Glossary

A · B · C · D · E · F · H · I · J · M · N · O · P · R · S · T

A

About section

The paragraph on a LinkedIn page where you speak for yourself, in the first person. Tess’s does five jobs in about 120 words: the job, the clients, one specific, one human line and one invitation. A blank About is a locked front door with the lights on. File 1.3 · Chapter 2 · see Headline, Humble-brag

Appraisal

The yearly meeting where a partner and a lawyer agree what the lawyer did, what she wants and what changes. It is the one meeting where a junior is invited to ask for something. It is about next year, not a verdict on last year. File, “appraisal” · Chapter 9 · see Appraisal page, Boundary

Appraisal page

One page a junior brings to her appraisal, in three parts: what I did, what I want, what I ask. Each line of what she did has a number or a result, not an adjective. Each ask is one sentence with a thing attached: a deal, a course or a date. File, Part 8 · Chapter 9 · see Appraisal, Measurable achievement

Automatic thought

In a thought record, the sentence that arrived uninvited, written down exactly as it came. Tess’s, the night before her interview, was “They will find out I have never done payments work and the whole thing will be embarrassing.” Seen on paper, it pushes you around less. File 7.3 · Chapter 8 · see Thought record, Balanced thought

B

Balanced thought

The line of a thought record that both columns of evidence support. It is the automatic thought with the “against” column added and the forecast removed. Tess kept “I have not done payments work”, because it is true, and added her decision to say the gap first. File 7.3 · Chapter 8 · see Thought record, Automatic thought, Reframe

Board test

One question asked of every sentence before it goes to a client: could the reader repeat it, unchanged, to the people she answers to? For a finance director, those people are her board. If you cannot write a clause plainly, you have not yet understood it. Chapter 4 · see Plain language, Jargon

Boundary

A fact about how you work, said once so that nobody has to guess it. Tess’s was “On an ordinary day I leave at seven; when a day is not ordinary, tell me as soon as you know and I will stay.” Said every week, it becomes a complaint. Chapter 9 · see Appraisal page

Brief, the

The handing over of a task with enough around it that the work comes back usable. It has four parts: what, by when, what good looks like, and what to do when stuck. Juniors most often leave out the fourth, because nobody gave it to them. Chapter 7 · see Feedback; Mentor

C

Cohort

The people who trained alongside you. Tess’s is the twelve from her Legal Practice Course workshop group, who went to firms across Manchester and kept in touch. In ten years some will be partners, heads of legal or clients, so the cohort is your network. File, “cohort” · Chapter 5 · see Peer, Decision-maker

Completion

The day a deal happens: the money moves, the documents are signed and dated, and someone in the room has the list. There is no second take. The partner in the room, not the trainee, says the word “completed”. File, “completion” · Chapter 7 · see Completion checklist, Deal sheet

Completion checklist

The list of everything that must happen on the day a deal completes, in order. It is the agreement’s completion schedule turned into a to-do list. The page Tess wrote for her trainee has 24 lines: twelve for the week before and twelve for the day. File 6.2 · Chapter 7 · see Completion, Identity verification (Companies House)

Confirmation statement

The yearly filing that tells Companies House a company’s details are up to date. A director already in post verified their identity with the company’s next confirmation statement. That was the moving part of Tess’s October talk, so she stated it with the hedge inside the sentence. File, “confirmation statement” · Chapter 6 · see Identity verification (Companies House)

Creator, not victim

A test for any sentence about your own work: find the verb and ask who is doing it. “The draft went out with the wrong date” has nobody in it. “I sent the draft with the wrong date, corrected it and told the client” has one person who can act. Chapter 8 · see Ownership email; Reframe

CV summary section

The first paragraph of a CV after the name, and often the only one a recruiter reads. Tess’s 2023 version was a row of adjectives that could sit on anyone’s CV. The new one is five sentences, with the number and kind of deals and what she wants next. File 2.3 · Chapter 3 · see Employer line; Measurable achievement; Recruiter, in-house

D

Deal sheet

One page for each matter: the parties, their advisers, the dates and where the latest draft lives. With it, a trainee can answer when the partner asks where the file is. “Keep it true” is the whole instruction, and Jonah’s became the team’s template. File 6.1 · Chapter 7 · see Mentor, Completion checklist

