I studied BCL (Law and Society) in Dublin City University. At the end of my final year in 2019, I was lucky enough to secure a place in the William Fry Summer Internship Programme. Before starting the internship, based on what I had heard from past interns and trainees, I had the impression that William Fry was both an outstanding law firm and a great place to work. These impressions were confirmed very quickly during the programme.
I was placed in the Corporate M&A department and my mentor partner invested a lot of time in explaining the workings of the department to me. He also involved me in several high-profile transactions that he was handling so I gained real practical experience. It also helped me to understand the cross over between the different subjects that I had studied in college; It was great to recognise concepts that I had studied and to see them in practice. After my four weeks in William Fry, I was delighted to be offered a training contract.
I then started studying for my FE1s and completed them in two sittings. I started my first rotation in the Employment department, and after studying it in college, I was able to add practical experience to my academic knowledge. I learned about the drafting of employee handbooks, the issues involved in structuring employment contracts and agreements, employee disputes and the corporate documents that are interlinked with Employment law.
After this rotation, we went to Blackhall for PPC1 for six months. There were loads of fun events that we got involved in, and a big group from our intake went to Gran Canaria at the end of our exams to celebrate.
I am currently in the Construction department which is very interesting. I did not know a lot about Construction law prior to this and how many contracts are involved a Construction development. The exposure and responsibility that I have been given has been very broad. My day-to-day work consists of drafting Construction Contracts and ancillary agreements and liaising with clients and the other parties involved about various clauses or deliverables that are being negotiated. The firm has an open-door policy, so I am in and out my partner’s office throughout the day discussing projects that are ongoing or partaking in client meetings. It is very exciting to be working on some of the most high-profile developments in the country.
William Fry invests heavily in the continuous training of its staff. The Professional Development Department provide us with a great deal of training sessions, which allow us to further develop our skillset. We have knowledge sessions regularly on a variety of topics, which gives us an insight into what each department may work on, and how each department interacts with other departments in the firm. The resources that we are given also help us to improve on our drafting and be confident in writing emails or documents to clients. I cannot recommend applying for a traineeship or an internship at William Fry enough