1) | A |
2) | B |
3) A B C D WHO WE ARE. ................. Page 3 . WHAT WE DO................... Page 7 WHY TRAIN WITH US.... Page 17 WHAT TO DO NEXT....... Page 29
4)
5) M E W E L C Thank you for your interest in Latham & Watkins. We very much hope that you find the information on the following pages useful and that you will consider starting your legal career with us here in London. We believe Latham is different from other law firms. We are one of the few law firms with a truly global platform, with strength not only across North America but also in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, including in the world’s major financial centres. What we have in London is a fully committed and growing fullservice platform, where we provide all of the specialist knowledge and expertise that our clients need. We can handle international cross-border transactions without the need to outsource any of the work, and that’s what we do, every day of the week. In London we offer trainees the opportunity to work in an office where, despite our considerable size, our teams are smaller than those you will encounter in many of the large English law firms. You really will get to contribute and you will be treated as an important team member from day one. In many ways, we offer you the best of both worlds: the opportunity to handle transactions of a profile and complexity that equals those being carried out at any other law firm, in an environment where you can stand out from the crowd and be valued as an individual. This office is at an exciting point in its history, well-established and respected in the UK market, but still with ambitious growth plans. The firm’s Executive Committee is committed to expanding the firm, including the London office in a way that meets the needs of the leading financial institutions and multinational corporations that we serve, and that means we need to continue to grow in London. Our London office already has 220 lawyers and offers great opportunities for talented lawyers to make their mark here. Finally, a few words on what really makes Latham different, and that’s our “one firm” culture. This firm is managed by consensus, across the board. Almost all of the committees responsible for running our business are staffed by associates as well | 1 | as partners, with a strong and genuine focus on making sure that everyone feels like stakeholders in the business. Our Associates Committee, about which you will find more details on page 5, is unique, bringing together lawyers of all levels from each of our 31 offices to make decisions that really matter, including the selection of new partners. The following information is intended to give you a sense of what life is like as a trainee and a lawyer here at Latham. We encourage you to contact us with any questions, and look forward to hearing from you. NICK CLINE London Office Managing Partner O
6) D P E O P L E L I V E R
7) A WHO WE ARE
8) L W Latham & Watkins is one of the largest global law firms, practising in 31 offices worldwide. We have no head office and no dominant practice. We have built internationally recognised practices across a wide spectrum of transactional, contentious, corporate and regulatory areas. Latham is governed by an open, inclusive and consensus-driven management style. Our Executive Committee members, practice leaders and global committee chairs are based across the US, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, and our “one firm” culture means that firm decisions are made by consensus, taking into consideration a broad range of opinions. With our geographic and practice area diversity we are genuinely global and our lawyers frequently work across offices to provide clients with the best international expertise. Very few firms can match our worldwide resources or our truly international outlook. In London, we are a full-service operation with experts in all of the firm’s core practice areas. We now have more than 220 lawyers, and that number is growing all the time. We represent investment banks, financial institutions, private equity houses, corporates, governments and other organisations, and we handle some of the largest and most complex cross-border deals and cases in the London market. OUR LONDON OFFICE LEADING PRACTICES Our London practice and our English law platform are now as large and full service as many of the wellestablished UK firms, but with the added advantage of a powerful international network. Lawyers in our London office handle work all over the world, alongside each of our other offices. The firm has its origins in America and that is a huge advantage to us, but our practice is now genuinely global, which means we don’t typically work around US hours in London or rely on our offices in the US to provide our work. International trade law Banking & leveraged finance Capital markets Employment & incentive Environmental law EU & antitrust Intellectual property International arbitration International dispute resolution Investment funds Litigation Mergers & acquisitions Private equity Project finance Real estate Restructuring & insolvency Structured finance Tax Technology transactions & outsourcing Venture capital | 4 |
9) WHO WE ARE We recruit only the highest calibre candidates, both in terms of academics and personality. That’s because we pride ourselves on our collegiate atmosphere and our collaborative style, which we work hard to maintain. Latham is made up of people from a variety of backgrounds with a diversity of opinions but we all value originality and creative thinking, and we all put a strong emphasis on client service, entrepreneurship and teamwork. Our associates are involved in firm management through their participation on our Associates, Recruitment, Diversity and Pro Bono Committees, amongst others. We look for candidates who are leaders and will make a positive contribution to the firm as a whole – we also require our lawyers to be able to apply the law in a commercial context and take charge on client matters by showing initiative early on in their careers. We expect our trainees to be given meaningful responsibility on client matters from the outset. MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD The Associates Committee We believe our Associates Committee is unique, and illustrates much of what is special about our firm. It brings together lawyers of all levels of seniority, including partners, from almost every one of our offices, and those individuals oversee all lawyer reviews, progression and welfare at the firm. If any associate finds themselves with an issue in their office, it is usually their Associates Committee representative that they are encouraged to speak to first. The review process for lawyers at Latham is different to many firms, in that all the individuals who have supervised another lawyer write a review on that person’s performance. It then falls to the Associates Committee to consider all of those reviews twice a year, and a member of the Committee will provide feedback to the lawyer concerned about how they are doing. | 5 | This review process feeds in to partner progression decisions, and in their seventh and eighth year associates are told about their partnership prospects by members of the Associates Committee. New partner decisions are made by the Committee in an extremely transparent process, and not just by the partners that work closely with the candidates. It may seem counter-intuitive that an associate in Munich can have meaningful input on the career prospects of a partnership candidate in Tokyo, but promoting partners on the basis of their talents and achievements and not because they have worked for a particular partner in their local office is very important to us and has been since the firm’s inception.
