Category Archives: Law and Legal Services

Vacation Scheme Student – Eversheds

Access to Internships (A2I), Law, Law and Legal Services,

law

What were your main duties and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

I was a Vacation Scheme Student at Eversheds’ largest UK office outside of London where I sat in the Real Estate and Company Commercial practice groups and within the Commercial Real Estate and Banking teams respectively.
My duties were similar to those of a Trainee Solicitor and the work I was involved with in the REPG included analysing leases, calculating and completing a SDLT return as well as drafting various documents to complement a lease such as a Lease Report and a Rent Review Memorandum. In my second week in the CCPG, my work was in the most part vastly different, although there was some crossover with Real Estate in the form of the property securities that banks would take on their loan agreements. During my Banking seat, I aided the completion of multiple transactions by creating and updating the supporting documents required such as the Completion Checklist, Shareholder Review and Completion Statement as well as drafting vital transaction documents including various Deed of Confirmations for both Borrowers and Guarantors, Fee Letters and a Legal Opinion.

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

My biggest achievement over the course of the internship would be noticing and pointing out a mistake in a contract that would have made it unenforceable and thus preventing the firm from issuing a bad contract on behalf of their clients.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

During my second week, there were multiple transactions that were due to be completed that week and as a result of my presence, I was able to share the workload with the team and therefore relieve pressure on them and get the deal through the door with plenty of time to spare.

Did you encounter any problems during the course of your internship and if so, how did you overcome them?

There were some initial problems with my understanding of particular legal terms used within the practice groups as I had never come across them before in my studies which are far less practical. By finding a glossary of terms and constantly taking notes throughout the scheme, I managed to overcome this barrier by being pro-active and seeking to learn the new terms so that I was then comfortable using them in an everyday work sense.

Legal Intern – Shook Lin & Bok

Law, Law and Legal Services,

Legal Internship, A2!

What were your main duties and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

The main purpose of my role as an attachee on the attachment programme was to gain an insight into life as a lawyer in commercial law. I was attached under a partner in the Banking Litigation department at the firm. This meant that my main roles and responsibilities were to help aid the partner in any research, ranging from simple basic internet research to researching complex legal issues which had never been done before. The role also involved compiling documents, help to organise cases and above all, constantly working towards a tight deadline.

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

Overall, I felt I was able to put my legal knowledge, and legal skills to good use and apply it to the real working environment.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

I benefitted the company by helping to ease the work load at the firm. The nature of work in a successful commercial law firm is that work is never ending, there are always new clients, returning clients, new legal issues and new things to learn every day.

Did you encounter any problems during the course of your internship and if so, how did you overcome them?

I found the internship very demanding on my time and energy  but I learnt that hard work pays off and this experience has removed any doubts and helped me gain an insight into life as a lawyer in the city.

KLintern

Paralegal Internship – Coyle White Devine Solicitors

Geography, Law and Legal Services,

Universtiy of Exeter Internships, UoE Internships, SCP, SBP, GBP, A2I

What were your main duties and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

My roles and responsibilities were very varied. I wrote briefs for counsel, attended Court, and took minutes in client meetings.

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

I learnt how to meet people in a professional context via emal, telephone and in person.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

I improved the company’s computer system. Represented the company well whilst attending the high court. Undertook lots of different roles in many different litigation cases and was the main point of contact with a partnership firm in the U.S.

Did you encounter any problems during the course of your internship and if so, how did you overcome them?

I was nervous at first, but learnt to remain cool, calm and confident – this only really comes with experience.

Legal Intern – Clifford Chance

Law, Law and Legal Services,

Universtiy of Exeter Internships, UoE Internships, SCP, SBP, GBP, A2I

What were your main duties and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

My main roles during the internship were researching key terms or case precedents for associates, translating legal documents (which played a major role in my responsibilities), proofreading, preparing presentations, red-lining and doing business development research. Doing a business research was the one project that I was involved in during the whole course of my internship there, it meant that I had to research possible clients in Latin-America, but primarily focused in Brazilian clients in the beverages and food industry. My role was solely researching on that task.

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

I would say that my biggest achievement was overcoming the fear of working in a city law firm, being able to set that fear aside and expose myself in terms of networking, going out after work, allowing myself to risk making mistakes in order to get harder tasks, being able to start to understand commercial law terms, which was something that I had had no contact with before.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

Seeing that it was a smaller office with fewer people, I had contact with Senior Associates and at times had to do work that was junior trainee level, which was an amazing opportunity and in a way it profited them since I was doing a trainee’s job for free. I also did simpler tasks, which meant that people being paid could focus on the main jobs, saving them profitable time. Plus, I was able to complete successfully most of the tasks I was given.

Did you encounter any problems during the course of your internship and if so, how did you overcome them?

The main problems I faced was when an associate would give me a harder task and would not be aware of the fact that I had no previous experience. Since I did not want to decline any work and wanted to make a good impression on the firm, I accepted every single piece of work handed to me. Which at times meant that I had no idea where to start. Fortunately, the office has a team of amazing approachable people who at times I sought help from, or turned to their online training, their data base or even google or academic articles, and was able to perform the majority of the tasks, even if that meant spending extra time at the office.