Our lawyers find it difficult to pin down ‘daily tasks’ as such. Some things are organised and methodical, but we have to make room for the random and unpredictable. But here, in a nutshell, are the kinds of tasks and activities that trainee graduates in Greater China can expect to get involved in. You can also take a look at the deal to gain an insight into the kind of work we do and what it’s all about.
Decision-making
A client calls with an urgent amendment to a contract. Not that simple when you need to change 14 different documents and get them signed off within the hour. Can you do it? What about your other work? When will you finish the research you were planning to do next? And, the ultimate question, is it actually the right thing to do? Very often, there are no cut-and-dried answers, so common sense is equally as important as intellect.
Drafting
Lawyers have to be absolute masters of the written word. Even a misplaced comma could have serious ramifications for a client. Part of our professional responsibility is to convey meaning with absolute precision – so if you’re good with words now, we’ll make you even better. One of the first big milestones of your career will be a draft agreement that sails through untouched by the red pen.
Knowledge Management
We have something called a ‘bible’: a collection of all the significant documents relating to a particular deal. Very often, it’s the trainee’s job to produce it – to track, sequence and collate the components of the transaction to create a document that will become part of the firm’s shared knowledge base. It’s important for our lawyers (wherever they are in the world), who will use that information when working on a similar deal in the future. But it’s also important for you. Capturing knowledge plays a vital role in the learning process because you’re dealing with the basic elements of the law.
Problem-solving
Imagine if you were working on your own, under fierce time pressures, with a lot to do. And then something goes wrong. Do you curl up into a ball? We need to know that you’ll stay cool and work out a practical course of action to deal with the problem. Your ability to turn a potential nightmare into a viable solution will be a major source of job satisfaction – and learning.
Relationship-building
Your ability to understand people, and build relationships with them will be the making of you. Earning trust, creating rapport and taking on board alternative points of view are all tools of the trade. At Linklaters, we work closely with each other and we learn from each other (in the early days you’ll even be sitting in the same room as your principal); but you’ll also form close bonds with all kinds of other people, from clients and couriers, to secretaries and librarians.
Research
You’ll have a huge range of online resources and support at your fingertips to get at the information you need. But it’s not just data ‘shuffling’. Intelligent research teases out details, patterns and relationships that will be missed by a superficial search. And that’s when the real innovation can begin.
Teamwork
In this kind of environment, individual initiative and resourcefulness are highly-prized, and so team work has a special meaning. We have a co-operative culture where experienced people are generous with their time and make themselves available to the less experienced. If you need help, you can always get it.
Unpredictables
One of the most compelling reasons to be part of this world, is the ‘wilder’ material. You might find yourself having to immediately get to grips with a folder of correspondence to be able to answer an urgent client query. You might be seconded to a client and have to deal with Linklaters’ colleagues as though they were ‘the other party’. You could act as a buddy to a vacation student or find yourself doing a song-and-dance routine with them at the annual Christmas party. You may also, as part of your training contract, get to spend six months in one of our other offices. Whatever happens, we can guarantee it will be interesting.