Vlogger Liam Porritt gives insights into his training contract one year in — including why the dispute resolution department is the most ‘Suits-esque’ in nature
YouTube sensation Liam Porritt has documented the reality of life as a trainee in a magic circle law firm for his fanbase of over 100,000 subscribers.
Porritt, a second year rookie in the London office of Clifford Chance, previously graced the pages of Legal Cheek for his top productivity hacks and detailing his time in the firm’s busy corporate M&A team.
In his latest video, Porritt takes viewers through his day as a trainee in the litigation and dispute resolution department — a department he describes as the most “Suits-esque” in its nature.
Porritt begins his day, waking up to a 7:08am alarm before preparing himself for a 45-minute gym session. Though he admits he can struggle to make time for the gym in busier periods, he advises viewers in the same boat to “not push yourself as hard as you ordinarily would” to “try make [the gym] as enjoyable as possible”, which encourages consistent attendance.
Once he’s built up a sweat, Porritt eats breakfast while reading through the latest big news stories and his emails before getting started on his tasks for the day. His first job is document review, a common task for trainees (along with legal research, communicating with clients and tracking their responses, and preparation of court bundles). Like many trainees, he acknowledges that these tasks can be mundane but the job of a trainee is “to do the simple things really well” and this will lead to opportunities to do more interesting tasks and play a more significant role in the overall matter.
After a busy morning, Porritt takes his lunch and a quick stroll. He recommends making time to have this change of scenery when working from home, as it mimics the usual break that would be taken to get lunch when working in the office.
He returns to his tasks for that day, clocking off at 8:30pm. Finishing times in litigation and dispute resolution, he explains to viewers, is more consistent with “less peaks and troughs”. In quieter periods, he regularly finishes at 7pm and in the busier times, between 8:30 and 10:30pm. He contrasts this other departments, where the “peaks” can see trainees finishing as late as 2am/3am and the “troughs” sometimes leaving you with “nothing to do from 4:30/5pm”.
A recent Legal Cheek Survey shows that late finishes are not uncommon among City trainees and junior lawyers, with some logging off — on average — as late as 11:28pm.
When we last reported on his YouTube exploits, Porritt was nearing the 100,000 subscribers on the site. He has since surpassed this number, with his channel also reaching over seven million views.