Trainee O’Neil Ouinsou
First seat: Real Estate Finance Second seat: Debt Finance Third seat: Corporate
I did a lot of research before joining Kirkland. I completed internships at law firms, as well as two investment banks and an assessment management company.
My first internship was when I was still at school, and I also attended work experience schemes at two law firms through the diversity organisation, PRIME. I am now a second year trainee, having completed my second seat in the Debt Finance team. The main focus in this group is leveraged finance transactions. My first seat was a subset of the wider finance group – Real Estate Finance. I love the pace of the work in this area and the commercial element, plus the range of industry sectors you get to work on. The deals I’ve been involved with to date have included the healthcare, real estate and logistics sectors. What appealed to me most about Kirkland is the space to be entrepreneurial. It’s what’s expected, whereas other firms from my experience were a little more systematised, with work allocated based purely on capacity.
At Kirkland, you can build your own practice in the early years, by putting yourself forward for work. The more work you do, the better you will be and the more opportunities you will get. It’s a social place and events are a great time to network with people. Just recently there was the Annual Debt Finance Retreat, which involved talks from the practice areas, networking events and drinks, not to mention quad biking, archery and football. I’ve also been invited to client events and there are summer and winter parties every year for all attorneys and staff. At Kirkland, you’ll find everyone wants to help you. There’s a real culture here of lowering the ladder back down to help other people climb.
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