Decision-maker

A person who can hire you or send you work, such as a partner, a head of legal or a client. Decision-makers have the power but not the time. Write to one as you would to a friend: thanks for a real thing, one question, and no reminder. Chapter 5 · see Peer, Cohort

E

Employer line

One line on a CV that says what an employer is: how big, for whom and where. Tess’s reads “a 40-partner law firm acting for owner-managed and family businesses in the North West”. A recruiter who has never heard of the firm learns it in one breath. File 2.4 · Chapter 3 · see CV summary section; Recruiter, in-house

F

Fact-affirmation

One line, said before the thing that matters, that is a fact and not a wish. Tess’s is “I prepared; I know this file”, and it will still be true when the interview is over. “I am going to be brilliant” is a forecast, and the room decides forecasts. File 10.1 · Chapter 8 · see Thought record; One page, the

Feedback

What came back, measured against what good looked like, said to the person who did it. It follows three rules: the same day, about the thing and not the person, and specific, with one change and the reason. “Fine” is not feedback, because nobody can act on it. Chapter 7 · see Brief, the; Mentor

Friend test

One question asked of a sentence you have said to yourself: would you say it to a friend in the same situation? “I’m an idiot” fails at once. What you would tell the friend is usually the better sentence: two fields, fix them, tell the partner, send four lines. Chapter 8 · see Reframe, Thought record

H

Head of legal

The most senior lawyer inside a company that is not a law firm. At Ledgerline, a payments start-up, it is Yusuf Demir, who reads the few CVs the recruiter sends on. In ten years the person reading your CV may be a head of legal who trained with you. File, “head of legal” · Chapter 3 · see In-house; Recruiter, in-house

Headline

The line under your name on a LinkedIn page, shown in search results and beside every comment. It must answer a question: what you do, for whom and where. Tess’s went from a trainee’s title to “Corporate solicitor at Fenwick Rowe · company sales, investments and shareholders’ agreements · Manchester”. File 1.2 · Chapter 2 · see About section

Humble-brag

A boast dressed as modesty, such as “Humbled to be named in this week’s deal announcement”. Its cousin is the thought-leader voice. The cure for both is the subject rule: post one point of law you had to explain, with your feelings left at home. Chapter 2 · see Thought-leader voice, Post

I

Identity verification (Companies House)

The rule that every director of a UK company must prove to Companies House who they are. The person is verified, not the company, and gets a personal code to use for every company they direct. The rule changed in stages, so check the current position before advising. File 5.1 · Chapter 6 · see Confirmation statement, Completion checklist, Post

In-house

Working as a lawyer employed by one company, for that company only, rather than at a law firm with many clients. Dev moved in-house to Ledgerline as its second lawyer, hired by a head of legal who knew him from his secondment. That is how most hiring works. File, “in-house” · Chapter 3 · see Head of legal, Secondment

Integrity

The duty to act so that what is said about you is true. The solicitors’ regulator puts it under everything a solicitor does, so a brand is built only from true work. An About that claims payments experience after one meeting will one day be read back to you. Chapter 1 · see Personal brand, Reputation

J

Jargon

The profession’s words, used on people who do not share them. Lawyers use it because it is accurate, fast and feels like armour, but to a client it reads like a locked door. The fix is the effect in plain words, with the clause number in brackets. Chapter 4 · see Plain language, Board test

Junior lawyers' group

A city group run by and for trainees and solicitors in their first five years, with nobody senior behind it. Tess almost skipped its evening event, then went with a limit of forty minutes. The people who matter there are the ones at your table. Chapter 5 · see Peer, Cohort

M

Measurable achievement

Something you did that a stranger can count or date, such as three completed deals, each named by its kind and month. Every job on a CV gets one. Keep the honest size of the job beside it: “each under a partner”, not “led”. File 2.4 · Chapter 3 · see CV summary section, Appraisal page

Mentor

To train the person who started after you, from one step ahead rather than from the summit. You still remember where the step is, because you stood on it last year. What you do not know, you take to the step above you: the senior associate or the partner. Chapter 7 · see Brief, the; Feedback; Deal sheet

