Meet Milly and find out more about the Business Services Trainee Undergraduate Placement

My Insight into the BST Undergraduate Placement at Latham & Watkins 

I recently completed the 13-month Business Services Trainee (BST) Undergraduate Placement at Latham & Watkins. Working in the Office of the General Counsel (OGC) - Conflicts department gave me a first-hand understanding of how a global law firm operates, and I saw how the firm maximises business opportunities while upholding the highest standards of compliance and risk management. I developed key professional skills navigating a corporate environment for the first time, grew in confidence — especially after relocating to London — and built meaningful connections with my colleagues and BST peers. 

My role at Latham focused primarily on clearing New Business conflicts, conducting corporate research on prospective clients and preparing concise and accurate reports. As I advanced through the year, I also played a key role in triaging the shared inbox with colleagues across the globe, and I supported conflicts analysis for the lateral hiring team and the US Restructuring and Bankruptcy team. 

Alongside by day-to-day responsibilities, I was part of a cohort of 11 BSTs on placement at Latham. Together, we worked on an AI innovation project, completed a career navigation programme, and organised and assisted on firm wide engagement events. This gave me the opportunity to collaborate with colleagues across the firm and build a network with people from a range of backgrounds and experiences. The professional and personal growth from my placement year will be invaluable as I return to university and begin my career afterwards. 

My Highlights:

From a conflicts perspective, a key highlight of my year was leading and conducting a Private Equity Asset Tracking Initiative with the Tactical Operations team. This gave me the opportunity to work alongside lawyers and senior management in my team. I developed the framework for this project and analysed prospective acquisition targets to provide early-stage intelligence for the Tactical Operations team, supporting with more informed decision making. This helped me to develop my analytical skills, as well as attention to detail and accuracy — both of which are especially important given the strict time deadlines each week and high-stakes nature of this project. This significantly deepened my commercial understanding, broadening my perspective well beyond my usual conflicts workflow. 

Another highlight was completing the BST Career Navigation Programme. Through monthly sessions, I explored my interests, skills, and goals, whilst also conducting a market assessment of potential career paths. Completing this programme has given me much greater clarity on my wants and expectations in a future career. The programme not only confirmed my desire to pursue a career as a solicitor, but also helped me craft an elevated CV and prepare for assessments and interviews.

Finally, I cannot talk about highlights without mentioning Latham’s outstanding culture! I joined Latham’s affinity groups, volunteered at partnered charities, and organised and participated in London Office engagement events. This gave me the opportunity to meet people across the whole firm and make meaningful connections with my colleagues. Specifically, I loved volunteering for Latham’s charity of the year, Little Village. My fellow BSTs and I spent a day learning about the charity and helping to sort and organise pre-loved baby donations to be distributed to baby banks across London. This was an unforgettable experience, and I felt proud to be part of a team and a firm that supports such an important cause. 

My Next Steps 

My time as a BST was an incredible experience that challenged and allowed me to grow both professionally and personally. I am greatly looking forward to returning to the University of Leeds with the skills and expertise I have developed, and I am proud to say I am now participating in the Campus Program for Latham this year and will be organising events for the firm at my university. I will also be participating in a peer mentoring scheme and am looking forward to sharing my experience with other students. 

For all of the reasons above, and so many more, I would highly recommend the BST undergraduate placement at Latham & Watkins.