VINSON & ELKINS RLLP
LCN AWARD WINNER 2017 BEST RECRUITER – US FIRM IN THE CITY
I t’s hard to know what to believe these days. Claims of ‘fake news’ echo around the corridors of power, opinion polls offer misleading projections and spurious financial statements even decorate the sides of buses. TV stars and pop singers aren’t to be trusted with their tax returns and apparently some adverts don’t always tell the whole truth; it’s even been mooted that there are members of the legal profession who can (and sometimes do) apply the facts in rather creative ways (perish the thought). It’s refreshing, therefore, to discover that one of the overarching principles of the recruitment process at Vinson & Elkins (V&E) is to provide potential future lawyers with a full and honest impression of what life would be like should they be offered a place at the firm. While the vacation placement gives participants the chance to get stuck in to real work and impress from day one, the training contract is specifically designed to allow trainees to see cases and transactions through to completion. “We really wanted to create a training contract that would allow trainees to feel they were not actually trainees but junior lawyers from day one – to have that feeling of responsibility and really being part of the team,” explains Mark Beeley, who was the firm’s first London trainee, the architect of the current training programme and is V&E’s current training principal. “A pretty integral part of that was the idea of keeping them on a case or deal from the day they arrived through to that case or deal concluding.” This is achieved through an unusual, non-rotational training contract. Although trainees will sit in several different practice areas during their two years, they are encouraged to accept work from any number of the firm’s departments. Crucially they do not leave matters they are working on behind when they move; this allows them to see those matters develop and, in the process, gain an
2017
42
Best in Law 2017
LawCareers.Net
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker