The Foot Anstey Virtual Trainee offering is an innovative scheme which sees each trainee aligned to a key firm client, sector or sector relationship, for the duration of their training contract. Trainees provide up to five hours per week of additional legal support, at no cost to the client, adopting the role of an in-house legal adviser, exposing the firm's Trainees to a wide variety of work.
The programme exemplifies Foot Anstey's sector-led approach, Trainees are given a wide range of clients to choose from and typically align themselves with one that fits within one of Foot Anstey's focus sectors and is of particular interest.
This additional client exposure presents a significant opportunity to develop relationship-building skills and deepen a Trainees' sector, client and market insight. It also helps Trainees bolster their internal network, as they work collaboratively across the wider teams in the firm, an activity which aligns itself nicely to Foot Anstey's cross-team and sector approach.
Lauren Hickey, who has recently qualified within the firm's Private Equity team, was aligned to Farview Equity Partners for her Virtual Trainee placement. Farview is a private equity fund investing in growth-oriented technology companies in Europe, in the SaaS, business and information services and fintech markets. Farview looks to deploy between €15 to €50 million of equity capital.
Clients benefit not just from the provision of additional legal support, but from the flexible nature of the engagement. Samantha McGonigle, Farview Founder and Partner, found the scheme really helpful, as she was able to pass on ad hoc tasks such as contract reviews during particularly busy periods.
