Spend The Week With A Legal Intern

Earlier this summer, we were delighted to welcome Fionn Cubbin to IHLS for a week-long Legal Internship, where he gained first-hand insight into the workings of an in-house legal services firm and shared his reflections on the experience:

My Week Work Experience at IHLS

I decided to do my work experience in law as it had always been an interest of mine. I find the idea of dealing with high respected clients and big projects exciting and something I would like to do in the future. As I am 15 years old during this experience with only one week, I can’t receive the full experience however the staff at IHLS have been very welcoming and made sure I’m involved in almost everything. Going into this week I hoped to gain more of an idea of what the work life is all about and how a business is ran.

My first impressions as a weekly intern was that the whole atmosphere of the office was warm and welcoming. I was introduced to Rahel and Nawal who looked after me throughout the week whilst introducing me to other workers who I later would learn skills off. Most days I would be invited to join various people on meetings with important clients where I would learn how a project should be managed and carried out. Furthermore, most days I would be given an independent task to display what I have learnt over the course of the 5 days such as adding data to spreadsheets or checking through NDAs with Ted. Throughout the week there was a good balance between independent work and watching how the professionals do it leading to a good idea of how this business is ran.

What I also learnt is that at IHLS they are very different to the average law firm. I first learnt the difference between in-house lawyers and private practice which is that in-house lawyers are usually an internal team employed by a company to help manage the legal side. Whereas private lawyers work for law firms and serve multiple clients. IHLS sits in the middle of these two types as they provide a complete in-house legal team for a company without having to be hired directly or they can also work with a company’s current legal team who are overwhelmed by too much work. The TSS (Transaction Support Solutions) department of IHLS deal with a lot of NDAs and non-reliance letters that have been sent to them by a company for checking to make sure it is good to sign. The ELTS (External Legal Team Solutions) is the commercial contract side of IHLS, and they deal with when companies need commercial contracts to be reviewed  such as software agreements, supplier agreements or more generally legal risk management.

I have learnt a lot over this past week working with IHLS. Rahel for example has taught me how to balance the finances of a business whilst also completing spreadsheets, sending professional emails and answering all my questions. He taught me all about the different areas of law and why/how he got into commercial law. Nawal showed me how to complete NDAs along with Ted who was acting as my buddy. I was also introduced into the marketing side of the company by Brian when I was invited to join him on his meeting with his marketing team. Then I met Harrison who took me through a massive project with one of their clients and he showed me how he broke down each document and marked it accordingly. So, throughout the week I had learned a range of skills and gained a lot of experience in this area of law so that when I eventually go on to do law in the future I already have a head start on my competitors.

My advice for future lawyers doing their work experience in a firm is don’t be afraid to ask questions. The staff at IHLS were very open and honest about their answers to my questions which I found particular helpful and some of these answers I could not find on the internet myself. Equipment wise a pen and notebook would be sufficient as a laptop is provided, and a notebook should be useful to record all your notes in throughout the week.

Overall, this week has been very insightful and interesting as I got to see what working for a top law firm is like and how law is generalised into just court however it can be much more. This experience has taught me core skills that I can take with me to help me become a lawyer one day. Big thank you to all the team at IHLS as they have made me feel very welcome and not once was I bored or felt uncomfortable.

Kind Regards,

Fionn Cubbin.