Week 1 A&L Goodbody
It was the week of September 18th to September 22nd and I was going into Dublin everyday that week to work in A&L Goodbody, which is a top property and corporate law firm based out of Dublin. The first morning I was nervous walking from the D.A.R.T into the building as I had no idea what to expect. I was the only one from my school going and knew no one else from outside of school going either. When I got in there I sat at my assigned table which quickly filled up with my group members. We were all shy at first but a few group activities in we well doing well. We had named our team Spicy Chicken. The first day included and induction to the company with a tour and a few talks on presentation skills, corporate and property law and marketing. Although the first day was a bit more boring than the rest of the days coming up it still was a great day meeting new people from tons of different schools. Out of the forty students there only one or two schools had more than one student there keeping a good variety of schools.
The second day was a strong one with my team the Spicy Chickens, moving miles past the other teams on the best team leaderboard. We started the day with a talk from one of the lawyers from the firm The talk was entitled The Irish Legal System Part 1 with Part 2 the next day. My team and I collaborated to win a game set up by the lawyer giving the presentation. In the game we had to match a bunch of terms with their definition. The prize for the team with the most right answers was a box of Heroes to share. My team won this and devoured the Heroes very quickly. We then had a workshop on are CV’s which followed with a mock interview. I did very well in my mock interview. The interviews lasted about 20 minutes and then we were off to lunch. The food there was unbelievable and was what some people looked forward to the most. After lunch we had brief talks on the journey to become a solicitor, corporate responsibility in A&L Goodbody and Finance. The talks were not as interactive as the earlier one however they were still good. It was then time to go home and get ready for day 3.
Day 3 was setup to be one of the best days of the week. We started are day with part 2 of the Irish Legal System talk. This time there was a mock trial which my team won again. We then went on a field trip to Trinity. While we were in Trinity we toured the campus. It was open day as well when we were there so we got to go around to all the stations and look at what they had to offer for when we are in first year of college. When we got back from Trinity we had lunch quickly and then had a brief talk on IT. After that it was are first of two work shadowing experience. I was paired with a third year trainee in the corporate department. Me and him got on very well and we look at major corporate cases A&L have been involved in. We talked about the importance of certain companies like AIG in our economy. This work shadowing was a really good experience and gave me a good feel for how corporate law works and what is is like to work in a big firm like A&L Goodbody.
Day 4 was very like day 3. We started the day with a Litigation & Negotiation skills talk from one of the lawyers. We discussed what you need to be good in court and argue your points to their full potential. After this we hopped on the Luas and headed down to the Four Courts. Although the courts were closed we still got a tour and got to go into courtroom one to look around. The building and the courts were quite spectacular as you can imagine and it was unbelievable to see. After this we took the Luas down to the Criminal Courts which was another spectacular experience. In the Criminal Courts we got to sit in on a trial for about 10 minutes. The man who was on trial had been arrested for protesting outside a workplace which interrupted the performance of the business. This is considered unconstitutional. When we got back it was a quick lunch followed by another work shadowing experience. This time I was paired with a women intern in corporate law. This time we went around and met some partners and associates within the corporate section. This was really fascinating as the partners were very interesting to talk to. That was are last day of work the next cay is a closing ceremony day.
Day 5 was a celebration even with our parents. We came in 2 hours earlier than are parents to practice the song we had to write for it are song was based of the song All Star by Steve Harwell. Are song went over very well with all of our parents and the employes of A&L Goodbody. Then the employees gave us graduation diplomas from the week. We also got to see a slideshow from the week. The moment all the teams had been waiting for finally came. They were going to tell us what team was the best over the week. It was my team Spicy Chicken. We all got €20. It was good finish to a great week.
The second day was a strong one with my team the Spicy Chickens, moving miles past the other teams on the best team leaderboard. We started the day with a talk from one of the lawyers from the firm The talk was entitled The Irish Legal System Part 1 with Part 2 the next day. My team and I collaborated to win a game set up by the lawyer giving the presentation. In the game we had to match a bunch of terms with their definition. The prize for the team with the most right answers was a box of Heroes to share. My team won this and devoured the Heroes very quickly. We then had a workshop on are CV’s which followed with a mock interview. I did very well in my mock interview. The interviews lasted about 20 minutes and then we were off to lunch. The food there was unbelievable and was what some people looked forward to the most. After lunch we had brief talks on the journey to become a solicitor, corporate responsibility in A&L Goodbody and Finance. The talks were not as interactive as the earlier one however they were still good. It was then time to go home and get ready for day 3.
Day 3 was setup to be one of the best days of the week. We started are day with part 2 of the Irish Legal System talk. This time there was a mock trial which my team won again. We then went on a field trip to Trinity. While we were in Trinity we toured the campus. It was open day as well when we were there so we got to go around to all the stations and look at what they had to offer for when we are in first year of college. When we got back from Trinity we had lunch quickly and then had a brief talk on IT. After that it was are first of two work shadowing experience. I was paired with a third year trainee in the corporate department. Me and him got on very well and we look at major corporate cases A&L have been involved in. We talked about the importance of certain companies like AIG in our economy. This work shadowing was a really good experience and gave me a good feel for how corporate law works and what is is like to work in a big firm like A&L Goodbody.
Day 4 was very like day 3. We started the day with a Litigation & Negotiation skills talk from one of the lawyers. We discussed what you need to be good in court and argue your points to their full potential. After this we hopped on the Luas and headed down to the Four Courts. Although the courts were closed we still got a tour and got to go into courtroom one to look around. The building and the courts were quite spectacular as you can imagine and it was unbelievable to see. After this we took the Luas down to the Criminal Courts which was another spectacular experience. In the Criminal Courts we got to sit in on a trial for about 10 minutes. The man who was on trial had been arrested for protesting outside a workplace which interrupted the performance of the business. This is considered unconstitutional. When we got back it was a quick lunch followed by another work shadowing experience. This time I was paired with a women intern in corporate law. This time we went around and met some partners and associates within the corporate section. This was really fascinating as the partners were very interesting to talk to. That was are last day of work the next cay is a closing ceremony day.
Day 5 was a celebration even with our parents. We came in 2 hours earlier than are parents to practice the song we had to write for it are song was based of the song All Star by Steve Harwell. Are song went over very well with all of our parents and the employes of A&L Goodbody. Then the employees gave us graduation diplomas from the week. We also got to see a slideshow from the week. The moment all the teams had been waiting for finally came. They were going to tell us what team was the best over the week. It was my team Spicy Chicken. We all got €20. It was good finish to a great week.