Like any student considering my choices for training, I was aware of the innovative commercial deals and quality of clients that Skadden could offer me as a junior, and I knew that being part of a smaller trainee class at a global firmwould afford me better exposure in every aspect of my career.
My work has also given me plenty of opportunities to travel. I’ve seen the White House and the Washington Monument from the roof of our D.C. office, gotten lost with colleagues from Frankfurt and Chicago during Skadden’s Global Banking Retreat in New York, and — using elaborate hand gestures and Google Translate — convinced a security guard to let me into our Seoul office. What I didn’t appreciate before joining Skadden is the myriad opportunities beyond commercial work the firm would provide me. The stellar pro bono programme has allowed me to develop my skills and engage with the global community in ways I never anticipated. Since January 2017, I’ve helped staff the New York Legal Aid Society’s Immigration Hotline, which was created in response to the rise in raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
My years at Skadden have reinforced these impressions, and I feel very lucky to have carved my path with — and to continue to learn from— some of the best lawyers in the city on complex, engaging transactions. As a banking associate, I’ve worked on several high-profile financings, all of which have involved multiple jurisdictions — from China to across Europe to the United States and the Dominican Republic and everywhere in between. Working across so many time zones and within so many legal systems has presented unique challenges, such as trying to get notarised documents from Madrid to Helsinki overnight, even though the notary had gone for siesta without handing over the originals. At times, the challenges can be frustrating, but they’ve undoubtedly made me a better lawyer, as they’re constantly pushing the boundaries of my thinking and approaches to my practice.
“The stellar pro bono programme has allowedme to developmy skills and engage with the global community inways I never anticipated.”
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