Training at Clifford Chance

People can say what they like about the much-criticised "endless legal education" in Germany but it presents potential lawyers with the opportunity to encounter a variety of practice areas within a relatively compact period of time without being accused of "job-hopping".

It even allows people to become acquainted with these remote, anonymous "big law firms" in which, according to popular belief, equally remote and anonymous careerists spend every waking hour. However, having the opportunity to work there enables you to discover that the remote careerists are, in fact, perfectly normal people who sometimes don't know something and have to ask a Referendar for help – amazing but true.

Alongside this you can work on your English skills and slowly begin to specialise in something. This will help to dispel some of the insecurity that comes from the feeling you "know a bit about everything but don't know a lot about anything" and will also help you to find out exactly what it is you want to specialise in. Sure, there are lawyers who knew from being knee-high to grasshopper that their vocation was double taxation treaties with Kazakhstan (and who consistently worked towards this aim), but it is more likely that any number are very happy to discover what they are really interested in and equally what they do not want to do at the beginning of their Referendariat.

Perhaps most importantly of all, in doing an elective at a big law firm you will soon realise whether or not you are suited to the atmosphere and culture of "the outfit" if you should happen to entertain the wild idea at some time. One of the principles governing the market (yes, good lawyers remain in demand and are a rare commodity) is that working conditions and also the vast majority of work done by Referendare and junior lawyers is the same or at least comparable in most of the large law firms. Every law firm wants to be better than the next but your definition of "better" is going to differ according to what type of person you are.

What distinguishes Clifford Chance from all the other interchangeable clichés such as "international" (yes we certainly are but so are other firms), "interesting and challenging" (ditto) and "modern" (once again ditto) is our diversity. The "one size fits all" principle is not how we operate, the only concession to uniformity being perhaps that each new recruit is expected to have specialist knowledge the rest of us don't possess and is prepared to contribute this expertise in order to complement the team. Other law firms are very proud of their homogeneity. It's all a matter of taste. But anyone who is willing to jump into "the melting pot" is very welcome to join us.

There is one or the other thing worth mentioning about what are probably not unique working conditions at our firm. The same questions do tend to pop up time and time again though:

- Unless you expressly request otherwise, we will allocate you to a particular area: in each area we have a number of mentors who are responsible for you and who should be your first port of call with any queries. This doesn't mean, however, that you only work on these cases but it does mean that there will always be someone you can go to (even if it's something less pleasant for us to hear but you really want to get it off your chest).

- We do not want you to neglect your study groups or exam prep classes (which we expressly recommend that you attend!) due to your elective with us, it should be integrated into your daily work as long as we can "get hold of you" to work four to five times a week. However, we are flexible if you think that confining your work to three days a week is better for you. According to your preference we will also give you study leave at the end of your elective with us and you may use our library during this time.

- What about money? Yes, that too. As a Referendar you will be paid EUR 150.00 per day.

- What then? Do you really have a chance of being "taken on" by Clifford Chance afterwards? Yes, you do. This brings us back to the competitive market for talented, young lawyers. We're not so stupid as to let someone who we were particularly impressed by as a Referendar escape us and I'm not just saying this either. I am still in the same place I was when I made my faint-hearted entry as a Referendar in summer 1987 (okay, a floor higher). Granted the name of the place has changed a couple of times since then but I still stumble across the odd file that Rechtsreferendar Uwe Hornung attempted to work on! By the way, nothing was further from his mind at that time than pursuing a career in a big law firm …

Uwe Hornung

(Uwe Hornung entered Pünder, Volhard & Weber in 1987 as a Referendar, became a lawyer at Pünder, Volhard, Weber & Axster in 1990 and is now a Partner at Clifford Chance).