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A day in the life of...

Tom Gorman

Associate

One of the main reasons I chose to train here was the structure of the training contract itself. The six seat system really gives you flexibility and means that, if you want to, you can see six totally different areas of the practice (including international offices or even client secondments).

My training contract started off in the International Securities Group in the Banking Team. I had a very busy and interesting four months doing mostly large transactions with some big clients. There is a real buzz about this sort of transactional work and I had a fantastic seat. Having done valuable seats in Tax, Litigation and Corporate, I decided that I was very keen on doing international securities work so returned to the team for my fifth and sixth seats. This is really where the six seat system is beneficial to trainees because by the time I qualified into the International Securities Group I had nearly 12 months’ experience in this team, as well as having seen the other key areas of the practice. This sort of flexibility is unusual and means that if you find an area you like you can be quite experienced by the time you qualify. On the other hand if it takes longer to find the area you want to qualify into you have much more opportunity to try out alternatives.

Another real draw for me was the social and sporting side of the practice. We have a really active sports club and I have been heavily involved in the cricket, golf and softball clubs. Last summer I actually ran the softball team which is a great opportunity to meet people from other legal practice groups (and from within your own practice group) in a more relaxed setting than the office. This is something that the practice is very keen to promote and if you express an interest in almost any sport there is bound to be a club with a budget (or you will be encouraged to start one!)