The London Office holds an array of social and sporting events throughout the year: five-a-side football matches each week, pub quiz nights, cricket, rugby and softball matches, the odd karaoke event, and the Christmas pantomime which takes place before the Christmas party.
On Friday nights, our staff will often congregate in a local hostelry to catch up over a quiet beverage, but people will find an excuse to meet up on any night of the week, whether it is to celebrate a new baby or merely to commemorate the completion of a particularly taxing piece of work.
Entertaining clients is also a key part of the job and can be a pleasant diversion from the usual routine: you may find yourself at a sporting event, a concert, or merely enjoying good food at a fine restaurant.
The pantomime is probably the social highlight of the year at Jones Day. Written and performed by the trainees, the story is loosely based upon a traditional tale but with characters based upon the partners at the Firm and free licence to shoehorn in as many jokes as possible. Fortunately, the partners generally have thick skins or perhaps try desperately to forget as much of the panto as possible during the Christmas break. They are often more upset if they do not get a mention.
You may wonder whether Jones Day's lawyers actually have any time away from work to enjoy a social life. In all honesty, there will be days when you do work very long hours, and there may well be the odd occasion where you have to cancel a prior engagement because you need to finish a piece of work or because an emergency has arisen that affects one of your clients: it is part of being a professional to realise that occasionally you will have to put the needs of your client ahead of your own. However, the independence given to both qualified lawyers and trainee lawyers at Jones Day means that you have the flexibility to plan your workload and try to work around your social calendar. You should find that your work will obstruct your social life far less than you might find at other City firms.
When you do want to plan an evening out, you can take advantage of the fact that our office is situated in the heart of one of the world's great cities. The office is walking distance from the West End and Covent Garden and is just the other side of the Thames from the Globe Theatre and Tate Modern. There is no excuse for being bored with so much entertainment on your doorstep.
For more information, see the City Life section.