10) G D R P E O P L E W L T I V H E R
11) B WHAT WE DO
12) D E A L We advised ABN AMRO (Nederland) NV on the sale of its prime funds solutions business to Credit Suisse. We advised Highbridge Mezzanine Partners, KKR Asset Management and AlpInvest Partners as subordinated lenders in connection with KKR’s £955 million acquisition of Pets at Home. We advised the facility agent and mandated lead arrangers in a £1.98 billion senior secured credit facility for Virgin Media, the largest sterling leveraged loan syndication of the past two years. | 8 | We advised a consortium of banks on the €3.6 billion debt financing for Spartan Capital Holdings’ acquisition of Polish mobile telephone operator Polkomtel. It is the largest leveraged buyout financing in Europe since 2008.
13) WHAT WE DO DEALS & CASES Our London office works on some of the biggest transactions and disputes globally, regularly advising many of the world’s leading companies and financial institutions. Below are a few examples of recent work handled by lawyers in London. FAST MOVERS We staff deals differently at Latham. We like to keep things lean, using small teams of highly capable lawyers to deliver the best services to our clients. From early on in We represented ArcelorMittal in the Prestressing Steel cartel investigation by the European Commission and the related court proceedings. After nine years of investigation, the Commission in April 2011 dramatically reduced the fine imposed on our client from € 276 million to € 45.7 million. their careers, Latham lawyers are encouraged to take responsibility and become heavily involved in transactions. There is plenty of supervision and support, but everyone is encouraged to work above their class-year level, so they enjoy exposure to issues that might be handled by more senior people elsewhere. getting a good balance of work and opportunities to progress. On most deals you’ll work closely with an associate or a partner. You’ll be expected to step up to the mark, and encouraged to take responsibility, but you will always get help if you need it. MOVE THINGS FORWARD At Latham, it is down to the partners and senior associates in each department to ensure the junior associates and trainees are We advised Vedanta Resources plc on its US$10 billion acquisition of up to 60% of Cairn India Limited, an Indian natural resources company, from Cairn Energy PLC. This was the largest deal on the London Stock Exchange in 2011. We advised Barclays Capital in connection with the US$2.4 billion financing for Phillips-Van Heusen’s acquisition of the Tommy Hilfiger global business. | 9 | We represented Ukraine in an ICSID arbitration brought by GEA AG, a German petrochemicals company. GEA claimed approximately US$70 million.
14) MATHEW EVANS Law King’s College London July 2006 August 2006 Started the Training Contract Corporate (Capital Markets) seat March 2008 Litigation seat September 2008 Secondment to the Brussels office. Anti-Trust seat March 2009 Project Finance seat September 2009 | Started the LPC at BPP September 2007 10 Interviewed and was offered a Training Contract starting in 2007 September 2006 | Applied for a Training Contract Qualified into Litigation
15) WHAT WE DO MOVE THINGS FORWARD Latham has world-leading practices in a wide range of areas, and is particularly well-known in transactional, litigation, corporate and regulatory work. If you join the firm you’ll be exposed to complex and groundbreaking work on a daily basis, as our involvement in the Madoff litigation demonstrates. litigation team who has been involved with the case since qualifying in 2009. As the only UK-based associate on the team, he has been working with two other Latham offices and various local counsel in other jurisdictions to investigate the claims made against our clients and uncover the facts relating to unravelling the fraud. In 2009, the American financier and non-executive chairman of the Nasdaq stock market, Bernard Madoff, pleaded guilty in a US court to defrauding thousands of investors of billions of dollars. The amount missing from client accounts, including fabricated gains, was almost US$65bn. Matt says: “A lot of my work has involved client interviews and frequent international travel, particularly to Central and Eastern Europe, and coordinating the overall defence strategy. The team in London is comprised of two partners and myself, together with a partner and an associate in Frankfurt, and a partner, a counsel and three associates in New York.” A team of Latham attorneys spread across our New York, London and Frankfurt offices is currently working for a group of clients connected with institutions that have had claims made against them by former Madoff investors. Our clients find themselves facing allegations relating to Madoff’s fraudulent investment operation. Matthew Evans is a two-year qualified associate in our London He adds, “We are trying to deflect a series of claims that have been made in various forums, and work out exactly what happened. I’ve been given a great level of responsibility, and have had frequent client contact. This has given me the chance to develop skills that I don’t think I would be able to develop elsewhere at this stage of my career.” | 11 | Matt says he always wanted to practise in litigation, and that he chose the Latham training contract because it offered the opportunity for real “hands-on” experience on international cases. “You actually develop a really close rapport with the colleagues that you work with in other offices,” he says, “so you don’t ever feel detached. We have lots of team calls and get together for client meetings, so we have a close working relationship even though we spend much of our time working in offices that are thousands of miles apart.” MATHEW EVANS Trainee 2007–2009
