Richard Glover, Trainee

Position: Trainee
Education: Law with French, Leicester University; LPC, Moorgate
Joined Clifford Chance: 2007

International exposure was an important part of my decision making. I wanted to be sure of getting some overseas experience during my training and few firms offer such a strong prospect of achieving that as Clifford Chance. Ultimately I’m hoping to work abroad as this will provide me with lots of useful experience.

My first seat was in Securitisation, which is typically about banks issuing bonds as a means of refinancing their lending commitments. My second seat is in the Infrastructure department of Corporate, which covers mergers and joint ventures on long-term assets such as power stations, toll bridges and telecommunications towers. An example of what we do here is helping set up a new company to buy an asset. In that instance my role would be to draft sections of the asset or share purchase agreement, or conduct the due diligence to ensure that a company owns the assets it says it does, and that they are worth what it says they are.

Since joining the Corporate practice I’ve been working on a joint venture deal where I’ve been asked to attend meetings and negotiations as well as draft part of the asset purchase agreement. It’s actually very exciting to be in the meeting where everyone is debating the clause you have written. The highlight on those deals is always attending the client meetings and seeing the advice in action. Being so close to the clients is a fantastic way to learn. It’s also very easy to talk to the partners – they are involved in your development and happy to give their time and experience.

I think the firm places a high premium on quality training and sets its sights on retaining the people it develops. It’s very committed to giving you the best possible exposure to clients and deals so that you are building practical skills from the outset. It’s not just about processing you for two years so that you come out with a qualification – you’re actually becoming a lawyer, and you can feel it happening, feel yourself starting to think like lawyer.

I think the firm makes a real commitment to being out in front of the market and has a great track record of innovation. It also has a reputation for being down to earth and looking across a wide spectrum of universities for good people. I think the firm is more interested in the qualities and experiences that will enable people to become good lawyers.

Clifford Chance is obviously a very big firm and I think some people are worried they may feel lost in the numbers. The reality is that this is actually a community – very big but also very close, and somewhere where there’s room for a lot of different kinds of talent and personality. It’s part of what makes it so interesting to be here.