Clifford Chance

I started my career at Clifford Chance Prague in June 2017 as an evening administrative assistant, which was just after I graduated from high school and started my law studies at Charles University in Prague. From the very beginning of my studies I wanted to find a part time job related to law so as to get acquainted with the environment of law and law firms in general. Becoming an evening administrative assistant was the perfect initial step towards my career in law. Since no prior legal education was required for this position, I started to work in an environment of an international law firm from early on despite being only a first-year student of law. Besides, the specific working hours required of this role allowed me to ideally balance the first years of university studies with my job at Clifford Chance. As I progressed with my law studies and gained more experience, I was given the opportunity to advance within the firm and become a Junior Lawyer in the banking and finance department, which is my current role. As a Junior Lawyer in the Prague banking and finance department, I do all sorts of legal work ranging from legal research, communication with courts, state authorities, clients and other legal counsels to drafting agreements and other transactional documentation.

Life at Clifford

The culture at Clifford Chance is open, inspiring, motivating, highly collaborative and engaging. I especially appreciate the fact that everyone's opinion is valued within the firm and that I always feel like my voice matters and that my work does make an impact. Everyone gets the opportunity to showcase their talents and skills no matter the level of seniority. What is more, the firm has always strived to find new ways to further enrich the culture within the firm and to ensure the well-being of people as well as their personal and professional growth (for example, by offering the possibility to attend a wide range of trainings and workshops).

The work

My goal is to be a transactional lawyer and so becoming a Junior Lawyer was a viable step towards that goal. As a Junior Lawyer I am able to gain valuable legal experience in the environment of a leading international law firm in the Czech Republic while studying at the university.

Learning and key skills

Some of the key skills that I view as most valuable and that I have developed during my career at Clifford Chance are problem-solving skills and ability to push transactions forward. As I have been able to work on a wide range of matters, I've learnt to understand and evaluate the necessary and right steps to be taken during a transaction in order to benefit our clients and for us to best represent them. Moreover, I have greatly improved my drafting and negotiation skills, which is highly valuable to me as these are crucial for a transactional lawyer to have. What is more, as I gradually become senior, I get to further hone my ability to efficiently allocate and manage work.

My motivations

With each new project I get to work on I become a better lawyer and that the work I do is appreciated. Whenever I look back at my time here, I can see the progress I've made and I am always curious to see how my skills will progress with each new project I finish. What is also especially rewarding to me is when a colleague comes to me to ask for my opinion on a legal problem or other legal know-how. Additionally, some projects we work on are truly landmark transactions and we must often come up with a legal solution not previously solved on the Czech legal market, and to be able to contribute to the firm's know-how in this way is also something that makes it worth it for me.