Clifford Chance

I didn't know I wanted to be a lawyer, initially when I left high school I wanted to be a marine scientist. My sister actually suggested I study law and I decided to enrol and see if I enjoyed it, which I really did. It wasn’t until I was working at the Supreme Court that I knew I wanted to also practice as a lawyer.

Clifford Chance offered a different kind of work to what a lot of the other law firms had. I had really enjoyed public international law at university and was interested to see what it was like working in that area. When I applied for clerkships, I had a better idea of the kind of firm I wanted to work at and what I was looking for from the clerkship and graduate experience. Clifford Chance was one of the firms I applied to which had these characteristics and also looked as though it had clear and measurable diversity policies and practices.

I really enjoyed my clerkship as I felt I got to really experience the firm and what it would be like to work there. Everyone was very honest and open about their experiences and happy to share their time to speak with me about any questions I had. This was also something they did after the clerkship had ended. The work I did was varied and interesting and unlike the work I had done on previous clerkships.

The people at Clifford Chance are extremely intelligent and hardworking, you really feel as though you are learning from lawyers who have so much knowledge. People are also really passionate about the work that they do and want to do their best. At the same time, people are really relaxed and friendly and the overall culture is relatively casual and welcoming. It isn't hard to ask for support or questions about the work because of this, and also makes it easy to develop relationships with people in the team.