Adios, tough UK vac scheme market

Rob Thompson on how he sidestepped the tough UK vac scheme market by going abroad to gain legal work experience

Vacation schemes are in increasingly short supply - as evidenced the decisions earlier this month of Beachcroft and stricken Halliwells to cancel their summer programmes. I decided to look for work farther afield to boost my CV.

I'm now just over half-way through my first major law-related internship in-house with the Spanish legal department of a large, multinational aerospace and defence company.

Before arriving, I was a mix of nerves and apprehension. Would my language skills be good enough? Would I know enough law to not look completely ridiculous? Would the culture be difficult to get used to?

My first day involved coffee with my boss, followed by a coffee break and office gossip at 11, a long lunch at 1pm on the dot, then an afternoon coffee with my fellow interns, who showed me the timetable. I needn't have worried.

Then the work started to pick up. It has been very variable. So far during my time here I have dealt with everything from a multimillion-euro foreign acquisition to the forced removal of a subsidiary's CEO. I have analysed the implications of the insolvency of shareholders in a key supplier and made sure internal procedures are compliant with relevant national and international legislation. I have used primary legislation in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese and I've even dealt with Saudi Arabian commercial and employment law. My language skills are being tested every day and I am becoming slightly specialised in direct foreign investment in Brazilian industry. Being a relatively small in-house team means that everyone gets involved in all aspects of the law, in every jurisdiction.

Our department is a regular client to several magic circle and top international players. It's fascinating to see the picture from the client's point of view and work on the preparation that goes into a project before external firms are called in. Having sat in on several meetings in which choices were made about which firms to instruct and why, I can say I've learnt a fair deal about exactly what clients look for in (and think of) their lawyers.

It's been a great time to be in Spain, with the national team having won the World Cup for the first time in its history the buzz is tremendous. Any notion of office politics or inter-departmental rivalry is drowned in the overwhelming sense of unity and elation over the achievements of ‘La Roja'. And the long lunches in the company canteen - which typically include a glass of red wine - have been a great opportunity to hone my football punditry skills.

When it comes to internships, don't neglect looking in-house and certainly don't rule out going abroad. The work is just as relevant, and the rewards - in my case around €1000 a month - can be pretty good. If one day you want to be at the heart of major international transactions, what better way to gain an insight into a business culture than to sample it first hand?

Rob Thompson is a law student at the University of Bristol

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