One of the things I’ll always remember about my training is the time I spent with the Bank of England. Freshfields has been working with the Bank since 1743 and actually started off in one of the offices inside the Bank.
I decided to apply for this secondment because I thought it would be an exciting place to work and would fit in well with the regulatory direction I wanted to take. It was an amazing time to be there because the Bank was so busy setting up the £50bn asset purchase facility – which lets the Bank buy assets to improve market liquidity. It really was uncharted territory for the Bank and it was exciting to be involved in something that was on the front pages of the papers.
I’m finishing my training contract with another secondment, this time at the Freshfields office in Dubai. It’s quite a small office, but it’s expanding all the time – we’re starting a dispute resolution team at the moment, with more associates coming in. There’s lots of regulatory work to keep me busy and the two other trainees are handling a lot of corporate and finance transactions. Whether I’ve been in Dubai or London, the advantage of Freshfields’ expertise in so many practice areas has been obvious: whatever direction the markets take, we’ll keep thriving.
Jesal Patel
Trainee Solicitor
Joined: August 2007
Education: English literature and language at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University; GDL and LPC at BPP Law School
Seats so far: Structured and asset finance, corporate, secondment to the Bank of England