Event summary: LawCareersNetLIVE Virtual 2021 day two

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For those who wish to pursue a career in law, the LawCareersNetLIVE conferences are something you should consider attending. They are an incredible opportunity to hear from and speak to different law firms to gain personal insights that are not otherwise available through other platforms.

This year, the conferences were held in Manchester, London, and virtually. I was fortunate to have been accepted onto the virtual conference which took place on the afternoons of Tuesday 7 and Wednesday 8 December 2021. To give you an idea of what you can expect from the conference, this article outlines what this year’s virtual conference consisted of.

The sponsors and law firms of LawCareersNetLIVE Virtual were:

• Burges Salmon LLP;
• Debevoise & Plimpton LLP;
• Mills & Reeve LLP;
• Nottingham Law School;
• Osborne Clarke LLP;
• Pinsent Masons LLP;
• RPC; and
• TLT LLP.

What is LawCareersNetLIVE Virtual 2021?

LawCareersNetLIVE Virtual 2021 was an incredible opportunity to directly hear from and network with Nottingham Law School alongside trainees, partners, and the graduate recruitment team from a number of law firms.

Before attending the conferences, delegates were able to register to attend one workshop each day which allowed us to gain more insight into specific areas or law firms we were particularly interested in. The workshops were extremely interactive, and we were also placed into breakout rooms on Zoom so that we could work together with other delegates to complete the given tasks. 

The options for day one were:

• Workshop: Future of work – Osborne Clarke;
• Workshop: A day in the life of an environment and energy lawyer – Pinsent Masons;
• Workshop: Commercial disputes – RPC; or
• Workshop: Changing the future of law one innovation at a time – TLT.

The options for day two were:

• Workshop: Family law, from initial instruction to final hearing – Burges Salmon;
• Workshop: Private equity and Private funds – Debevoise & Plimpton; or
• Workshop: Sports law, regulatory disputes – Mills & Reeve.

Day two: Wednesday 8 December 2021

Networking

As delegates were able to network with sponsors and law firms on day one, the same format took place for day two. I took the opportunity to network with more RPC representatives, including Lewis Manning, Alexandra Prato, and Estelle Nelson.

Question time: life as a trainee

The panellists for this session were:

• Liam Edwards, trainee solicitor at Burges Salmon;
• Hatti Briggs, trainee solicitor at Mills & Reeve;
• Karolina Lewicka, trainee solicitor at RPC; and
• Callum Scott, supervising caseworker at Nottingham Law School.

When working as a trainee or caseworker, the workload varies as each day is different. It is important to be flexible and understand that the opportunity to become involved in a variety of work will arise. If you show you can be trusted, you will be provided with more responsibilities.

Trainees are long-term investments, and they will be trusted to conduct tasks such as:

• taking calls with clients alone;
• attending client meetings and drafting an attendance note based on the meeting;
• sending summary emails of meetings to clients; and
• sending follow-up emails to clients where necessary.

Networking

Delegates were provided with another opportunity to network before the final session of the day. I was able to speak to representatives from Osborne Clarke who explained that the firm truly makes an effort to give trainees their final qualifying seat in a particular sector that they are genuinely interested in.

Throughout the training contract, trainees can speak to the graduate recruitment team to discuss the seats available and the seats they are particularly interested in.

There are also client secondment opportunities that allow trainees to develop their understanding from the perspective of the client and improves the approach which is likely to be taken to those clients in the future.

One of the questions I asked was what personally attracted each individual to Osborne Clarke – the most popular answer was the firm’s culture. “The firm truly invests in you and your development”, one representative said, which shows how much the firm truly cares about you as a person. 

Mills & Reeve: Sports law - regulatory disputes workshop

The panellists for the Mills & Reeve sports law workshop were:

• Phil Hutchinson, principal associate at Mills & Reeve LLP; and
• Tiran Gunawardena, principal associate at Mills & Reeve LLP.

First, we were introduced to Mills & Reeve, a law firm with a dedicated market-leading sports law team that have advised football clubs, including three premier league clubs, athletes, players, clubs, agents, and sports governing bodies. This was followed by an introduction to football agents and how the laws regarding who can become an agent have changed over the years.

Phil Hutchinson panelled the first interactive workshop on player representative contracts. This workshop involved Phil talking us through the type of contracts players and agents enter into, and we were able to discuss our thoughts on the importance of each section of the contract.

Phil then provided an explanation of the importance of each section in more detail, such as the appointment of an agent, duration of the contract, exclusivity of the agent, remuneration, termination of the contract and the importance of additional details required in contracts relating to representing minors.

Tiran Gunawardena panelled the second interactive workshop on the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), an international body located in Switzerland that settles sports disputes worldwide. There are several disputes that may arise involving employment law and breach of contracts, anti-doping, ethics, corruption cases, selection disputes and disciplinary matters.

Tiran spoke about the types of disputes handled in different courts and the practical importance of where each case is held. At Mills & Reeve you can represent high-profile clients which keeps the work competitive and interesting, and no two cases are the same.

Conclusion

Finally, to conclude the event, the panellists did a Q&A with the delegates. The Mills & Reeve’s culture was brought up, with the firm being described as truly supportive in allowing individuals to go after what is particularly interesting and important to them.

As sports law is relatively new, it is important to understand the particular skills required to become a successful sports lawyer in addition to keeping up to date with any changes to the rules, laws, and regulations. The key is taking an entrepreneurial approach by being able to network with individuals alongside comfortably speak to and meet with clients to build strong and lasting relationships.

Many thanks to Sharan Panesar (she/her) for writing this detailed summary! Sharan graduated with her Law LLB degree in 2019 and completed the LLM in Legal Practice in 2021.