At Stewarts, we only recruit trainee solicitors from our paralegal ranks. To mark the beginning of our trainee recruitment season, second-year trainee Victoria Lee Domenech shares her working day in her current seat in the Divorce and Family department.
Victoria previously completed seats in the firm’s Clinical Negligence and Knowledge departments. In her current role, Victoria assists fee earners with the resolution of financial claims arising from divorce and private law children disputes. These are complex, high-net-worth matters, often involving an international element.
8:00 
I arrive at the office slightly earlier today, ahead of our 8:30am monthly departmental training session. During these meetings, the team receives updates on and discusses the latest case law, as well as wider legal developments that may affect our practice. I am presenting one of the case updates today, and use the extra time before the meeting to make myself a cup of tea and go over my notes.
During the meeting I brief the team on T v B [2024] EWHC 3251 (Fam), a recent High Court decision that provided guidance on the use of Hemain injunctions. These interim injunctions can be ordered where there are parallel proceedings in two different countries, to ensure that the courts of both countries can start litigating substantive issues at the same time.
Although public speaking opportunities are sometimes harder to come by during a training contract, I try to volunteer where possible to round off my training – and tick off the “advocacy and public speaking” section of my SRA training log!
9:30
Feeling quite accomplished already, I head over to my desk and have breakfast while checking my inbox. Nothing urgent has come in overnight, but I have received daily legal alerts from various publications. As there are two trainees in the London Divorce and Family department, we take turns reviewing the alerts and flagging any relevant judgments to one of our partners and our knowledge lawyer. There is not much to note today and I am able to send off a quick email letting the team know.
10:00 
I have a brief 15-minute catch up with my seat supervisor. Although trainees tend to sit in the same office as their supervisors, I find dedicating time to a weekly or bi-weekly check-in quite useful. We discuss the matters I have been working on and what I should focus on over the next few weeks.
I remind my supervisor that we are still waiting for a court transcript on one of our wrongful retention cases. She agrees we should chase the court and, after our chat, I liaise with the paralegal that sent in the original transcript request to arrange this.
10:15
I am now able to start my first chargeable task for the day. I am assisting one of our associates with reviewing our client’s financial statements so that we can finalise their Form E – this is the standard disclosure form in financial remedy proceedings, where the parties set out their financial position to assist the court in determining what a fair financial arrangement would be following divorce or separation. In this matter however, financial remedy proceedings have not yet been issued and the parties are exchanging Forms E voluntarily to set out their positions, and try to achieve settlement outside of court.
This is an UHNW individual with many assets and bank accounts. The associate has asked me to review all the bank statements we have and create a schedule of key transactions. I have been completing this exercise over several days as there is a lot of paperwork to get through.
I am flagging large transactions for the associate to review, as well as several internal transfers that I am struggling to trace to other bank accounts. I liaise with the matter paralegal to try and pinpoint where the money is going to. It is useful to work collaboratively with paralegals as they often work on matters from inception, and therefore have a good understanding of the file. We compare notes and I relay our conclusions to the associate when I send her the schedule.
12:30
We receive a few emails from our client on a children matter, and their solicitors who work in a different jurisdiction. Although the questions are not addressed to me and the whole legal team is copied into the email chain, I think I will be able to find the answers if I check the file. I do this and email the associates on the team so that they can incorporate these into their response.
13:00
I head across the floor to Inhouse, a regular lunchtime event where representatives from the firm’s legal and business services departments provide updates on what they’ve been working on or wider industry trends. As this is the first Inhouse of 2025, we are hearing from our new Charity of the Year, Fareshare. Fareshare redistributes food waste across the UK, helping combat both waste and hunger. 
Every year, the Stewarts Foundation supports a charity proposed and voted for by firm staff. CSR initiatives such as this drew me to the firm and in 2023 we even selected my proposed charity, The Passage, which I had previously volunteered with and was very keen to continue supporting.
At the end of Inhouse, we are always encouraged to speak to a member of staff that we have not yet met. I take the time to chat to colleagues (old and new) whilst helping myself to some lunch provided by the firm.
14:00
I decide to stretch my legs and pop over to the Post Office to run a personal errand. On my way back, I remember that I still need to let HR know that I have booked one of my Professional Skills Course (PSC) modules in a few weeks from now. The PSC is the final compulsory part of training for trainee solicitors before qualifying. I completed the core modules during my first year, but I have not yet done my electives. I email HR when I get back to my desk so that they can mark my absence.
14:30
I attend a client meeting with the senior associate on one of our divorce matters. I have worked on this case throughout my seat, which I find is always the best way to learn as continuity allows me to better understand the bigger picture.
The client wants to discuss strategy as the other side has suggested they attend a shuttle mediation to help progress negotiations more effectively. In shuttle mediation, the parties are in separate rooms (sometimes with their independent legal advisors) and the mediator ‘shuffles’ between the rooms to try and help the parties achieve a settlement. In some cases, mediation can be enough to help parties move beyond an impasse without having to resort to much lengthier and more expensive court proceedings. The senior associate and client discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the proposal, as well as our advice on appropriate next steps.
15:30
Following the client meeting, the senior associate and I stay on the call to debrief and discuss outstanding tasks. I ask her some questions that I had from the call because I want to check I am properly understanding where the matter is heading.
She asks me to run some numbers on Capitalise. This is the software we use to conduct Duxbury calculations, estimating what lump sum one party would need to pay the other after separation to reflect a certain level of annual maintenance every year for a period. I run the numbers and send the calculation reports to the senior associate.
I also finalise my attendance note of the meeting. I always try to do this as soon as possible after a meeting or hearing to avoid other work getting in the way.
16:30
I need another break and decide to go to WatchHouse for a delicious (toasted) banana bread with fellow Divorce and Family trainee Rosie. They have unfortunately run out, so we swing by Sainsburys to grab some sustenance for the team. We have a special treats corner in the office where people leave snacks for the whole department to enjoy. I also add an ensaimada to the snack corner, which I brought from Spain after visiting my family last weekend.
17:00
I have set aside time to work on an enforcement application for one of our children matters. This is a Schedule 1 (Children Act 1989) case, allowing unmarried parties to still bring financial remedy proceedings if they are for the benefit of their child.
I have previously done some work on other elements of this claim and attended one of the hearings, following which the associate asked me to complete legal research on applicable enforcement procedures as the other side did not comply with the court order.
I complete the enforcement application on Quantum (the software our department uses to fill out and share court forms), prepare a draft order and complete an initial draft of the statement in support of our application. Once I’m done drafting, I decide to postpone sending the documents to the associate until tomorrow so I can review what I have written in the morning with fresh eyes. There are a couple of points I want to raise with her, so I make a note on my to-do list to flag them in tomorrow’s email.
18:45
I release my time recording on InTapp. I then review my inbox one last time, check my calendar for tomorrow and update final points on my task list before packing up and heading home.
Stewarts recruits trainees from our internal paralegal pool, allowing candidates to really get to know the firm and its work before embarking on a training contract. Training Principal Carly Kinch says:
“At Stewarts we aim to recruit the best people, and hiring trainees from our internal paralegal pool allows us to do just that. We are able to assess candidates on the quality of their work and performance over a longer period of time, as opposed to focussing on exam results or the outcome of a single interview.
Even before earning a training contract, our paralegals are able to gain real insight into the inner workings of the firm and secure early exposure to substantive responsibilities. It is a real testament to our recruitment and training practices, as well as to the firm’s culture, that several of our former paralegals are now partners in our various different departments.”
You can find further information regarding our careers on our training contracts and current vacancies pages.