16) NICK DAVIES English and French Law King’s College London and Universite Pantheon – Sorbonne December 2004 Applied for a summer vacation scheme August 2005 Attended the summer vacation scheme September 2005 Offered a Training Contract starting in September 2007 September 2006 Started the LPC at The College of Law September 2007 Started the Training Contract Corporate (M&A) seat March 2008 Project Finance seat September 2008 Secondment to the Moscow office. Corporate seat March 2009 Litigation (Anti-Trust) seat September 2009 Qualified into Corporate | 12 |
17) WHAT WE DO MOVE ON UP At Latham we take career development very seriously, and from your first day here we’ll work in partnership with you to help you realise your ambitions and take your career in the direction you choose. Nick did a vacation scheme with us in 2005, and is now an associate in our corporate team. Here’s his story: “I did the Latham vacation scheme when I was in my third year of a four-year degree course in English law and French law. I applied in December 2004, and was accepted to attend the scheme beginning in August 2005. By that time I’d already completed a similar scheme at one of the big English law firms, and what stood out for me was just how different the two firms were. Latham had a more open culture without all the hierarchy that you get at the traditional English firms, and the opportunity to be part of a smaller trainee intake meant I would get more one-on-one attention. It all felt much more personalised and hands-on. During the second week of the vacation scheme you can interview for the training contract, and that was quite informal. Of course, it’s hugely competitive but the system is much more human compared with all the ‘grillings’ they put you through at other firms. Out of all the training contract offers I received, the offer from Latham was the most exciting because it was the chance to be part of a growing office in a firm with a global reputation. I joined Latham as a trainee in September 2007. My first seat was in the corporate department, where I gained a lot of experience on headline-making deals, and then my second one was in project finance, in which I really enjoyed playing a key part in huge infrastructure projects and had the opportunity of travelling to Qatar to close a deal. For my third seat I spent six months in Moscow in the depths of winter, which I loved — it was a great opportunity to get to know another office and make new friends and gave me a valuable insight into the legal and business challenges in emerging markets. My final seat was in antitrust, which I chose because I thought it would be useful to get a grounding in | 13 | competition law, having known early on that I wanted to qualify into corporate. It’s a key moment when you become qualified to practise law. Then you are in your own office and you feel like you’ve arrived. That can be daunting, especially when you’re in direct contact with clients, working with them to make important investment decisions, but the training you get prepares you for that. You know what you should do in almost all situations and every partner and associate has an open door and is approachable and willing to exchange ideas and offer support.” NICK DAVIES Trainee 2007–2009
18) KEEP ON MOVING Qualified lawyers continue to receive access to comprehensive and ongoing training at the firm. We provide regular seminars and training sessions for all our trainees and lawyers using both internal resources and external providers. We run a series of Latham & Watkins Academies that help to further our lawyers’ legal and personal skills and enhance their understanding of the firm from a global perspective. Held for all of our first year, third year and fifth year associates, the Academies bring together entire peer groups from across all of the firm’s offices, so that associates get to meet their colleagues from around the business and learn with each other. First Year Academy The First Year Academy combines formal training programmes on topics such as the “Anatomy of a Lawsuit” and the “Critical skills for practicing as a lawyer” with social activities that enable the associates to get to know their peers from around the firm. Third Year Academy This programme offers a mix of presentations and workshops with an emphasis on supervision, client interaction and business development. By the end of the academy, the associates have a clear understanding of how to make a successful transition from being a junior to a mid-level associate. | 14 | It also allows our associates to continue to build relationships with their peers across the Latham network. Fifth Year Academy This final Academy is a training programme focused on the transition from mid-level to senior associate. Topics include courses on partnership standards, business development, firm finances, mentoring and public speaking, as well as professional growth and development opportunities.
