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A day in the life of...

Sean Crosky

Associate

To put it mildly, I have taken a non-traditional path to my current position at Norton Rose LLP. Although not "home bred" (by either nationality or law firm), I am by no means unique. Norton Rose LLP consists of many people who are in similar situations; neither British nor Norton Rose LLP trained. In many ways this diversity is what makes Norton Rose LLP the exciting place to work that it is. The team I work in consists of people with various backgrounds - some 15 nationalities, a range of legal qualifications and legal backgrounds and a diverse group of cultures and beliefs. Yet at the same time we function as a homogenous, and I think, very warm, group.

I work in the International Securities Group in London, which essentially means that I advise on debt capital markets transactions such as securitisations, Islamic capital markets transactions and other structured products. I often find it quite odd that I am a finance lawyer, I never did a finance, an economic or a commerce subject at university (rather I ran as far away as possible from these subjects). Nor did I really do any “commercial” law subjects; rather I focussed on international law and other subjects which I enjoyed. If I have one thing to say about university it is do something you enjoy and learn to learn: every day I learn something new and this skill is by far the most important one I learnt at university.

So what do I do on a daily basis - I advise clients on structuring complex financings and documenting these transactions. I work closely with major banks (both commercial and investment) as well as the underlying entity to whom they provide finance. Much of my time is spent drafting documents (the reality of being a lawyer); however, equally I am involved with my clients from the start of a transaction in the structuring stage. I meet a variety of people in my day to day work, and most of my transactions involve an element of cross border work, whether it is with clients or colleagues in Europe, Asia, the Middle East or the USA. Building relationships, both professionally and in a business sense is one of the most satisfying elements of my career to date.

Of late I have been involved in some extraordinarily innovative and exciting projects, including the structuring of various shariah compliant structures and structures for carbon trading. One great thing about my area of practice is the diverse fields we work with - Islamic finance, project finance and asset finance, environment, property and general corporate.

Perhaps the most interesting transaction I have ever been involved in is a pro bono transaction which I worked on for over two years. The project was based in the West Bank and Gaza and I was advising a branch of the US Government and a branch of the Palestinian executive. The project established a bank guarantee facility, whereby my clients guaranteed underlying loans to small and medium size enterprises in the West Bank and Gaza. The project is expected to create thousands of jobs and assist in the economic development of the West Bank and Gaza. It is not every day that you get involved in something which is part of the road map to peace. Nor is it every day that you have to go to meetings in Jerusalem and the West Bank - these trips were undeniably highlights of my involvement in the project. I am intensely proud of my involvement in this project; one which I hope will assist in a peaceful solution to the crisis in the Middle East.

Having experience at other major corporate firms, I feel that I am in a relatively good position to comment on Norton Rose LLP as a place to work. I believe that the manner in which Norton Rose LLP portrays itself to the community is representative of how it truly is - it is an extraordinarily diverse and intellectually challenging environment to work in without being overly formal and cold. The work is of the highest calibre, as are its people and I am delighted that I joined the firm.