Name: Will Bowes
University attended: University of Birmingham
Degree obtained: LLB
Age: 25

Will took a year out between school and university, spending his time immersed in the cut and thrust of life as a financial trading assistant on a fixed income trading floor in Boston, USA. He swapped Boston for Birmingham, securing his law degree before joining Wragge & Co in 2004.

I decided against pursuing a career in banking as I found buying and selling "bits of paper" a little unfulfilling and didn’t like the aggressive culture. I was looking for a firm that could give me stimulating legal work but also one that was people focused and valued life outside of the office too. When I came across Wragge & Co at a graduate recruitment presentation, I knew instantly it fitted the bill. This, plus the added bonus that it had consistently taken on 100 per cent of qualifying trainees, meant there was a good chance I wouldn’t be on the legal scrapheap before I’d even qualified!

Learning from day one

My first seat was in project finance and within a few weeks I was helping close a big deal that had been rumbling on for several years. I found myself involved in practical client-facing tasks and felt very much part of the team. It quickly dawned on me that you can spend years in a classroom learning law, but the only place to actually learn to be a lawyer is in the office.

While doing a law degree has given me some useful background knowledge, it bears little relation to my day-to-day role. We have lots and lots of internal training to hone our legal and non-legal skill-set (for example client care and presentation skills training).

Big name clients

I spent my second and third seats working in intellectual property and commercial contracts in our London office working for some great clients.For my final seat I have been sent on secondment to a clients in-house advertising, marketing and sponsorship team. I’m learning to be much more commercial in the advice I give, as well as improving my technical and client care skills.

What you know and who you know…

One thing I learned very quickly was that you need to get on with people and build relationships whenever possible. Even the best lawyer in the world cannot function without his secretary, his legal assistants, the guys in the post room or indeed his trainee!

The best aspect of my job is that no two days are the same. Because you can find yourself advising anyone on anything, law is potentially the most diverse career there is. The worst aspect is keeping on top of all the behind the scenes procedure required to provide a seamless service to your client.

It’s obviously far too early for me to know where I will end up long term. I’ve really enjoyed working in-house but I have a lot to learn before I’m qualified enough to perform such a role successfully on a full time basis. Private practice has the advantage that your work load remains more varied, more challenging and thus potentially more exciting which, as I said before, is what I enjoy most of all.