add in areas of law that I would go over each day. Plan as best as you can because that really helps you feel that you will succeed. It’ll help you juggle everything, too.

Also, make use of the people around you to get the most out of your sessions with your tutors and colleagues. And remember, it's OK to reach out to your line manager if you’re struggling to balance your study and workload.

What I love about being in house is the exposure I get to so many different areas of the business. A typical week for me ranges from assisting with an employment tribunal to reviewing a commercial contract. What I learn from different stakeholders is invaluable. 

Private practice trainees are surprised at the level of exposure we at Metro Bank get to different areas of law and the work that we do as trainees.”