“
One of the great things about the training contract at Pinsent
Masons is the very broad exposure you get to many different fileds
of law.
”
When I finished university I started working as an administrator
for a software company. It was an exciting time as IT was booming
and I rose through the ranks, learning a tremendous amount along
the way. As a product manager I was working with clients and their
businesses every day. When legal issues arose in areas like product
licensing and copyright I realised that I found them fascinating
and over time I started to take law reference books home in the
evenings.
I was subsequently advised that law firms were looking for
people with industry experience like me. I applied for law-school
and started to research the legal firms. Pinsent Masons was at the
top of my list because of its great reputation in the IT
industry.
During my first seat I worked on negotiations with big-name
clients and deals that I would see on the front page of the FT the
next morning. This was a real eye-opener. I am now in the
Outsourcing, Technology and Commercial department and have found my
IT background has already been incredibly useful. Early on in the
seat I produced a report on the state of an IT system for a large
client where the issues were very technical. The feedback was that
the client really appreciated my level of IT knowledge.
One of the great things about the training contract at Pinsent
Masons is the very broad exposure you get to many different fields
of law. Because I came to law from a previous career in IT, I had
always expected that I would end up working in that field of law,
but because my Corporate seat was so enjoyable I've started to
re-evaluate that idea.
After my time in the two seats so far, my understanding of the
wider spectrum of work available to lawyers has increased
immensely. One of the most important things I've learned so far is
how much I don't know. When I came out of law school I felt like I
had a fair amount of knowledge, but then when I met some of my
colleagues I quickly realised the vast gulf between us. There
really is no substitute for on-the-job experience and because
there's such a great emphasis on training and learning here, I'm
sure that my knowledge will continue to grow enormously in the
years to come.