Up, up and haway
According to our sources, Muckle has emerged from the recession “in a stronger position than ever. Over the past year the number and quality of our clients has increased. We have a lot of reasons to be optimistic.” The firm makes an appearance in Chambers UK’s North East rankings in most of the major areas of practice, and is top of the pile for debt recovery work. It has also welcomed a number of new recruits who’ve defected from local rivals. Six partner hires have bolstered six different teams: “It gives you comfort that you’ve picked the right horse,” said trainees.
Three years ago, the firm relocated to a brand new purpose-built office building in Newcastle city centre. The Gallowgate location is a big hit with trainees: “I’m glad we’re not down on the quayside where a lot of our competitors are,” said one source. A ‘time out’ area contains flat-screen TVs with a surround sound system, table football and pool tables, big American-style fridges and facilities for tea and coffee. With a balcony circling the top floor of the building and fantastic panoramic views over the city centre and St James’ Park stadium, rarely have we heard such enthusiasm for bricks and mortar. A trainee reported: “We do pinch ourselves that we’re in such plush surroundings. When I’m hosting an event here, I feel a bit like a proud housewife.”
You’ll never work alone
Trainees can spend time in banking, corporate, commercial, construction, dispute resolution, employment and property. Their first seat is chosen at random, but in subsequent rotations they have an informal meeting with trainee mentor Kevin Maloney to discuss where they will go next. “They try to involve you, but not too much,” claimed one trainee. Trainees’ strengths, weaknesses, previous experience and interests are all taken into account throughout the allocation process. “You don’t always get your first choice, but they know where will be best for you.”
Once in a department, trainees are eased into the role gently. Initially, work mainly consists of research and queries, but as their knowledge develops trainees begin drafting documents, letters, advice notes and emails. “As their confidence in you grows, you start getting your own files.” Generally, trainees were extremely impressed with the amount of trust instilled in them. “I think they’ve given me as much as possible,” one trainee claimed. “You’ll never be stood doing the photocopying.”
The corporate finance department works with some relatively big local and national names, including the Port of Tyne and national sandwich treasure Greggs. Due to the nature of its work and its high-profile clients, there is a limited amount of client contact here; however trainees found the seat to be “quite a steep learning curve.” While the work may be slightly more basic than in some other departments, trainees “wouldn’t really say it was grunt work.” Muckle has a “really solid business support team called the hub, because they really are the hub of the business.” It is those guys who take on the admin work, enabling trainees to get stuck into more “juicy” stuff.
The busy commercial department, taking on general commercial, IP and technology matters, has seen an increase in turnover over the past year. Trainees find this seat “fairly independent and very hands-on.” They are able to get involved with the nitty-gritty of files, dealing with one fairly big project at a time. Days are often spent “getting a brief from the client, going away and drafting it, then tweaking it and making it fit for purpose.”
“Nothing is off limits” in Muckle’s employment department, which deals with everything from damages claims, to immigration assistance, to handling the details of Rafa Benitez’s departure from Liverpool FC. “It is stressful but exciting. You are always on the go, juggling different jobs and having to prioritise. It’s difficult, but fun.” Trainees gain experience of drafting letters and tribunal forms, and are encouraged to attend hearings as often as possible. What surprised one source most was “the amount of client contact very early on.” Clients are given trainees’ direct dial numbers, “but there was always someone sat nearby listening in, which felt like quite a good safety net.”
The dispute resolution team represents local and national clients from a really wide range of areas, including the engineering, manufacturing, retail, sport, transport, IT and telecoms sectors. Trainees described handling matters for a particularly large LPC as “a really good grounding in litigation, as a company of that size has a lot of disputes that come in.” A source also reported going to a hearing and defending a claim on their own: “It wasn’t exactly wigs, gowns and gavels, but I was chuffed I’d been trusted with that.”
The hours at Muckle can be long when there are big deals on, but there’s no culture of working late for the sake of it. “If there’s something requiring you to be there later in the evening, it’s because you’re involved in important work. It isn’t really a negative.” Plus, hard-working trainees get a glimpse of glamour as “the Champagne pops and you get to celebrate with the client.”
The BEAM team
Muckle has put a mighty effort into retaining its small-firm culture and innate sense of fun. “I think they almost brand themselves on it,” reported one trainee. “Developing your own style is really important and that’s what makes us stand out in the market. Clients go to a particular lawyer because they like their style and personality.” The firm’s reputation for being personable is an integral part of its business strategy – that may sound like marketing-speak, but see our website for more details on how Muckle puts these words into action.
“It isn’t a nine to five job, but we can’t be robots at our desks all day. The firm is really flexible about breaks and we’re encouraged to go and grab a coffee.” Essentially, it’s the “little touches” like this that make trainees fall in love with Muckle. The single-site set-up and smallish size – only 26 partners – means that “just about everyone knows each other on a first-name basis. You’re not just another cog in the machine.” The brand new BEAM (Being Engaged At Muckle) team is made up of staff from across the firm and is responsible for ensuring everyone is pulling together, through quirky social events and engagement surveys. At the time of writing, everyone was growing their own marrows out on the balcony, with the proud parent of the largest vegetable after six weeks winning a prize. “Individualism is encouraged. There is an atmosphere of getting involved and having a good laugh.”
Managing partner Steve McNicol also makes it known that he welcomes ideas and constructive criticism. When he isn’t in the open plan office, trainees say his door is open “95% of the time." Added one source: “I’d only been here for six weeks when I went and had a chat with him about something I was thinking of doing. It was like chatting with a mate.”
The majority of current trainees have connections to the North East, and had attended law school in the region. We were told that some had arrived straight from study, while others have years of paralegalling experience under their belts. Ultimately, “they want enthusiasm, willingness to learn, open-mindedness and hard work. If you can get that across at interview you’re almost guaranteed success.”
While trying to arrange a trainee-only night out is sometimes “like herding cats,” there are always firm-wide events going on – family barbecues, quarterly firm breakfasts, the flashy Christmas party at the Hilton, and spontaneous trips to favourite haunts of Tiger Tiger and Soho. Combined with opportunities to play football, hockey, squash and rounders, “there’s almost too much to keep up with. If you did everything, you’d be more knackered than you already are.” Charity is also a big part of life at Muckle – get used to the sight of “people dressing up as superheroes and abseiling down buildings.”
And finally...
The last word goes to the enthusiastic trainee who warned, “If they decide not to keep me on, they are going to have to drag me from the building kicking and screaming!” We hope that was the one qualifier out of two who was kept on in 2011.