Newly Qualified Associate (former Kirkland Trainee)

First seat: Real Estate Finance Second seat: Debt Finance
Third seat: Corporate Final seat: Investment Funds

My first internship was when I was still at school and I also attended work experience schemes at two law firms.

What appealed to me most about Kirkland is the space to be entrepreneurial. It’s what’s expected, whereas other firms from my experience were a little more systematised, with work allocated based purely on capacity. At Kirkland, you can build your own practice in the early years by putting yourself forward for work. The more work you do, the better you will be and the more opportunities you will get.

I have now qualified into the Corporate team. I was particularly drawn to the Corporate team following the breadth of work I undertook whilst in my third seat there. The team has a strong culture of giving enthusiastic lawyers exposure to the different specialisms within the wider team – I had the opportunity to get involved in asset management and real estate related M&A work. There is a real emphasis on pushing beyond thinking through a legal lens, and you are encouraged to put on your business cap and approach tasks with the clients’ commercial interests and objectives at the core of the advice we give.

It’s a social place and events are a great time to network with people. For example, the Corporate team took part in the Spartan 5km obstacle race, followed by a Sunday roast! The team also runs a schedule of talks from partners covering legal insights into their specialisms and the wider trends in the market, which are very helpful for understanding the key developments changing the industry and the way we work.