White & Case is a full-service, truly global law firm with the size, breadth, quality and experience to provide the international service that our clients require. We have more than 2,000 lawyers in 44 offices in 30 countries. Lawyers in Helsinki office work within the following practice areas: M&A, Capital Markets, Bank Finance, Real Estate and Pro Bono. Liisa Rekola and Jon Termonen are both working at White & Case as Associates and they would like to share their experiences with you. Could you tell us about yourself and your career at White & Case?
What is best White & Case?
Liisa: My career at White & Case started in the spring of 2017 when I took part in our four-month traineeship. It was during this traineeship that my interest in transactions strengthened and immediately upon my graduation, I joined the firm as an Associate lawyer.
Jon: Interesting and challenging projects as well as a great team both in Helsinki and abroad.
Jon: I started as an Associate at White & Case in 2014 and I have been working primarily with capital markets transactions, which handle a broad range of cases such as bond issuances, IPOs as well as public M&A cases. However, in the beginning of my career I was also regularly involved in private M&A transactions. Before starting as an Associate, I was a trainee at White & Case during spring 2013. During my studies, I had also been a trainee in other law firms and assistant legal counsel in a large multinational corporation. How is internationality part of your everyday work? Liisa: Many of our cases at White & Case have a cross-border aspect and are done in cooperation with our other offices, especially London and Stockholm. Consequently, most of the work is done in English. At White & Case, we also have secondment opportunities and at the moment, two of our lawyers are working at our London office. Jon: Internationality is part of our work in many ways as we are part of a global law firm mainly involved in cross-border transactions, and on a daily basis my work includes interactions with clients, law firms and other parties from various jurisdictions and cultures.
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Liisa: In my opinion, White & Case has the best qualities of both a big and small law firm. On one hand, we have the opportunity to work on complex crossborder transactions, but on the other hand, we are smaller in size and everyone knows each other well. One of the benefits of working for a global law firm is also the international events organized by the firm. Last year I took part in the annual White & Case World Cup in Frankfurt, where our White & Case colleagues from all around the world came together to play soccer and volleyball. I recently also went to Paris for an EMEAwide capital markets retreat. Jon, you were a trainee at White & Case before graduation. Could you tell us briefly about your time as a trainee? Do you have any tips for students who are interested in the traineeship? During my time as a trainee, I was able to work with different kinds of tasks and projects in all of our practice groups. The tasks that the Trainees at White & Case do are similar to those of recently graduated Associate lawyers and, therefore, the traineeship is most beneficial to those who have already completed the majority of their studies. I would encourage students who are interested in the traineeship to find out what transactional work includes and to demonstrate their motivation and interest in transactional work. However, our trainees do not need to have previous experience from a law firm.
Liisa, you also started here as a trainee. How would you describe your experiences? During my traineeship, I got to experience what the work of a recently graduated transaction lawyer entails. As our trainees are not allocated to a specific practice group, I had the opportunity to work for all three of our practice groups (Bank Finance, M&A and Capital Markets), which I really enjoyed. My traineeship ultimately gave me the spark to apply to White & Case after graduation. I would encourage students that are interested in our traineeship to bring out their interest towards transactions and particularly White & Case in their applications. Liisa what do you think is expected from a White & Case trainee? We have no specific prerequisites for our trainees, however, as most of the work is in English a sufficient knowledge of English is crucial. Other than that, eagerness to learn and a genuine interest in transactions go a long way! Anything else for the readers? Jon: Try to take advantage of the opportunities during your study years and explore different fields of law and, most importantly, remember to enjoy your time as a student! Liisa: If you want to hear more about White & Case and our traineeships, keep an eye out for our excursions!
whitecase.com/careers In this publication, White & Case means the international legal practice comprising White & Case LLP, a New York State registered limited liability partnership, White & Case LLP, a limited liability partnership incorporated under English law and all other affiliated partnerships, companies and entities.