I’m Sam, an undergraduate law student heading into my final year at the University of Southampton. To gain additional legal experience and help shape my legal interests, I recently completed a two-week Work Experience Programme at the Bahrain office – an experience that I am grateful for and one which provided me with valuable insight into the workings of a renowned “Magic Circle” law firm.

An internship at Freshfields appealed to me as I was eager to experience the work it undertakes surrounding mergers and acquisitions, and further viewed it as an opportunity to consider which areas of law to specialise in. Additionally, growing up and living in Bahrain as a Brit has given me long-term career aspirations to work abroad, possibly in the MENA region. Freshfields’ global presence is impressive and therefore could help facilitate this in the future.

During the course of the programme, I primarily shadowed the Global Transactions team. As part of this, I have had a chance to engage in various tasks including reviewing and amending a wide range of legal documents, conducting research on key legal topics in the corporate, projects and finance sphere and completing training sessions on the typical lifecycle of an M&A transaction as well as project finance structures. These tasks gave me a greater understanding of the complexity of the Global Transactions team’s work, and the care and accuracy required to serve clients effectively.

Another experience that I am thankful for is the participation in meetings with partners and colleagues across the network. I was involved in a team training call which offered a glimpse of the key drafting considerations and principles to consider when advising a client. I further had the pleasure of meeting with the Business Development team, the Business Support team, and Human Resources. Through these interactions, one thing that stood out to me was the importance of collaboration between offices across the MENA region. The scale of the work Freshfields does necessitates cooperation between their offices, and by working in this way, they can operate more efficiently.

Upon reflection, the experience I had at Freshfields has helped to shape my career aspirations and legal interests. I can confidently say that I enjoyed my time working with the Global Transactions team, and I now have a much deeper understanding of mergers and acquisitions, as well as how an international law firm operates efficiently. My colleagues in the Bahrain office, and those I met through company-wide calls were friendly, genuine, and did their utmost to support and include me in their work. This created a work environment where I felt comfortable and eager to learn.

I would like to thank Harnek Shoker, Ghalya Bukhowa, and the entire Freshfields team for their support and guidance over the past two weeks. It has made my time at Freshfields thoroughly enjoyable and beneficial, and I’m looking forward to what the future brings.