My legal internship

I have had a very exciting summer working as a legal intern in London for a global energy company. I worked alongside the in-house legal team for a 10-week period and was fortunate enough to visit the head office in New York for Legal Intern Week.

In London, I assisted transactional lawyers with due diligence, drafting and proof reading of agreements and transaction management. I also conducted legal research tasks and attended negotiation meetings. My biggest project was to compile an obligations register for a 400-page purchase and sale agreement, which I enjoyed as I was able to understand how the document was constructed and negotiated. I had opportunities to use analytical skills developed at university to draw out the relevant information. I also worked on various commercial agreements taking place in France (such as joint operating agreements), which allowed me to learn about another jurisdiction.

I quickly learnt that the legal documents used within the energy business are very specific to the industry, and the majority of my time was spent working on commercial contracts. However, I also dealt with employment law and company law issues. I now appreciate that an in-house legal team is responsible for dealing with all legal matters that may crop up in a business, no matter how diverse. In contrast, a solicitor in private practice may enjoy a narrower focus when working on a transaction for a particular company.

When I started in London, my supervisor explained that my internship would not be isolated to the legal department, as he wanted me to gain an understanding as to how different departments function. I attended various meetings with data management analysts, geospatial technologies specialists, senior drilling engineers, senior geological advisors, reservoir engineers, compliance advisors, credit risk controls advisors and energy traders, all of which gave me a greater commercial understanding of how the business operates.

During Legal Intern Week in New York, I met with the other legal interns from various US offices and I attended a variety of compliance, marketing and corporate strategy presentations to gain a better understanding of the energy business. One of the presentations was on hydraulic fracturing ('fracking'), which is a technique for exploring unconventional oil and gas reservoirs that has been controversial among the media and national governments and is a major issue facing the energy business. I also had the opportunity to visit a crude oil refinery in New Jersey and was privileged to meet the Chairman of The Board & CEO to discuss his vision for the future of the corporation. The other interns and I had a busy itinerary in order to reflect the real working life of an in-house lawyer. For example, the agenda for my first day at the New York office was jam-packed with interesting presentations (but allowed for a bit of downtime in the evening!):

During my interview for the internship, I was asked whether I had considered working in private practice or as part of an in-house legal team. I was able to refer to my experience at the CityLawLIVE careers conference in February, citing the interesting talk on in-house careers as what informed me of the exciting opportunities that working in-house has to offer.

I had a fantastic time as a legal intern this summer – working in London and New York was not only a great way of developing the skills learnt at university; it was an opportunity to get a feel for the fast-paced lifestyle of a solicitor. I also established a network of contacts and made some good friends along the way! I would advise anyone to attend as many career events as possible. Events like CityLawLIVE will help you to find the right legal career path for you. Also if you have an interest in a particular company then contact them directly and ask about any upcoming opportunities - you never know what you might find!

Emma Vartdal is a third-year law student at the University of Sussex.