Amy Wong worked for London Law Collective as a Paralegal for just over a year before joining Reed Smith LLP as a Trainee Solicitor. Working at London Law Collective was Amy’s first job in law following her Law LLB degree at the University of Exeter and an LPC MSc at the University of Law.

Before she left, we caught up with Amy to ask about her experiences of working as a Paralegal at LLC.

This was your first role in law, what did you like most about it?

I think that London Law Collective really was a great place to work. The team was very friendly and supporting and there was a caring atmosphere in the office which made me feel very welcome, especially when I was nervous about coming into my first role. Throughout my time with the firm, I felt that I was able to have frank and open conversations with colleagues when things got too busy, which was exactly what I needed sometimes.

I liked that the firm takes a real interest in professional development, and I was provided with regularly formal and informal feedback which I found really useful. Having frequent personal development meetings helped me understand my own limits when it came to my capacity and provided me with a sense of clarity as to how much work I could take on.

Working in a small firm has its bonuses. I was given responsibilities beyond my years and was given the opportunity of working directly with fee earners due to the small structure of the company, which exposed me to new areas of law on a regular basis, building my knowledge and experience.

But best of all, it was great to get to know everyone and build some really close relationships. The summer away day was a highlight, a real chance to let go, and also meet colleagues who I didn’t see in the office every day!

What kind of work did you do as part of your role?

I was lucky enough to work on a variety of corporate and commercial matters, including: acquisitions of companies, the squeeze-out procedure, funding rounds (Seed, Series A, Series B), apostilling of documents and assisting in small employment and litigious matters. My key responsibilities included drafting transaction document lists, running completion signings via DocuSign and making various filings by post and electronically at Companies House, so it was really varied.

I was also given the opportunity to write first drafts of corporate documents (board minutes, shareholder resolutions, subscription letters, deeds of adherence, shareholder agreements) which taught me a lot about attention to detail!

What did you find challenging?

Whilst it was great in terms of lots of immediate responsibility, I initially found it difficult being the only paralegal. I often had to deal with various urgent requests when they all came in at once from different fee earners (although this became easier when I got better at my job and a colleague joined who supported me). But saying that, working in a small firm can be very busy and so to have so much responsibility so early into my career was great!

What was the impact for you of working at LLC?

I’m not sure where to start! It gave me a great lift in my legal career journey and gave me experience of working in a corporate law firm in small teams, learning how to manage my day to day capacity as well as handling different time pressures and workload. 

I’m was sad to leave but thankful of the experience.