19) WHAT WE DO MAKE IT COUNT: SERIOUS ABOUT COMMUNITY Each of our offices is fully immersed in its local community, and pro bono work is an important part of what we do. The firm is one of the largest providers of free legal services in the world. In 2010, with almost 1,900 attorneys, paralegals, summer associates, trainees and professional staff in 27 offices across 13 countries participating in our program, Latham provided almost 200,000 hours of free legal services valued at approximately US$91 million, including approximately 6,000 hours of free legal advice provided out of the London office. We aim to use our expertise and resources locally, nationally and globally to support the legal needs of disadvantaged individuals and the not-for-profit organisations that work with them. We treat pro bono work in the same way as fee-paying client work: pro bono hours contribute to annual target hours for lawyers; work is reviewed and supervised in the same way; and pro bono is used as part of the associate evaluation and bonus system. In London we act for charities, notfor-profits and community projects. Some of the organisations we work closely with include Human Rights Watch, an independent body focused on defending and protecting human rights internationally, and Virtue Foundation, which provides humanitarian assistance through healthcare, education and empowerment initiatives. In 2010 we worked for Ashoka, an organisation that invests in social entrepreneurs to help them transform communities, on a number of matters, including company and charity law issues affecting its UK subsidiary and various employment and tax issues. We also advised the BLUE Marine Foundation, which promotes marine conservation, on its organisational structure and on achieving charitable status in the UK. All of our London associates are encouraged to participate in more than 60 hours of pro bono work a year, and are invited to bring in their own pro bono clients to the firm. | 15 | Diversity Our lawyers and staff around the world are comprised of a rich mixture of men and women of different races, ethnic backgrounds, cultures, sexual orientations and primary languages. We believe the firm is strengthened enormously by this, and our commitment to diversity and equal opportunities allows Latham to recruit and retain the best lawyers across the globe. We continue to make a concerted effort to build on our firm culture and to value individuality and differences among our employees. Sustainability Latham’s SMART (Sustainable Measures and Recycling Tactics) initiative implements the firm’s global sustainability policy. We believe everyone in the firm can play a daily part in reducing our impact on the environment, conserving natural resources and managing our firm in a more sustainable way. Examples include educating our people about ways we can reduce paper consumption, conserve natural resources, and operate in a more sustainable and cost-effective manner.
20) G D R P E O P L E W L I N V E S T I V H E R
21) C WHY TRAIN WITH US
22) V A C OUR VACATION SCHEME The London office of Latham offers two-week placement schemes twice a year, one over Easter and one during the summer, for candidates who are considering an application for a training contract at the firm. As we recruit predominately from our vacation schemes, we encourage candidates to apply for those instead of applying directly for a training contract. For the Easter scheme we invite applications from candidates who are in their final year, who have graduated, or who are doing their GDL or LPC studies, while the summer scheme is primarily aimed at law undergraduates in their penultimate year of study. Both vacation schemes are exactly the same in terms of content, and aim to introduce you to our work and our culture by providing plenty of opportunities to meet and socialise with the people who work at Latham. If you choose to participate in one of our vacation schemes, you will spend time in two of our departments; a week in each. Before you arrive you’ll be invited to tell us your preferences in terms of practice areas, and we’ll do our best to place you in a seat that you request. During each seat, you’ll share an office with a supervisor who is a qualified lawyer, and you will be treated like any other Latham trainee. During the course of the two-week period, candidates are asked to produce two pieces of written work and deliver a short presentation to a group of their peers about one of the firm’s practice areas. Other members of the office also deliver presentations, so that you will be immersed in the firm and gain a thorough view of how we work. Candidates are all assigned a mentor before the scheme starts, usually a current trainee, and that mentor will get in touch with you before you arrive and will be a friendly face to make you feel comfortable throughout your time with us. While you are here you will enjoy plenty of social events designed to show you the relaxed and open side of Latham, and give you access to lawyers and trainees who can answer your questions. You will then be asked to decide whether you would like to apply for a training contract with us, and if so, you will undertake an interview during the second week. | 18 | For the last two years we have had a 100 per cent acceptance rate: all of the candidates that have attended our vacation scheme and been offered training contracts have accepted them. In 2011 Legal Week named us the Best Vacation Scheme Provider, as voted for by students.
