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The University of Southampton
Southampton Law School

Global legal firm Herbert Smith Freehills invites prize winning students to London offices

Published: 26 September 2016

On the 2nd August 2016, Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) welcomed five law students from Southampton University to attend a high achievers event at their offices in London. The students, who had just completed their first year of study, were awarded this prize as they were the highest performing students in their first year exams. The day was a great success and enabled the students to meet and network with Southampton alumni members now working at HSF.

The day started with a welcome and introduction by Roddy Martin, Southampton alumni and a corporate M&A partner at the firm, this was followed by a Q&A session with a number of trainees who had sat in a variety of seats both in different practice areas at the firm and on client and international secondments. This gave the students the opportunity to ask questions and provided them with an insight into life at a global law firm. The students were then given a tour of the offices, followed by a presentation from Nicholas Downing, Southampton alumni and a partner in the firms construction and engineering practice.

After a lunch with the Southampton alumni team, the students were given a presentation from graduate recruitment on applying for training contracts and the application process itself. This was followed by a Q&A session with Sara Scott - senior associate in one of the firm's disputes groups, Emily Blanshard - an associate in the advocacy unit and Ian Gatt - a partner and QC at the firm.

Each of the students were also given a book on commercial awareness to take away with them to help them with their training contract application preparation.

The students gave very positive feedback;

'Thank you once again for a really eye-opening day yesterday. I'm certainly feeling extremely motivated by the possibility that a firm like HSF could be interested in a mature, future Southampton graduate like me! I really appreciate having had the opportunity to meet everybody'

'The atmosphere at HSF was so friendly and genuine; I left wanting to know more of what it is like being a real member of the team'

 Stephanie Eaton, a trainee at HSF, who helped to organise the day said: 'I found the students to be bright and confident and I was pleased with how well they engaged with the sessions and the alumni members that they met. It was a pleasure to meet them all and I hope to see some of them on the firm's vacation schemes in the future.'

For more information about how to connect with our students, please contact Jan Steele,Senior Tutor and Careers and Employability Co-ordinator in the School of Law - J.Steele@soton.ac.uk

 

 

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