AKIN GUMP STRAUSS HAUER & FELD
LCN AWARD WINNER 2016 BEST TRAINER – US FIRM IN THE CITY
W hat is better than coming up with your own award-winning graduate recruitment scheme? How about inheriting one that is fully formed and the perfect fit? In 2014 the London office of US firm Bingham McCutchen, along with its Hong Kong and Frankfurt offices, was laterally acquired by another US heavyweight, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. Bingham had already been running a successful training contract programme, but it was new to Akin Gump. Vicky Widdows, director of international legal recruiting and development, had been involved with graduate recruitment at Bingham and was delighted by the response the team received from the new firm: “We brought our training across with us and it has been incredibly well embraced. Sebastian Rice, London managing partner, and global chairperson Kim Koopersmith are both very supportive, and there is great enthusiasm from other senior lawyers. There is certainly no lack of interest in what we’re doing because they know the benefit to the firm of hiring great junior lawyers. That is also the beauty of a smaller office – you can walk around and have one-to-one conversations with everyone about the programme.” Vance Chapman, partner and training principal, concurs: “In terms of support from within the firm, I think that one of the benefits of Akin Gump taking on a developed programme that was already off the ground and flying is that it has been very well-received by all practice areas. Everyone is keen to have trainees working in their departments and the quality of our trainees has been great.” It’s certainly not a case of sitting back and rolling out the same format year on year – things are under constant scrutiny. “We are always looking at what can be improved,” explains Vance. “Part of the vacation scheme exit interview is getting feedback from the participants on what has and hasn’t worked for
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