23) WHY TRAIN WITH US MAKE AN IMPRESSION The Latham vacation scheme is all about giving you a chance to get to know us better, so that you can decide whether we’re the right firm for you. We can normally accommodate your choice of seats to maximise the benefit you get from your time with us, and we’ll introduce you to lots of members of our team, as Yasmina explains: “I joined the vacation scheme at Latham in Easter 2011, and I’m currently in my final year of a PhD in biomedical engineering. I was attracted to the firm because I know two people that work there, in New York and Hamburg, and they were full of enthusiasm and spoke much more positively about their jobs than friends I have at other firms. I asked to do my first week in the intellectual property group within the corporate department, and my second in antitrust litigation, and I was able to do both. Most of my time was spent doing legal research alongside my supervisor, drafting a couple of documents, and redrafting contracts. I found it all interesting and challenging. The scheme really acted as confirmation for me of the perception I had about Latham. I witnessed firsthand the way the firm is managed, and saw that the associates are genuinely involved in decisions. When I was interviewed for a training contract in the second week, both associates and partners were there, and it felt like everyone had a say in who would join the firm, which I liked. It was very different to the top-down approach I’d seen elsewhere. The interview was relaxed and informal, and I actually enjoyed it. It was more like a conversation, reviewing what I had done and what conclusions I had drawn from the programme. The interview was on the Friday and I found out on Monday that I’d been accepted. I start my training contract at Latham in August 2013. One of the things that stood out for me about the scheme was how well organised the social programme was. We did lots of things, including a bowling evening, where we got to | 19 | meet a range of people from across the firm. We also had one-to-one lunches with our supervisors and mentors, which I found really useful. I felt I really got a chance to have a good chat and find out what the firm was like.” YASMINA BORHANI Easter vacation scheme 2011
24) MAKING YOUR MIND UP As soon as you accept the offer of a training contract at Latham, you will be assigned a mentor who will work closely with you in the run-up to your arrival at the firm. That mentor will be a trainee and will act as a point of contact for you in the years before you start, and they will be able to answer your questions and help you familiarise yourself with the firm. You will also have up to three opportunities to meet your mentor face-to-face before you begin your training. We host two social events a year for our future joiners, and these are also attended by current trainees, supervisors and the Recruitment Committee members. These events are designed to be informal gettogethers that allow future trainees and current trainees to get to know each other, so as to ease your transition into the firm and help you get to know people here before you arrive. The Training Contract Latham hires 15 to 20 trainees every August and we currently have a total of 28 trainees at the firm. The training contract consists of four six-month seats, including mandatory corporate, finance and litigation seats. There is also an opportunity to spend six months in one of our overseas offices such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, Paris or Moscow. So far, we have been able to offer an international seat to every trainee that has requested one. Language lessons are also available for some overseas seats. Trainees share an office with their supervisor in each seat and are also assigned a mentor as an extra means of support. They are also encouraged to communicate with their supervisor and our Recruiting Committee to make sure their career is following the path that they wish to pursue. | 20 | As far as possible, training is bespoke and tailored to your individual preferences. It’s a two-way process, and how it develops is the result of ongoing dialogue and consultation. In addition to learning ‘on the job’ there is a formal training programme providing trainees with the fundamentals of the group they are joining on rotation, as well as more specific skills such as drafting and networking. You are given plenty of responsibility but the Latham culture means you’ll never feel like you’re out on your own, because you can always talk to an associate or a partner to get any support you need. Above all, our trainees are treated as members of the team who are able to make a meaningful contribution. This means you get very good exposure to client work as well as building relationships with many individuals, at all levels of seniority, around the firm.
25) WHY TRAIN WITH US MIXING At Latham, we have a culture of hard work, commitment and quality, but we don’t believe that doing the very best for our clients means we can’t have fun in the process. The firm is a relaxed place to practise law and the environment is non-hierarchical, friendly and supportive. We believe our social programme is an important part of who we are. The London office has two parties a year, one during the summer and one at Christmas, to which everyone is invited. We also have a quarterly LO Bar event, when the firm puts money behind the bar at a local venue and everyone is invited to come along, to mix with people from other departments and get to know each other. On a healthier note, the firm runs weekly evening yoga classes in the office that are subsidised and open to all. In addition, Latham offices participate every year in a firmwide inter-office competition called the Spring Challenge, when the offices compete to do the most exercise during a set period. Everyone is invited to log their participation, whether it’s walking to the office, riding a bike or running a marathon, and then totals are calculated, taking into account different office sizes, after which a winning office is announced. During the Spring | 21 | Challenge there are lots of parallel events and other initiatives going on, with the firm making smoothies and healthy breakfasts available, for example, and running clubs taking place. All year round there are plenty of opportunities to get involved in team sports with your colleagues, with our cricket and football teams being particularly popular.
26) THEO KALIC Law with International Relations Sussex University December 2007 August 2008 Started the LPC at The College of Law September 2009 Started the Training Contract Finance seat March 2010 Corporate (M&A) seat September 2010 Secondment to Hong Kong office. Finance and Corporate seat March 2011 Finance seat September 2011 | Offered a Training Contract starting in September 2009 September 2008 22 Attended the summer vacation scheme September 2008 | Applied for a summer vacation scheme Qualified into Capital Markets
27) WHY TRAIN WITH US MAKE IT HAPPEN The Latham corporate practice is one of the best in the world, adept at handling complex cross-border deals on a daily basis. As a trainee, you’ll be fully involved in headline-grabbing transactions from the start. The trainees were an integral part of our team when we advised on the high-profile sale of Harrods, for example: At the end of 2009, London corporate partner Nick Cline was contacted by the Qatar Investment Authority, which was interested in acquiring London’s iconic luxury department store the Harrods Group from Mohammed Al Fayed. The deal called for experts in benefits and compensation, intellectual property, real estate and tax as well as mergers and acquisitions, and Nick assembled a team of lawyers across our London, Hamburg, Paris and Silicon Valley offices to advise the client. In March 2010, Theo Kalic joined the corporate department in London, starting out on the second seat of his training contract having already spent six months in the restructuring group. He found himself immediately in the thick of the Harrods deal, which was set to close in May. He was part of a lean core corporate team: alongside Nick there was a sixth year associate, Farah O’Brien, who took the lead role below Nick running the deal. There was also a mid-level associate, Robbie McLaren, a junior associate, Nick Davies, and Theo. Theo says: “My responsibilities were supporting the junior lawyers with the signing of the transaction and everything leading up to it – from assisting with principal transaction documents, drafting ancillary transaction documents and performing diligence. The diligence process was fascinating – we were working with the employment department, tax and IP to get an in-depth knowledge of Harrods and this required us to become experts in every aspect of the business and make legal and commercial assessments on everything we saw.” He rose to the challenge. Farah says: “The trainees were a vital part of the transaction team, we really couldn’t have done it without them. They were involved in most aspects of the deal, and Theo also attended the signing and closing meeting in London, which involved checking original documents and was a very important task. I think the deal demonstrates how Latham trainees are expected to step up and become fully involved in all aspects of transactions, both having autonomy and responsibility for their own specific | 23 | tasks, and supporting more senior members of the deal team.” Theo, who went on to complete seats in Hong Kong and banking, says: “The Harrods deal was great, because I was thrust right into the middle of it and the learning curve was pretty steep. I got the thrill of learning new things for the first time, and whilst I was expected to know what I was doing, when I was unsure everyone took the time out to teach and explain. Being part of such a friendly and close-knit team we helped each other through the highs and lows of the deal and had a great time celebrating our client’s success”. Nick Cline, who is now managing partner of the London office, adds: “The Harrods deal was a large, high profile and complex M&A deal that was extremely challenging in many regards. But it was a lot of fun, and I would say we had a very strong team made up of partners, associates and trainees, and everybody had a substantive role. The trainees, in particular, had a lot of responsibility for a significant amount of document review and production, and they made a really valuable contribution.” THEO KALIC Trainee 2009–2011
28) SINTHU SIVAKUMARAN Law London School of Economics December 2005 August 2006 Started the LPC at BPP September 2008 Started the Training Contract Project Finance seat March 2009 Tax seat September 2009 Corporate (M&A) seat March 2010 Litigation seat September 2010 | Offered a Training Contract starting in September 2008 September 2007 24 Attended the summer vacation scheme September 2006 | Applied for a summer vacation scheme Qualified into Tax
29) WHY TRAIN WITH US MAKE EVERY SEAT COUNT Right from the outset, the Recruitment Committee and your mentors at Latham will work to help develop your career along the lines that best suit you. You will usually get to choose all four seats on your training contract, so you can get a taste of the wide array of work the firm handles. Here, Sinthu gives an idea of what a seat in project finance involves: similar to a corporate seat, with lots of negotiation of the commercial considerations. During my seat I worked primarily on the Papua New Guinea Liquefied Natural Gas project, as part of the team advising six export credit agencies and 17 commercial banks on the US$14bn financing, which was described by Infrastructure Journal as “the largest project finance transaction ever”. “I did the vacation scheme at Latham and joined as a trainee in 2008. The second seat of my training contract was project finance, and now I am a first year associate in the tax department. You might think that project finance has nothing to do with tax, but the general transaction management skills and insights I gained in that seat come in useful all the time. At first I had to familiarise myself with the project by reviewing the initial documentation. I then worked with another trainee