Marta Martinez
Abogado, Banking & Finance
Office: Madrid
Year Joined: 2015
University: Universidad de Murcia
“I can proudly say that not only do we have some of the best lawyers in Spain, but also some of the greatest people.”
I still remember the night before my first day at Clifford Chance. It was a complete nightmare and I was plagued with doubts. Should I review all my notes from university in case anyone asks me a difficult legal question? What will my new colleagues be like? What if I don't fit in? But it only took me that very first day to realise that joining Clifford Chance had been one of the best decisions of my life.
I can proudly say that not only do we have some of the best lawyers in Spain, but also some of the greatest people. Not a day has gone by without my learning something new from my colleagues. We are a very open group, always happy to help each other out and work together as a team. It is no secret that we spend a lot of time together, and things would be infinitely more difficult if we were all not fully at ease in each other's company.
One of the things that I like most about Clifford Chance is that we get the chance to meet new people all the time. We connect not only with our clients, but also with other law firms and Clifford Chance offices around the world. In addition, through courses organised by the Clifford Chance Academy, the firm offers us the opportunity to travel to other cities and network face-to-face with colleagues from different offices.
Born into a family of doctors, I decided to take a risk and study Law, move a long way from my hometown and look for (and find) a demanding but very satisfying job without asking anyone's advice. Therefore, I strongly recommend anyone with a similar professional ambition to take the risk and go for it. It's definitely worth it!
My work
In addition to everything mentioned, I think that the most important part of being a lawyer at Clifford Chance is genuinely enjoying your job. For me, this is not difficult as Banking & Finance, the department in which I work, is considerably more exciting than many people might imagine. We advise on the financing of projects (such as windfarms or highways), assets (you would be surprised at the number of emblematic buildings whose purchase we have helped finance), corporate finance etc.
Most of the transactions in which we are involved have a strong international element, and it is interesting to see how people around the world work differently on such transactions and how we adapt ourselves to the particular clients that we are advising, frequently located in different continents.
Working together from home
In Spain, we've been working from home since the middle of March and the continuity of our work could not be better. The firm has provided all the necessary equipment to help us create a comfortable environment to work at home and we're all very appreciative of this. Work meetings, questions, legal debates and coffee breaks now take place with the involvement of some form of technology so are over the phone, email, videoconference or instant messaging and this works well.
All the team members (more than 35 people!) join a weekly meeting to catch up, support each other and hear how everybody is doing. Although we definitely miss each other, these calls help a lot, as they're always positive and encouraging.