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Editorial - Jones Day
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Emma Martin: Second Year Trainee
Solicitor, Jones Day
University: Cambridge
Degree and class: History, 2.1
My first contact with Jones Day was at a
presentation the firm gave at the beginning
of my final year at university. I found it
very refreshing compared to the multitude of
other law firm presentations I had attended
-informal, open and welcoming - which I
now realise was a very honest reflection of
the firm and the training contract it offers.
This presentation gave me the opportunity to
speak to current trainees and find out about
the firm's unique non-rotational training
system. It was the combination of the lovely
people I met and the different outlook of the
firm regarding training that led me to apply
for a placement scheme at Jones Day.
The placement scheme is treated very much
as a "mini training contract" in the sense
that you sit in your own office or share an
office with other placement students rather
than sitting with a partner mentor and you
are responsible for seeking out work from all
departments within the firm for the duration
of the two weeks. Admittedly this is a
daunting prospect on day one but you soon
settle it in and come to realise the benefits
of not having a mentor sitting over your
shoulder and having much more control over
the work that you get involved with. For me,
this experience cemented my understanding
of how the training contract would work and
confirmed my thoughts that it was exactly
what I wanted from a law firm.
One year in to my training contract I have
not been disappointed, in fact the training
system has far exceeded my expectations.
The experience of the placement scheme has
definitely held true; you are expected to seek
work from people and you are very much in
control of your workload and who you work
for. The autonomy I have been given over the
work I have done has been brilliant. I have
been able to work for at least four departments
in the last year, sometimes all at the same
time (which provides great diversity in your
work) and sometimes working only on one
particular transaction/case for one department
(giving you the opportunity to really get
your teeth into the work and seeing how it
progresses). Having been able to spend the
first year trying lots of different areas of law
and getting a pretty rounded experience, I am
now in a position with a year to go, to be able
to concentrate on the one or two areas I have
enjoyed the most, building on the experience
I have already gained in these areas.
With regard to the type of work you can
expect, again the training system allows you
to often have a large amount of responsibility
early on, often doing the work equivalent to
that of a junior associate. In particular, I have
had much more client contact and contact with
other lawyers than I expected. In addition
to communicating with clients regularly
on a one-to-one basis over the telephone, I
have attended client meetings either at the
completion of a transaction or to advise them
on a particular strategy, attended lawyers
meetings to negotiate contracts, spoken with
counsel in litigious matters and participated
on multi-party conference calls.
But it is not just the control of your work and
the quality of the work which attracted me to
Jones Day. The office has a very friendly and
non-hierarchical atmosphere, with people of
all levels of experience socialising together
outside of the office and in the office,
everyone always has the time of day for you
and will happily wander into your office just
to have a chat.
The Jones Day training contract is unique
and challenging and more importantly, is
what you make of it. For me, it has been an
entirely positive experience, however, it is
not for everyone. You have to be proactive
and can't expect work just to fall on your lap
all the time, you must be prepared to work
hard and willing to take on responsibility and
you must be able to manage a busy workload.
However, if you have all these qualities, then
Jones Day has the perfect training contract for
you, allowing you to gain the best possible
experience and shape your own career more
than any other law firm I know of. |
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