Episode 1 - From Vacation Scheme to Qualification

I was very, very fortunate, I think.

I think what I ...

I look back on my experience over the last three years, and I'm the first person to say I've been incredibly fortunate.

I ...

It's since changed, but I, I spent ...

So I spent six months at Simpson Thatcher in London in the real estate finance team.

I was one of, I think, four paralegals at the time.

Um, three of us were doing sort of live client work.

I arrived on day one, and it was generally exactly as it would be and exactly as it was when I arrived at Wile during my training contract.

It was myself, a junior associate, and the partner.

There was one partner there who I was really fond of.

He described it to me as, like, "You're doing your first seat now" because-

Mm-hmm

...

I arrived, I was expected to manage my own work.

Yeah.

Was like, I was basically just the trainee on the deals and, like, I genuinely felt when I arrived at Wile, I had already done a seat.

But it was so hugely helpful.

I mean, it was [laughs] a fairly steep learning curve, but I felt like I was much better prepared to come to Wile.

And I was also, again, very fortunate because my first seat was in banking, and I'd al- essentially already done a first seat in banking, an SDB.

Mm-hmm.

Um, so it, it was great.

I, I was very fortunate, the people I worked with.

I got a lot of support.

It was a great experience.