Ex-magic circle trainee Dominic Webb on why advising corporate clients wasn't for him.

Reactions among my magic circle colleagues ranged considerably when I announced that I was qualifying into a niche private client firm. On the one hand, the hearty and genuine congratulations for having 'escaped', on the other, the frankly bemused.

Indeed, one of the bemused was intent on emphasising what a huge risk I was taking. Twisting on 16 in a game of blackjack was his (slightly unusual) analogy.

True, I no longer have a team of people to produce or amend my documents through the night, there's no canteen, there's no IT department, and I probably won't read about whatever I'm doing in the FT. No, life is rather different now.

The clients are still demanding, but they seem to have more respect for their advisers than the corporate clients did. The work is hugely varied and the days can be absolutely manic. Thankfully, though, the great axe no longer hangs over my head – the fear that at any moment my happy state is going to be rudely interrupted by the 'urgent' piece of work that lands on my desk and requires the cancellation of my life, for tonight, or the next week, or the next month…

You see that was my biggest problem with working for a huge commercial firm. It was one that I couldn't get over, and ultimately, I left. It wasn't having to work hard when it was required – that comes with the territory – but living under a cloud that could come pouring down at any moment. And often it would all be so unnecessary. Particularly as a junior lawyer. I remember on one occasion, a partner on a business trip overseas and totally out of the loop on a particular matter, volunteering in a two line email from his Blackberry that something would be done two days later. Such haste was of no benefit to anybody, certainly not the client. But it didn't matter, the deed was done. Cancel all plans, get ready to go without sleep – the next 48 hours is a washout. How silly.

The pressures of being in a small firm are very different. Now I am expected to deal directly with clients, which brings its own stresses, and I have to think for myself a lot more and take decisions. Sometimes I come home absolutely exhausted after a 9-6.30 day, far more so than when I used to work until 10 or 11 at my old firm. Days can be an absolute whirlwind, but it's a good thing. In a few months I've learnt more in the short time since the move than I could ever have believed.

I certainly don't regret my commercial training though. Quite the opposite, in fact. And despite my eagerness to get out of that environment, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to prospective trainees. Yes, you won't get the responsibility and client contact that you would in a smaller firm, but as I've been finding out over the last few months, that will all come with time anyway. What you do get is a very solid grounding and an expectation of excellence. If you're sensible, you will learn from that and take it with you throughout your whole career. These firms have to justify their fees somehow, and the only way they can do so is if everything is perfect. Only a fool would not try and take those high standards away with them.

So, for me at least, my old friends have been left behind and life is spent in a rather different environment. Dealing with wealthy individuals and their problems means that no day is the same. I may not have an on-site gym now, nor an on-site canteen, but to be honest these are things I can live without. I love my new job. Looks like I got the five of diamonds.

Dominic Webb (name changed) is a solicitor at a private client firm

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