2 weeks ago, I attended a law fair in Cardiff where I had the wonderful opportunity to meet and talk to lawyers and recruitment workers from many leading law firms. The majority of my day was highly insightful and positive, but what this blog post is about is my rude encounter with Latham & Watkins (which I now know is the top law firm in the world).
Only being a first year, I knew that many law firms did not have much work experience that I could apply for this year. Nonetheless, I did not let that fact hold me back. I am very proactive and enthusiastic when it comes to law so I eagerly made my way through the law fair; getting lots of advice, making contacts and having great conversations.
The hall quickly filled up and it became a task to talk to the firms, then I spotted an empty stand (which had been empty for the majority of the afternoon). Not going on my insticts (that clearly people were not at the stand for a reason), I made my way to talk to the people from Latham & Watkins. When I got there, I was grudgingly greated by three people from the firm. I kindly stated that I had to be honest, I had not heard of their firm and I was wandering whether they would give me some information about their firm. Anyone would think that I had told them that I was a serial killer or something, if they saw the look of disgust on their faces as they began to boast, in a condescending manner that they were the world's leading law firm, that they had little time for 'first years', that their firm would not waste resources on 'first years', that they are better than the rest of the firms in the building and so on and so forth.
I kindly said, 'thank you for your time' and quickly made my way over to Allen & Overy (who are one of the most friendliest people that I have ever spoken to).
What I think is so disappointing is that, Latham & Watkins should have been the firm that people crowded over to, the firm that made the best impression, the firm that us 'undergraduates' ('first years') want to aspire to be like, simply because they are the top in the world. Yet they were the totally opposite and that is very sad.
(with all of that said, one cannot judge a law firm made up of over 2,000 employees based on 3 people)
xxx
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