Marc Finer - Trainee Solicitor
You are a trained singer and still accept some professional engagements. Is it possible to fit it all in?
I guess it’s about balance. For instance, on one deal worth €3 bn I was responsible for running the funds flow; with debts to pay off and multiple consortium members, the money had to run smoothly into - and out of - a lot of different bank accounts. The team was working all hours and then three days before closing, I had to sing Fiddler on the Roof at my best friend’s wedding. You can always manage to do what you really have to.
Is it true that clients seem to ring just as you’re about to go home?
It can seem that way. But when I was on secondment at Goldman Sachs, I could see things from their perspective. Clarity on their situation might depend on input from ten, fifteen, even twenty people. That can take all day to pin down - only then can they give us what we need in order to advise them effectively. Wait until the following morning and you may have to push back the deal two or three days to get everything lined up again. Once I understood that, I was more sympathetic.
And now you’re going to the Paris office on secondment too. Why there?
I’m very interested in finance. Paris is the firm’s second biggest office and has a great finance team. You don’t need fluent French but obviously being there I’ll get the opportunity to speak it and so I’ve been having language tuition. Plus I’ve got family in Paris and there are some beautiful venues to sing in too.
Marc Finer
Trainee Solicitor
Geography at Girton College, Cambridge
GDL at Nottingham, Law School
LPC at BPP Law School, London
Seats: Banking, Dispute Resolution, Client Secondment to Goldman Sachs, Corporate, Real Estate, Secondment to the Paris office
Joined February 2007