to help manage the multiple workstreams by updating task lists, organising calls with our colleagues in other offices (including New York and Singapore) and collating large amounts of documents. I also had the opportunity to draft some provisions for the key transaction documentation. In addition I undertook many research tasks, including analysing and comparing specific provisions in precedent deals, to aid negotiations of similar provisions in our deal. Project finance deals don’t close quickly, and it is not unusual for the projects the firm is involved in to last two or more years. From the outset you need to understand the mechanics of many complex documents, and from then on it is | 25 | I learnt a lot about working in a multi-office legal team and managing my time effectively. It was great to feel I was really contributing, because I knew that everything I did was being used by other members of the team. The deal was being led by London partner Bill Voge, and he always recognised the contribution of the trainees on the deal. At one point he even invited all of us, including trainees, spouses and children, to his house for dinner. I feel lucky to have experienced the extraordinary teamwork dynamic of the project finance group on such a high-profile deal.” SINTHU SIVAKUMARAN Trainee 2008–2010
30) EMMA PERKINS English Literature Edinburgh University December 2006 August 2007 Started the GDL at BPP September 2008 Started the LPC at BPP September 2009 Started the Training Contract Employement seat March 2010 Corporate (M&A) seat September 2010 Secondment to Hong Kong office. Finance and Corporate seat March 2011 Litigation seat September 2011 | Offered a Training Contract starting in September 2009 September 2007 26 Attended the summer vacation scheme September 2007 | Applied for a summer vacation scheme Qualified into Employment
31) WHY TRAIN WITH US MOVE CONTINENT Latham is an international firm with no head office, so we all interact on a daily basis with our colleagues around the world. To help you build relationships and to foster that integration from the outset, trainees are able to do a seat abroad if they want to. Here, Emma explains what it was like to spend six months in Hong Kong: “I knew early on that I wanted to do one of my seats in Hong Kong, and after I requested it the firm was able to arrange this for my third seat. Latham put me up in a great flat for six months and arranged all my travel. Hong Kong is an exciting place to work and a brilliant place to be a trainee, as there are lots of trainees there from other firms, and it’s a good hub for travel; I took 23 flights in six months, exploring Southeast Asia. The work was a mix of corporate and finance, with a lot of capital markets. I got involved on a couple of IPOs, some bank financings and some leveraged finance. It’s a small team out there so I was able to work across departments and get to know everyone. I liked the flexibility and the autonomy I had, as well as being able to get involved in whatever work I wanted to put myself forward for. I spent six months being treated like an associate and managing my own workload – on one deal it was just me and the partner working together, which gave me fantastic exposure to how transactions work. It was a great opportunity to see another office and a new culture, and to work alongside Latham colleagues in Beijing and Shanghai, as well as people from Silicon Valley and New York who were working in the region. It was really good to experience the sheer scale of the firm’s capital markets practice globally, and to see how it’s growing in Asia. Plus I really enjoyed building up my network of contacts across the firm as a whole, and making a lot of new friends. The firm looked after me really well, and I learnt a huge amount. The flat I was in had floor-to-ceiling windows and fantastic views, and it was in a | 27 | building with a lot of other trainees from other firms. Both the HR team and the admin team made sure everything ran really smoothly, so it really was a brilliant experience. I’d definitely recommend it.” EMMA PERKINS Trainee 2009–2011
32) G D R P E O P L E W L I N V E S T I Q V H E U R A L
33) D WHAT TO DO NEXT
34) MAKE YOUR MARK We are looking for candidates with a strong academic background, which means we expect a minimum 2:1 degree and grades of at least AAB at A-level or equivalent. We look for excellent communication skills and a consistent record of personal and/ or professional achievement. And above all, people do well at Latham if they have an entrepreneurial spirit, take the initiative, and aren’t afraid to put their hands up. If you’re proactive about your career, expect to work hard and want to stand out from the crowd, please get in touch. We carefully select all our trainees because we hope that you will play a vital role in the future growth of the firm. We think it’s important to establish a reciprocal and long-term relationship straight away, focused on developing your potential and ensuring we offer you a successful and prosperous career at Latham. Our Recruitment Committee The committee in charge of recruitment into our London office is made up of a mix of partners and associates, plus our Graduate Recruitment Coordinator Alex Mitchell, Trainee Coordinator Tracy Davidson and members of the lateral attorney recruiting team. The committee members have a say in the recruitment strategy and will be the people that you meet at interviews, while they also play major roles in the vacation scheme and in the training contract. The committee meets once a month and includes a trainee representative, who attends meetings as the voice of the trainees to raise any issues or concerns they may have. GET THINGS MOVING To apply for a training contract or a place on one of our vacation