Samantha Lloyd

“I came to Matthew Arnold & Baldwin as a Trainee Solicitor in 2005, straight from law school. It was an in-house lawyer that I worked with on a summer placement who recommended that I apply for a traineeship here. I was keen to work for a large regional firm, and the good location was also a factor, plus the fact that Matthew Arnold & Baldwin deals with both private client and commercial work meant that I would receive a good breadth of training.

The people I have worked with at every level, from partners to secretaries, have all had a massive input into my training. I have had really close support from partners in each of the departments I’ve worked in.

I was particularly looking forward to my final trainee seat in the Corporate Department; I was able to take the skills that I had learnt during my time with the other departments and use them when I joined the Corporate Team. I now work in the Corporate Commercial group assisting both the Corporate and Commercial IP/IT teams.

I love it. Each day is different; working across two teams means that I am being given a unique breadth of experience and I rarely do the same thing twice. I really like the people that I work with and the transactional work gives me the opportunity to work with other specialist teams across the firm. We work with clients and other parties to effect deals whereby everyone comes out happy; it’s all about facilitating transactions and achieving a common goal.

My ambition is to move up within the firm. Given that I’ve trained here, they know me well and I am given a lot of responsibility as they know my capabilities.

I have also been on secondment to one of our clients, the Institute of Grocery Distribution. I worked at their offices one day a week, providing general legal advice and reviewing commercial contracts, which was great. I got a good understanding of their business and they provided me with an exceptional insight into their legal requirements. It was also an interesting part of my career development. I got to see the client’s business from the inside and see the challenges that they face commercially; it’s a different perspective  rather than just taking instructions I got involved in the business and the decision-making process.

I am also Assistant Editor of Upload-IT, an email update sent out to thousands of our clients and contacts every month. Not only does this mean that we are able to add value to our clients’ business but for me, creating Upload-IT keeps me up to date with all the latest legal developments.

The next step for me is to build relationships with our existing clients and develop my own contacts. I also want to increase my profile in the area and work my way towards the next milestone – to become an Associate through the firm’s Senior Lawyer Development Programme.”