Clara adds value to a major financial institution as a virtual trainee  

I am from a reasonably traditional Asian family who pushed me to study and practice law. I rebelled against those notions for as long as I could so it was quite the U-turn when I realised that I would genuinely enjoy this career!

Many will agree that getting that first opportunity in the legal sector is challenging – I was rejected at least 45 times before I received my first training contract offer. Despite these rejections, I always knew that I wanted to keep going. This signalled to me that I truly chose this career and was not pushed into it by my family. So therein lies rejection's upside!

Gaining practical experience with a major financial institution

As part of my training contract, I've been assisting a well-known Bank with various legal queries as their Virtual Trainee. I've been involved in a really interesting mix of work including assisting with property queries linked to ongoing transactions, preparing advice notes on current banking regulation issues, updating internal and customer-facing guidance documents and advising on how other Banks have handled different issues to inform the Bank's decision-making. The opportunity to do work for a client and get in-house insight is such a great way to gain a better understanding of how a client works and how we to support them.

Being able to consistently develop a client relationship as you move through various teams in your training contract has been invaluable to me. It has presented a top opportunity to try out new types of work and it really helps in inform your future directions!

Adding value to client decision-making

I have a few personal highlights from my time as a virtual trainee. Most memorably, shortly after beginning my placement I was asked to undertake a substantial research project to ensure the Bank's T&Cs are in accordance with industry standards and best practice. Taking on this large-scale task added value to the Bank in their decision-making processes and they were very appreciative of the insight my analyses added. I was doing this task for them at a particularly busy time in one of my training contract seats so it was also a really good way to learn about priorities and balancing workloads.  

A personal growth opportunity

I have learnt to trust my instincts more at work. Due to the level of difficulty associated with tasks I was privileged to be entrusted with, there were more than a few instances where I sought guidance or supervision on tricker handling points from Foot Anstey's fee earners. In almost every instance it did turn out to be a good idea to do so and I've learnt a lot in the process.

Throughout my time with the Bank I have been supervised by two supervisors from their legal team as well as secondees who have joined from the Bank's other panel firms. A less mentioned benefit of taking part in the virtual trainee programme is being able to grow from the wisdom of others (outside of my fantastic colleagues at Foot Anstey) - both my supervisors at the Bank have had interesting legal careers themselves, and I am grateful to have benefitted from their experience.

Clara undertook her LLB in Exeter and her LPC/LLM in London. She undertook work experience with two Singaporean law firms, a legal aid bureau, and a family investment fund before starting her Training Contract at Foot Anstey in 2022.

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