My Training Contract Journey

[j.s.cox]

Update:

Leaving bp:
I didn't expect leaving my client secondment to be as emotional as it has been. I came to the realisation that things were never going to be the same with this set of colleagues ever again. I ended up spending my whole last week saying goodbyes and tying things up.

I have absolutely loved my time at bp. As well as learning how an in-house team works and the different concerns that a company has, I have just really enjoyed getting to know people here. It's been an eye-opening experience where I have seen the different considerations people have around work and home life. I have also realised that in-house teams are generally a lot more agile than private practice lawyers. In-house lawyers support the business, whereas private practice lawyers are the business. That means you have to go with the flow and pick up new skills along the way.

Upon reflection, I also realised that I learnt the most about the people and the business from the lunches we had together. There are some people I will continue to stay in contact with for a long time who I never did any work for. I think that has been the beauty of taking time out to spend with one another.

Dubai:
I don't think I was quite ready to leave for Dubai on Friday, but the the flight was easy enough and the place we are staying was very nice. As you will know, however, Iran sent close to 400 missiles towards the UAE on Saturday night. To be perfectly honest, it was a terrifying night because we could hear the missiles, drones and explosions of interceptions. The NRF Risk Lead had phoned earlier in the day to tell us if we heard an alert, we should get to an internal room with no windows and stay low. At around 2am, we got 3 alerts, and I ended up lying awake in the bathtub with a pillow listening to the sounds of chaos outside. In the morning, I was exhausted and unsettled.

I ended up getting a migraine (probably from the stress), but I still went out for lunch with the Australian trainees who had arrived. As we were walking back, we heard another missile and then the telltale "boom" as it was intercepted, and we hurried back to the hotel.

Although none of us have left the hotel since, I feel a lot calmer about the situation now. None of the missiles are aimed at us, and we are as safe as we can be cooped up on one of the lower floors of our hotel. The firm has been amazing. They were in contact with us all weekend and they have asked us whether we want to stay or if we want to come back when flight paths reopen. They are also scheduling daily calls with each of us to see if we are okay. We have been given a little bit of work, but nothing too onerous, as the office is not open and everyone is working from home.

In the end, we have been spending a lot of our time up by the pool. The weather is lovely and we might as well enjoy our time without much work! Personally, I don't want to get on an aeroplane. I feel much safer down on the ground, well below the missiles. Being up in the air is where all the explosions are happening and I'm not sure I'd be comfortable with that. If we did have to leave due to escalations, I will request that I go to Kenya instead of London because I have family there and it is in the opposite direction of the war, rather than directly into a warzone.

Not the update I expected to give, but thanks for following my journey anyway!

 

[j.s.cox]

Update:

Dubai Situation:
Unfortunately, things have not worked out the way that I wanted them to. After my last update, things escalated a bit. One of the other NRF London trainees was having a really tough time and left as soon as the airspace had reopened. At the time, the rest of us were pretty happy to stay on as we all felt safer on the ground than in the air.

A few days after the NRF London trainee left, everything changed again. We were staying in the DIFC area and were woken up to the loudest sound I have ever heard and the building shaking. I can't really put into words how scared I was. At first, I thought we had been hit, but then I tried to rationalise and decided it had just been really loud, tropical-storm-like thunder. I lay there waiting for the sound of the rain to start, but I heard sirens instead. I looked outside and saw smoke. There had been an incident very close to us. Within 2 hours, the NRF Australia trainees had been booked on flights home. That left just two NRF London trainees in an area that authorities had indicated could continue being more affected by further activity. Walking past the building that was hit on the way to dinner that evening, we saw the damage and just how low it had been hit, and I no longer felt the same security that I had before. The next day the other NRF London trainee and myself had conversations with the firm where it was mutually agreed that the benefits of staying no longer outweighed the cons, and our return flights were booked. This seemed like an ever more sensible idea after we learned there had also been damage affecting our office.

This was a turning point for me because I noticed how jumpy I've been since then. There was actual thunder a few days later and I almost jumped out of my skin thinking there had been another nearby incident. Apparently, this has been a common reaction since the weather turned, as the UAE government have issued guidance telling residents that unless they get a missile warning, the sounds they are hearing are thunder.

I was also terrified to go to the airport. Although the flights were up and running again on a reduced schedule, there had been a lot of previous disruptions affecting the airport, including a fuel tank being hit and causing a fire that shut down the airspace temporarily again. I was so afraid of the airport as I felt as though it was less safe than just staying put. At the same time, I felt as if it was safer to leave now than to wait for the situation to become a nationwide emergency, especially given how close some of the earlier incidents had been to us. Luckily it was a quick check-in and I boarded easily. I found the flight home very challenging. The plane took off in the usual runway direction, but the flight preview was not showing the updated route home and I felt very panicked seeing that we were going over the heart of the conflict, including over Israel. Just as I was about to call over a flight attendant to double check with them, the captain called over the Intercom: "Cabin crew, return to your seats immediately." There was no further elaboration on this, so I was sitting there worrying about whether they needed to sit down due to missiles or turbulence. Of course, my mind had gone into overdrive and it was just turbulence, but it was turbulent all the way to Egypt. It was honestly the most mentally difficult flight I have ever taken. I was thrilled to land safely.

Fun stuff:
It may seem all doom and gloom from what I've written so far, but there were plenty of good things that happened there. In fact, if we had not been in a location deeply affected by nearby incidents, I'm not sure if I would have decided to leave. The trainees from the only other firm who managed to send trainees out there, have stayed put for this exact reason. They did not hear the strike that was close to us and they are not in the same area, so I think it is easy to feel calmer about the whole situation. They will only come home if the government guidance tells them to.

