Daily Diary

Grad-watch 2006: keeping up with Ms Jones

Posted 2/11/2006 by legalweekblogs.com SU

More fun and games today from the hotbed of iconoclastic rhetoric that is Linklatersgraduates.co.uk.

Last week we heard how firebrand blogger and Silk Street trainee Susannah Jones stuck it to ‘the Man’ by revealing how much time her principal invests in her and enraged her superiors by waxing satirical on the “methodical and coordinated” nature of the firm’s trainee induction programme.

“We finished the induction phase on the Friday and then on the Monday we went to our first practice area, which for me was Investment Management Group (IMG),” she rants in today’s furious extract, down-playing her weekend spent polishing the bronze bust of Tony Angel in the Linklaters reception to devastating comic effect.

“Three weeks of training helped us hit the ground running,” she continues, with barely contained cynicism. “We had learnt how to work as a team and how to use all the resources of the firm, from IT to the library.”

Having mastered the photocopier, Jones – now fully prepared for magic circle life – goes on to lambast the firm for its decadent party-hard culture.

“A highlight of my seat was the party we organised for IMG clients,” she rails. “It was held in the dome of the Gherkin and about 200 clients came along. I think it’s interesting that, even as a first-seat trainee, I was trusted ‘out on my own’ in this environment.”

A young lawyer on her own at a client drinks party? What was the firm thinking?

Meanwhile, The Diary has obtained shock evidence that in-house rabble-rousers at the Commerce & Industry Group are planning to follow suit with their own trainee blogs for wannabe corporate counsel (there must be some out there).

The Diary can therefore bring you these exclusive extracts from the soon-to-be-launched site, graduateswithnoCitycontract.com.

“When I entered the grounds of the Thames Valley Business Park, I was overcome by the sense of excitement and possibility. During my interview the general counsel didn’t just fire questions at me about how I made tea, but encouraged a two-way conversation. I said I thought it was best to put the milk in before the hot water. He disagreed but still gave me the training contract, which speaks volumes about the culture there. They encourage you to think for yourself.”

“What really attracted me to the training scheme at AIG was the opportunity to spend time on secondment in the stationary department. Lawyers often complain that they are just a back-office function, but in the stationary cupboard you are really at the coal face. Supplying hole-punchers at just minutes’ notice makes you feel you are really adding value.”