How would you rate the international secondment opportunities available?

There is little more alluring for a trainee than the prospect of an international secondment. A stint in an overseas office offers an unparalleled opportunity to witness how the firm operates on an international level, whilst also experiencing the culture and lifestyle of another city. Trainees often return from their international secondments more confident (overseas offices are often smaller than their UK counterparts) and more connected with people across the firm than before they left. Particularly useful if you need to pick up the phone to an international colleague in your next seat. At these Lex 100 Winner firms, international secondments are plentiful and well organised. At HFW, there are ‘opportunities for international secondments for all trainees’, with one secondee reporting ‘arriving on secondment to one of our international offices and immediately being asked by a partner to draft a High Court arbitration application’. A ‘guaranteed international secondment’ is also on offer at Watson Farley & Williams; a four-month secondment to Athens which offered ‘excellent shipping finance exposure and an amazing weekend travelling on the Greek islands’ was a particular highlight. White & Case offers a ‘great opportunity to do complex work in London and overseas’, whilst at Norton Rose Fulbright, the ‘international secondment opportunities are second to none’. ‘The availability of international secondments is very good for an intake of its size’ at Stephenson Harwood. A ‘three-month secondment to Hong Kong was amazing’, according to a Baker McKenzie trainee, whilst a Clifford Chance recruit ‘thoroughly enjoyed my secondment to the Paris office’.