Meet Jeremy - Trainee

What is your current role, when did you join the firm? 

I am a trainee at DLA Piper in the London office. I joined the firm in August 2024 and I am going into the second year of my training contract.

What inspired you to apply to DLA Piper and do you have any tips for someone looking to apply?

I was drawn to DLA Piper because of the breadth and depth of work it offers. As a global full-service law firm, it provides opportunities to work across different departments and collaborate with colleagues from offices around the world. I’ve worked with teams in the United States, Germany, the Czech Republic, and many other countries. Even at trainee level, the work is top-tier and I have direct client access and am often their first point of contact.

For someone looking to apply, my advice is to do thorough research and consider on how the firm’s profile and values align with your own. Understanding what we do and how we do it at such a high level requires more than just knowing our client list or recent deals—it’s about appreciating our culture and approach. Most importantly, be yourself. The firm wants to know you on a personal level, in addition to your capabilities.

What does a typical work day look like for you/ has this varied between your seats? 

A typical work day varies from seat to seat depending on whether you are in an advisory, litigious or transactional seat. I have enjoyed rotating to different departments and picking up different skillsets. I have worked in our Immigration department (under Employment) and Real Estate. A typical day usually revolves around managing client expectation. This could be providing email updates or a phone call to answer any queries or concerns that they may have. Beyond that I often liaise with the other side's lawyers in a transaction to keep matters progressing. Even at a trainee level, I draft a lot of documents such as leases, various licences and other reports. In addition to my own matters, I would be assisting other fee-earners in various tasks and there is no such thing as 'trainee tasks' and 'associate tasks'. No two trainees have the same training experience at the firm and I really appreciate how fee-earners are very supportive of trainees in shaping their own training contract. 

What is the single most important thing you have learned so far as a trainee? 

I think the most important thing is to be adaptable. Going from seat to seat, matter to matter or even fee-earner to fee-earner can be daunting. Being able to adapt to different working styles goes a long way. As a trainee I would really recommend working with as many fee-earners as possible so you can observe the different ways of approaching tasks and to start build up your own style. Very often something unexpected would come up and you will need to be able to recognise the challenges and to adjust to ensure we constantly provide exceptional client service. Having an awareness of how different people work will also help integrating into teams, which is very important as trainees often don't work on a large transaction from start to finish.

What's the best piece of work you've been involved in?

The best piece of work that I have been involved in is a pro bono lease for a number of reasons. It was very satisfying to be able to work on a pro bono project and to assist a charity in securing a new tenant. More importantly. I led the lease from start to finish. From drafting enquiries to leases, I was in charge of the process under supervision and successfully completed the lease.

Have you been involved in any of the firms networks? 

The firm has many people networks and there are a lot of events. I have been involved in a charity bake sale where I baked a pistachio cheesecake and I have attended many events hosted by different networks – celebrations, networking, book launch etc. There is always a lot going on and every Tuesday we receive an email about what is going on in London.