Position: Trainee
Education: Law and Business, University of Birmingham; LPC, College of Law, Bloomsbury
Joined Clifford Chance: March 2008 as a paralegal; August 2010 as a trainee
First seat: Capital Markets
Second seat: Finance A (Asset Finance)

I worked as a paralegal in the litigation department of a small High Street law firm after my LPC, to build on my legal work experience. The firm mainly focused on private client work and as the deals were small, I had a lot of responsibility and learned a lot. I was keen to use the skills I'd learned to move to a bigger, more commercial firm, so I was very happy to be offered a position at Clifford Chance. I worked in the Corporate department as a paralegal before I joined the graduate programme as a trainee.

My first seat was in Capital Markets. The department generally deals with raising finance, either through equity share or debt, which covers a wide range of debt instruments including bonds. I had the opportunity to work on both types of transaction, which gave me a really good overview of how the department works.

The firm's clients are the world's largest banks and companies and for a trainee, this offers the opportunity to work on very large, market-leading transactions. If you want to work on transactions of that kind of scale, this is one of the few places where you can do so. Although the deals are large, there is always the opportunity to be awarded high levels of responsibility, with the comfort of having lots of people around to ensure you are also well supported.

In my second seat, Finance A, I've focused on financing for large assets, commonly aeroplanes. The department works for companies which help to finance aeroplanes all over the world, for airlines including Virgin Atlantic and EasyJet, and airline manufacturers such as Airbus. The transactions are truly global in nature and afford me the chance to develop an in-depth knowledge of the aviation industry.

During my time in Finance A, I have been given a number of transactions to run on my own, with very minimal input from more senior lawyers. On a daily basis I liaise with counsel and clients located all over the world. As a result, I can find my day swinging from one time zone to another - which does mean some long hours when deals are closing, but it's always been manageable, and I've thoroughly enjoyed my time in the department.

I did the two-week litigation training programme which means I don't have to do a litigation seat. For my third seat I'm going to Corporate, and my fourth seat is likely to be in Dubai. There's a lot of growth in the area and Clifford Chance is well placed to capitalise on the opportunities there. I'm also looking forward to learning more about how the global firm works.

Working at Clifford Chance gives me the opportunity to learn how to provide commercially relevant legal advice to clients located around the globe. Our clients rely on us to get deals done, and as a trainee, my role in helping them to reach that goal is always hugely rewarding.