N

NQ

A newly qualified solicitor: the title for the first year after qualifying. Tess becomes one in September 2026. Her email signature changes that day, but her LinkedIn page and her CV still describe a trainee. File, “NQ” · Chapter 1 · see Training contract, Personal brand

O

One page, the

Part 10 of the Brand File: twenty numbered lines Tess reads before anything that matters, such as an interview or an appraisal. Each line is a fact or an action, never a wish. It is not a pep talk, because a pep talk is a wish with a tune. File, Part 10 · Chapter 10 · see Fact-affirmation, Reputation

Ownership email

The four-line email a lawyer sends a client after a mistake: what happened, what is fixed, what stops it, and one sorry, last. Write “nothing else has changed” only after reading both versions against each other. Tell the partner who owns the client first, in the same hour. File 7.2 · Chapter 8 · see Creator, not victim; Friend test

P

Peer

A lawyer at roughly your stage, in your firm or another. In ten years some of your peers will be the decision-makers. The best message to a peer asks for nothing and says so nowhere. File, “peer” · Chapter 5 · see Cohort, Decision-maker

Personal brand

The sum of what people can say about you when you are not in the room. It lives in four places: the page, the paper, the room and the inbox. Everyone has one already, so the only choice is who writes it. Chapter 1 · see Reputation, Integrity

Plain language

Writing what a clause does, to whom and in what order, in words the reader could repeat. The figures, the clause numbers and the order stay exact. Plain is not simple: simple drops things, while plain drops only what the reader cannot use. File 3.2 · Chapter 4 · see Board test, Jargon

Positioning

Saying what you do in the order the listener needs it, not the order you learnt it. A lawyer learns the job from the clause outwards, but a listener needs it from the outside in. Keep the first sentence in every room and change only the last. Chapter 10 · see Thirty-second answer

Post

A short piece of writing on your LinkedIn page that anyone can read: a talk to a room you cannot see. Tess’s rule is at most one a month, under 200 words, on one point of law, with the client, the matter and the week left out. File 5.3 · Chapter 6 · see Humble-brag, Thought-leader voice

R

Recruiter, in-house

The person a company employs to find staff for every kind of job, not only lawyers. Ledgerline’s screens up to 500 candidates for one job and knows none of the law firms’ names. So write the CV for someone who has never met a lawyer. Chapter 3 · see CV summary section, Employer line

Reframe

The same fact, put in a sentence that is true and useful instead of true and useless. “I’m an idiot” is finished, with nothing to do after it. “Two fields in an earlier draft, corrected, partner told, four lines sent” is the same fact with a to-do list inside it. Chapter 8 · see Friend test; Creator, not victim

Reputation

The part of your brand that other people hold: what they say after you leave the room. You cannot correct it, so it is made while you are in the room. A year on, a partner asks for Tess by name, “because she explains things”. File 10.20 · Chapter 1 · see Personal brand, Secondment

S

Secondment

A spell working inside a client’s business while still employed by the firm. Dev’s secondment at Ledgerline led to his job there. At the end of Tess’s year, a payments client of the firm asks for a lawyer on secondment, and a partner asks for her by name. File, “secondment” · Chapter 10 · see Reputation, In-house

T

Thirty-second answer

What you do, said at the speed of a person rather than a lawyer, in the time a stranger will give you. It starts with what you are and ends with what you are for. The first sentence stays the same in every room, and only the last one changes. File, Part 9 · Chapter 10 · see Positioning; One page, the

Thought-leader voice

Lessons announced to a room that did not ask for them, such as “Five things a late-night completion taught me about leadership”. Its cousin is the humble-brag. A post that explains one point shows you explain things, and a post that announces lessons does not. Chapter 2 · see Humble-brag, Post

Thought record

A few lines on paper that take a sentence out of your head and make it answer for itself. It runs: the situation, the automatic thought, the evidence for and against, and a balanced thought. Tess added two lines: what she will do, and a fact for the morning. File 7.3 · Chapter 8 · see Automatic thought, Balanced thought, Fact-affirmation

Training contract

The two years of paid, supervised training at a firm before you qualify as a solicitor, usually in four six-month seats in different teams. Tess trained at the firm where she now works. Her CV of 2023 was written to win her training contract, and nobody had opened it since. File, “training contract” · Chapter 1 · see NQ, Mentor