schemes, please go online to the careers section of the London office page of our website at www.lw.com, where you can complete an application form. We encourage anyone who is interested in pursuing their career at Latham to apply for a place on one of the vacation schemes in the first instance, as the majority of our training contracts will go to people who have participated in a vacation scheme at Latham. | 30 | We recruit about 20 trainees a year, and accept around 20 students on to each of our two vacation schemes annually. We pay £350 per week vacation scheme remuneration. To join our Easter vacation scheme, you need to apply online between 1 October and 31 December, while to join the summer scheme you need to apply by 31 January. The deadline for applications for training contracts is 31 July. The Selection Process Applicants for our vacation scheme will be invited to attend a halfday assessment during which they will meet a mix of partners and associates and complete two 30-minute interviews. Those interviews are conducted by either a partner and an associate or two associates, with the first one being based on the application form and awareness of Latham & Watkins, and the second focused on commercial awareness. If you attend the assessment day you’ll have an opportunity to get to know us, and we’ll get to know you better. There’s a presentation
35) WHAT TO DO NEXT about the firm given by a partner, an associate and a trainee, and then lunch with the trainees where you’ll be able to ask questions and find out what it’s really like to be a trainee at Latham. If you attend a vacation scheme and decide that you wish to apply for a training contract with us, you will be asked to complete one further interview during the second week of the scheme. We will then also take into consideration your performance during the scheme, including your written work and presentation. We see the vacation scheme as a great chance to see you in action, and vice versa. Applicants for our training contracts who do not attend the vacation scheme are asked to attend a similar half-day assessment, and complete three 30-minute interviews, covering the application form, Latham awareness, and commercial awareness. They then give a presentation and lunch with the trainees. | 31 |
36) PREPARATION EDUCATION LAW GRADUATES 1 YEAR Graduate from university Penultimate year law students Summer Vacation Scheme (2 weeks) Apply early as we recruit on a rolling basis! NON-LAW GRADUATES Students in their final year and those who have graduated or are doing the GDL or LPC Easter Vacation Scheme (2 weeks) Apply from 1 October to 31 December Interview from December to January Legal Practice Course (LPC) Apply to law school of your choice Payment of LPC fees and maintenance grant of £8,000 | Apply for a training contract by 31 July | Apply from 1 October to 31 January Interview from December to February 2 YEARS 1 YEAR Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) Apply to law school of your choice. The course runs for a year and is designed to prepare you for the LPC 2 YEARS Legal Practice Course (LPC) Apply to law school of your choice Payment of LPC fees and maintenance grant of £8,000 Payment of GDL fees and maintenance grant of £8,000 Apply early as we recruit on a rolling basis! We host two social events each year for our future joiners, to ease your transition to the firm and help you get to know others before you arrive. | 32 |
37) YOUR CAREER PATH AT LATHAM & WATKINS THE TRAINING CONTRACT ASSOCIATE PARTNER 2 YEARS Four seats of six months Three mandortory seats in; Corporate, Finance and Litigation Third or fourth seat opportunity to be seconded to one of our international offices Be considered for partnership in your 7th year Newly qualified Junior associate 1–3 YEARS Mid-level associate 4–6 YEARS Senior associate 7–8 YEARS | 33 |
38) A WISE MOVE If you choose to train at Latham & Watkins, we offer you the following salary and benefits. Payment of GDL and LPC fees, including full repayment if you have completed your studies. A maintenance grant of £8,000 for each law school year. A qualification salary of no less than £96,970. A bonus of £500 if you achieve a distinction for your LPC. A starting salary of no less than £42,000. A benefits package that includes life assurance, medical and dental insurance, a stakeholder pension scheme and 20 days’ paid holiday a year. | 34 |
39) CONTACT US If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch LIVERPOOL STREET STATION yC ur Fin Recruitment Team sb Latham & Watkins 99 Bishopsgate London EC2M 3XF ircu s et +44.20.7710.1000 london.trainees@lw.com St re Live fie ld rpo ol S tree t Ne Bl om To find out more visit our website LW.com w St ree t Wa ll Street sh Br oa dS tre et X op sg ate Wormw ood Bi don ld St H elen ec h urc hS tre et O Threadneedle Street | 35 Ho un ds dit Ca ch mo mi le St re et Be Gr ac Lon | ’s Pl a vis ce M ar ks
40) Latham & Watkins operates worldwide as a limited liability partnership organized under the laws of the State of Delaware (USA) with affiliated limited liability partnerships conducting the practice in the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Singapore and as affiliated partnerships conducting the practice in Hong Kong and Japan. Latham & Watkins practices in Saudi Arabia in association with the Law Office of Mohammed Al-Sheikh. © Copyright 2011 Latham & Watkins. All Rights Reserved.
41)
42) Abu Dhabi Barcelona Beijing Boston Brussels Chicago Doha Dubai Frankfurt Hamburg Hong Kong Houston London Los Angeles Madrid Milan Moscow Munich New Jersey New York Orange County Paris * In association with the Law Office of Mohammed A. Al-Sheikh | 38 | Riyadh* Rome San Diego San Francisco Shanghai Silicon Valley Singapore Tokyo Washington, D.C. LW.com
