Students learn about life as Brum council lawyer

Members of the Law Students' Network Birmingham were treated to insight into the life of a local authority lawyer, courtesy of a talk held by the legal department of Birmingham City Council on 25 January. The event highlighted the wide variety of work undertaken by the department, which includes civil and criminal litigation, freedom of information and data protection, licensing, employment, housing and property work. Speakers included local authority lawyer and head of the department's planning and development team, Stuart Evans, and two newly qualified solicitors who trained with Birmingham City Council, Michael Day and Vaneeti Walia.

Chair and founder of the Law Students' Network, Abeje Gordon, said: "The event was extremely useful as it illustrated the difference between working in-house for a local authority and working in private practice for a law firm. It was important for us as a network with a large number of student members to host this event as we wanted to give our members an insight into other career paths. The event highlighted that there are other ways to qualify as a lawyer other than undertaking a traditional mainstream training contract at a law firm." 

Legal training at Birmingham City Council provides a broad range of practice experience, as trainees are able to do as many as seven seats. Generally speaking, trainees working within local government are also often permitted rights of audience in the lower courts.

Recruitment for training contracts takes place in September/October each year; vacancies are usually advertised on the council's website and in the local press.