I joined the firm in August 2010. Previously I studied politics at Nottingham University. I did the Graduate Diploma in Law at Nottingham Law School, before attending BPP for the Legal Practice course. I’m a second seat trainee, and I’m in the dispute resolution division.
Why choose Herbert Smith?
I think it’s the culture of Herbert Smith which makes the firm different. It’s a friendly and collegiate atmosphere, and that makes Herbert Smith a great place to work. Herbert Smith is renowned for its technical excellence, but this is combined with understanding the businesses we represent. The people at Herbert Smith are friendly and approachable, and there are many support networks for you as a trainee
Herbert Smith has an award winning corporate responsibility team, who encourage volunteering in the local community, and there’s plenty of sports teams and social clubs you can also join, to suit every taste.
Herbert Smith put clients at that centre of everything we do, and that ethos is very much encouraged in the firm, and that’s reflected in the instructions we are given. Herbert Smith has a fantastic reputation for both contentious and non contentious matters, and the reach of the firm is truly global so we work on the biggest cases and the biggest deals. And cross border elements can mean you get exposed to very interesting and very challenging work.
The Primark case
I recently worked on a very interesting case involving Primark and the BBC. BBC Panorama had done an investigation into Primark’s supply chain, and produced a program entitled ‘Primark on the Rack’, which was broadcast in 2008. Herbert Smith acted for Primark on a complaint about this program, and was recently found to be successful, and the complaint was upheld by the BBC Trust.
This was a major victory for our client after a three year long battle to clear its name. Serious sanctions were imposed on the BBC. First, the program was never to be sold or repeated. Second, there was an on-air apology, which was also put on the BBC website. Third, the BBC returned the Royal Television Society Award given to the programme in 2009. And fourth, the issues raised by the case were to be considered as part of a review of the BBC complaints process as a whole.