On the bright side, there was no queue for the Burj Khalifa, the whole of Dubai was very quiet and traffic-free, and I managed to get free Waterpark tickets with the trainees from the other firm. I also visited the Al Shindagah Museum (which was fantastic - I would definitely go back) and the Museum of the Future (which was not really worth the ticket, but the building and the views from inside are incredible). Generally, I think the UAE have done a great job at trying to make people feel safe and looked after despite the obviously unideal situation.

Support:
The support from NRF has been second-to-none. We had calls everyday with the HR team and they made sure to take our lead but always with a view to our safety. It wasn't just the London HR team either. As soon as the building near us was hit, we were called by Dubai HR to check that we were okay. This was followed by members of our individual Dubai teams, many of whom were not in Dubai at the time. My partner supervisor from my first seat in London set up a virtual coffee meeting with people I had worked with from my first seat to ensure that I did not feel isolated. The firm were also just constantly asking us what more they could do to support us as well as holding regular virtual Middle East Townhalls with all Middle East staff to share updates and stay on the same page.

This support has not stopped since we returned home. We have been given compassionate leave and access to therapy if needed. My previous team have also saved space for me in their office area and invited me to their upcoming events to help me get back to normal. My previous partner supervisor has also continued to be a major advocate for me, including having conversations with relevant people unprompted. One of the other trainees had also given up their lease, and the firm has ensured that they have accommodation back in London.

Although this situation has not been fun, it has made me realise that choosing NRF was the best thing I could have done. I'm so proud to be part of an organisation that treats their people like this.

Next steps:
I'm not really sure what the future holds for this seat. One of the other trainees has pivoted to doing a client secondment. The other trainee is continuing to work for the Dubai seat they were sitting in, but supplementing with some work from London teams that require help.

As I am a third-seater, I really want to be able to do work that gives me new skills. I also don't want to disappoint the Dubai team I am already working with, and I don't want to seem unreliable. At the same time, I have found working on Dubai matters to be more challenging than I initially anticipated. My team is spread around the globe at the moment with people working in Australia, Japan, Germany, Dubai, the United States, and London. It is not ideal and it is making an already difficult situation much harder. It also turns out that I am more affected by the events in Dubai than I initially anticipated. Having spoken with the HR team, I will be taking a bit of time off before making a final decision about next steps for me.

At the moment, what I would really like to do is to pivot from the Dubai seat into a London seat so that I have a bit more stability and certainty. I also think I would get a better training experience by doing this. I don't want to make any rash decisions however, hence the time off before making concrete decisions. The firm have also reinforced that they will be supportive of whatever decision I make after my time away.

I'm hoping that my next update will be filled with more certainty and positivity.

Thanks for following my journey!

 

[j.s.cox]

Update:

Resilience:
At the start of a TC with NRF, the induction includes a whole session on resilience because the firm recognises that it's a very important skill for their workforce. I don't think anybody anticipated the levels of resilience I would need to get through this seat, though! After coming back, one of the hardest things to deal with has been the uncertainty of the future of my third seat. I feel very conflicted about what to do and this has led to a few days feeling a tad helpless and upset. The firm have been incredibly supportive, but at the end of the day, they can only help me achieve my plans if I have plans in the first place! The conflict I am having is because:

1. Even if I didn't initially apply to the banking team in Dubai, I signed up to work for them and I would be letting them down if stopped; but
2. I have PTSD and doing Dubai work isn't helping; and
3. I actually really want to experience a dispute seat in London and this is a great opportunity; but
4. I want to qualify into a banking seat and I can get that experience by working with the Dubai banking team; except
5. The banking work I'm being given is nothing I didn't already do in my first seat because the work is a noticeably slower in Dubai right now; and
6. I am finding it hard not to have a team to "anchor" to and essentially floating alone by myself until I can rejoin the Dubai office.

Asset Finance Deal:
Luckily, the asset finance team has had my back through this whole situation and they immediately booked me a desk in their area and gave me some work to keep me busy. This included another huge closing for a cruise ship deal which energised me so much and made me so happy! It was hard work, but less stressful than the last time because I knew what I was doing this time and the signatures started coming in much earlier. I actually ended up getting a shout-out in the asset finance team meeting which was also pretty cool as I'm not even technically in the team right now. Although I think a lot of my happiness at being part of this team was due to going back to a place I feel comfortable, I also think I'm pretty confident in saying that this is definitely the team I want to qualify into. My old supervisor has also supported me on some other matters, like seeing if I might be able to go to Singapore to do an Asset Finance seat in my fourth seat and agreeing to write a letter of support to submit alongside an essay I've written for an essay competition. The team cares so much about my success, and I really want to be a part of it on a long-term basis.

Disputes:
After some time, I have been given a spot to assist on some Disputes work for a really big project that the firm is on. It is very confidential, but I have really enjoyed getting access to something like this and being able to attend the hearing throughout May and June. I don't know how long I will be allowed to stay on with this team as they only need me for a short bit, but it has provided the "anchor" that I really needed to feel some stability.

Next steps:
After all is said and done, I think I would like to continue working with the disputes team as my "anchor" team and providing assistance to Dubai as and when it is needed and when I have capacity. I think this effectively balances my conflicting thoughts for now. I know that a lot of other law firms are going to send trainees out this week, but personally I think that is a silly idea until everything has calmed down somewhat. We will not be going back until the situation is properly calmed down and the UK government guidance for travel changes. I think that is a sensible option, but I am also going to consider if I want to go back at all, or if I should focus on doing well in disputes instead. This has all been a bit of a rollercoaster!

Thanks for following my journey!