law profile: geetika bansal

I am in my second year of training at DLA Piper, and the time has flown by! Prior to starting work I studied law at University College London and completed my Legal Practice Course (LPC) at the College of Law in London- it is obligatory to complete this one year professional studies course before starting your training contract.

Most people think that you need to study law to become a lawyer- this is not the case at all! Of my intake only half of us studied law, with the other half doing much more interesting things, such as history, English, classics….sorry, maybe I didn’t mean to use the word interesting!! If you don’t choose to study law then you will need to take the conversion course- presently called the GDL. The fees for the GDL and LPC are high and so I was fortunate that DLA Piper paid for them.  

It is usual for city law firms such as DLA Piper to recruit two years in advance of the date you wish to start- and so it is important to get organised! The firm offers the opportunity to spend two weeks over the summer in an office of your choice before applying for a training contract. This is a very useful way to learn not only about the work that the firm does but also the people that work there- after all you need to know whether you are right for the firm and the firm is right for you. I really enjoyed my summer placement as I was given real work and was treated like a valued member of the team from my first day and so was thrilled when I was offered my training contract.  

The training contract is split into four 'seats' of six months. I have worked in Real Estate, BS&R (which is mostly insolvency work) and am now in Human Resources. I have been fortunate to have been involved in a variety of work and have had extensive client contact which has helped me to gain a number of useful skills for both the present and the future.

Before I joined, DLA Piper stood out as a truly distinctive law firm, for its commitment to high quality work for high quality clients yet meeting and valuing the needs of its people; I am pleased to say that since joining, my expectations have been surpassed! The firm has gone from strength to strength and we are currently the third largest law firm in the world….. it doesn’t get much better!