My seat in Litigation was extended by a couple of weeks to help with the preparation of our written submissions for a big Supreme Court case. I'm now in my final seat in the Corporate department and have immediately got involved in a due diligence project - an entirely new experience for me. I can't believe how quickly the two year training contract has gone, and we've now finished the qualification process which is a relief. I've been attending internal property law seminars to get up to speed with current developments in preparation for me joining the Property department in September. Will spend the next few months trying to make the most of still being a trainee!
We're half way through our fifth seat now. For me the last few weeks have been taken up with preparation for a three day trial in the High Court. It's been my first experience in court and I've been lucky that my seat in Litigation has fallen during the actual period set for the hearing. The case has involved me preparing bundles of documents and correspondence, attending meetings with the client, our expert and counsel, analysing the other side's skeleton argument and identifying possible cross-examination questions for witnesses. Aside from that, everyone in the second year is starting to think hard about which department they'd like to qualify into - we just can't believe it's come round so quickly!
A couple of weeks ago I moved to the Litigation department for my fifth seat. There are often a few loose ends to tie up from the previous seat during the changeover, but I always look forward to experiencing something new. I have been involved with a very active case since I arrived in the department - my main tasks have included filing documents at court for the first time, drafting letters to clients and doing lots of research on relevant points of law and procedure. This department also has five trainees at the moment, which is a great support network to have when you need help with something.
With the holiday season fast approaching, I am never stuck for work and I have been involved in a wide range of Property transactions, from residential matters to large offshore windfarm projects. It has been interesting to see deals progress from beginning to end. In particular, I have carried out a number of post-completion tasks and gained experience in relation to the billing process. I've got the Land Registry telephone line on speed dial and one particular piece of unusual research has even involved me taking a trip to the Law Society library on Chancery Lane. I'm definitely looking forward to our team Christmas celebrations next week and I've just seen this year's first piece of tinsel in the department which is bound to get everyone in the festive mood!
I’ve just got back from four months in the Paris office, so I’ve abandoned my beret and am settling back into London. It’s been great catching up with everyone here and hearing other trainees’ tales about their overseas seats. I’m now sitting in the Property department which is a complete change from Ship Finance. It always takes a bit of time to adjust to a new seat, but I feel settled now and am looking forward to getting to know more about the area. I dug out my LPC textbooks which was a good start! This morning has kept me busy registering the transfer of a lease and completing a Stamp Duty Land Tax return for the first time.
In late May I moved back to the Litgition department for the final seat of my training contract after learning that my application to qualify into the department had been accepted. There’s been lots of progress made on the files I was working on at the end of 2009 and it has been really interesting to see the new pleadings, evidence and the twists and turns that each case has taken since I was last here. It feels like qualification has come around incredibly quickly and it promises to be another busy summer with plenty of work, cricket and the World Cup on the horizon. Many of us are planning to spend our evenings watching the big screens set up in the squares near the office, hoping that England can finally repeat 1966!
As well as the prospect of a sunny four day weekend, Easter brings the first vacation scheme of the year. WFW trainees get involved by acting as a ‘buddy’ to a person on the scheme to show them the ropes and make sure they’re getting the most out of the two weeks. There are talks and lunches scheduled, which give us a chance to offer some insight into life as a trainee now that we know the answers to all the questions we had when we were starting our legal careers. On offer in the evenings are dinners and drinks which are always popular amongst the trainees and students keen for a night out!
In early January I finished my seat in Litigation and moved into Project and Structured Finance. Now that I’ve been at the firm for over a year the transition between departments is much smoother. Early on in this seat I’ve been involved in amending loan agreements, as well as carrying out research to establish the best structure for other trade finance facilities. With the experience of having spent four months in Shipping Finance, I also have the chance to get involved in the more complex projects being handled by the department. After work, now that the rest of my trainee year has returned from the seats abroad, there are plenty of evenings spent swapping holiday stories
The litigation department has been keeping me busy with a jurisdiction hearing and an urgent application before the Companies Court. In support of the applications, I was asked to draft both the witness statements and instructions to counsel. The work offered a great overview of the litigation process, the strategic decisions behind each step and the complete maze that is the Royal Courts of Justice. In other news, Christmas Party season is here! The football team has opted for a traditional Christmas curry and drinks on Brick Lane, which kicks off a week of trainee, department and firm dinners.
The start of a Litigation seat comes complete with an introduction to the court run (at times a far too literal sprint), drafting witness statements and, above all, research. The advantage of research is that you can often see the results having an immediate impact – what I have uncovered in trawling the library has affected how we present and argue our cases. Outside of the department, the new trainees are settling in. It means this is both an especially social time of year and that our recruitment policy has already paid off – they’ve added some more talent to the WFW football team, which is racing up the league!
Following the qualification process, I was offered a job in the Shipping Finance department of our London office and I am now back in that department for my final seat. This is now my 3rd Shipping Finance seat and I have been able to slot back into the department and pick up the work fairly easily. The seat is proving to be very busy and, perhaps because I am qualifying here, I am being given a lot of responsibility. I have been dealing with Ship deliveries, mortgage discharges and a large restructuring and refinancing over the past few weeks and I know that it is going to be a busy summer, although I am hoping to fit in some qualification leave at some point!
I am now half way through my 5th seat with qualification rapidly approaching, although luckily I have plenty of work to keep me busy and distracted. We are currently conducting a large trade finance adjudication relating to various debt in connection with the bankruptcy of a bank. With over 600 transactions to adjudicate, the majority of the finance team has been kept busy. The netball team is also busy preparing for our netball tour which is to Portugal in April. We will be taking part in the Legal and Financial Cup playing against various other law and accountancy firms, with the hope of bringing home the coveted trophy.
I arrived back last week from Singapore to start my 5th seat in Project and Structured Finance. The transition back to London hasn’t been too difficult - now that I am in my 5th seat, with 2 finance seats behind me, I know most of the team in London which makes things easier. The work is very similar to the work I was doing in Singapore and I have been thrown straight into a couple of large transactions which are keeping me busy. One of the transactions I was working on in Singapore has just won a Deal of the Year 2009 prize and I have been nominated to attend the prize giving dinner and collect the prize on behalf of the WFW Singapore team, which should be a good night!
The Singapore office has been incredibly busy over the last couple of months and my volume of work as increased dramatically, as has the amount of responsibility that I have been given. It is a great way to learn though and I have enjoyed managing closings and attending meetings by myself. In between all the work we have managed to fit in a few office nights out and we had the office Christmas party last night which turned out to be a great success, despite the rather odd theme of “Festive Black & White”!
I have just started my fourth seat out in Singapore – the office is busy and I am already getting stuck in. The people in the office are really friendly and generous – a couple of them even gave me tickets to see the F1 Grand Prix last weekend! There are 2 trainees out here this time – I am doing Shipping Finance work and Sarah is in Litigation. Trainees seem to get lots of responsibility over here and I have been thrown straight into a couple of new transactions - some of my tasks to date have included drafting security documents, research and instructing counsel. This weekend we are planning a trip up to Bangkok to see the WFW trainee who is in the office there which should be fun.