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The People
We know that our training system produces successful lawyers because of the number of our trainees who have remained with the Firm after qualification and gone on to become senior associates and partners.
On this page, you will find the profiles of some of our associates, of counsel, and partners.
Associates
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Of Counsel
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Partners
Jaskie
Chana
Newcastle upon Tyne, Law,
Real Estate Practice
I joined the Real Estate Department of Jones Day in the summer of 2001 from a regional law firm in the East Midlands as a six or so months newly qualified. Although I had received a solid foundation from my training at the regional firm, I was interested in doing some of the big-ticket type work that London had to offer. Having come from a pretty close-knit office where I had a relatively high degree of responsibility, the size of the firm that I joined was an important factor in my decision. I was not interested in being a small cog in a large Magic Circle corporate machine. This Firm at the time fit the bill in its size and nature of work. I also felt that the non-rotational training system was evidence of how the Firm encouraged responsibility and case management in the early stages of a junior lawyer's career. It didn't take too long before I became part of the team!
The Firm's client list is an enviable one and the quality of work consistently high. No two deals ever seem to be the same. The arrival of Jones Day during my time has only consolidated and built upon these areas with many of the Real Estate team doing more and more cross-border transactions for even bigger clients. Even though the Firm is now global and continually growing, the London Office has been lucky enough to retain that personal touch and team mentality that attracted me in the first place. There is a real sense of getting stuck into a job with all hands (whether partners' or trainees') to the deck if that is what is required.
Having been here for a good few years now, I have had the opportunity to work on a varied case load working with some of the largest UK-based and international property companies and funds. I deal in all aspects of real estate and related financing issues and regularly act for landlords and investors. You always get a kick out of pointing out to your friends a landmark city building that you have bought or sold, as well as when a deal you work on gets headlined in the legal or financial press. Probably most notably, I worked on the redevelopment of Highbury and the new Emirates Stadium for Arsenal FC - it's a shame I'm not a fan!
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Adam
Brown
Jesus College, Oxford, Classics and Modern Languages,
Trial Practice
I first arrived at Jones Day as a Christmas placement student in my final year studying languages at university. I was really struck by two things: first, how far removed this seemed from my preconceptions of a stuffy law firm; and second, by how the trainees and other members of the Firm were convinced that their unique system of training offered so much more than that provided by the raft of other firms whose brochures I had ploughed through during the recruitment process.
Two weeks was more than enough time to convince me. I could see why junior lawyers really did relish the opportunities for early responsibility that the Firm encouraged and that the training system enabled.
From 2003 I was one of those trainees, involved in an amazing variety of litigation, property, and corporate work, being given the freedom and responsibility to manage my own workload. Unlike my contemporaries in other firms, I did not have to move seats every six months. I was therefore able to see the files on which I worked through to completion and to take a hands-on role in more than just the one discrete aspect of the transaction that a "traditional" training affords.
Not only was I attracted to the Firm by the fact responsibility really does come on day one, but it is also an extremely rewarding place to work. Although the London Office is approaching 200 lawyers (and is indeed one of the Firm's larger global offices) it retains a collegial feel, which makes for a much more pleasant working environment and means that there are always people more than happy to give advice (and to go for a drink after work!). This combines with the international reach, varied work, and impressive client list of a truly global firm. The best of both worlds.
I qualified into the Litigation Practice in 2005 and, as a trainee and then as an associate, have been involved with a number of extremely varied cases. I have advised on a number of issues in various areas including: fraud, insurance, insolvency, restructuring, and employment in both arbitration and litigation claims. Again it is testament to the way that the Firm operates that there was no real change when it came to qualification, just a steady learning curve throughout, albeit a steep one.
I am currently working for (and indeed have been for a number of years now) a client subject to the largest ever fraud alleged to be perpetrated on the London AIM market. Cases such as this are not only extremely high-profile (it is not every day that a company finds it is missing $660 million), but involve a team of us working closely together. Everyone has a role to play and everyone's input (be it trainee, associate or partner) is highly valued. Taking the matter through to the eventual outcome, be it a favourable settlement or trial, gives a fantastic sense of individual and team achievement.
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Dominic
Hornblow
Worcester College, Oxford, Jurisprudence,
Intellectual Property Practice
In the summer of 1997, I faced the difficult task of choosing a law firm. Fortunately, I'd managed to secure a place on the vacation scheme at Jones Day where I was able to assist in defending a fraud case. I was amazed by the amount of involvement I had and was slightly sad at the end of my two weeks because I wouldn't see the case taken to its conclusion. At one and the same time, I could see what was great about the non-rotational system and what would be so irritating about a seat system.
By the end of the scheme, I knew that there was only one firm that I really wanted to join. I joined the Firm in 1999, and since then I've not looked back.
I now work in the Intellectual Property Practice, focusing on noncontentious matters. I get to be involved in a huge variety of deals, and the experience I gained during my training is still incredibly useful.
As a trainee at Jones Day, you have to be capable of working on a property matter at one moment and then a corporate matter the next, which can require you to think in quite different ways. Similarly, today I may be working on an international franchising agreement for a restaurant chain at one point and then looking at a military technology contract the next: I still find this mental agility to be a real asset.
As a Jones Day trainee, I think that you get far more experience in working directly with clients than you would at other City firms. This means that you get an instinct for knowing what is really important to a client so that you aren't perhaps pursuing a theoretical issue that won't be relevant in practice. This commercial sense is what really differentiates a competent lawyer from an outstanding one, and Jones Day trainees develop this sense far quicker than those at other firms.
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Jennifer
Calver
Hertford College, Oxford, Jursiprudence,
Banking & Finance Practice
I trained at Clifford Chance and qualified into one of the large general banking groups. I spent six months of my training contract working in Clifford Chance's Amsterdam office within the much smaller English banking team. This gave me a taste for working in a smaller firm, and when I was approached for a job at Jones Day at 18 months qualified, I welcomed the opportunity to move to a firm with such a good reputation for its relaxed firm culture and the quality of its clients and work.
I am now a senior associate in the London Banking & Finance Practice and am very involved in trainee and junior lawyer training. Jones Day attracts high quality, extremely capable trainees, many of whom really excel under our training system. I enjoy being able to work with several trainees at once and to keep them involved from the start to the close of a transaction. Our system lends itself to informal mentoring and relies heavily on personal relationships. I really enjoy getting to know the trainees and seeing them progress from having a limited role assisting with the preparing and negotiation of ancillary documents and conditions precedent to being much more involved in reviewing the principal documents and running parts of the transaction (such as coordinating local counsel) themselves.
During my career at Jones Day I have worked mainly on financing transactions for real estate and corporate clients. In the past four years (amongst other things) I have worked on 12 acquisitions in various continental jurisdictions, which has been extremely challenging and has involved having to rethink the transaction structure at several stages. I also have worked on administration facilities, telecoms transactions, and recently on a large refinancing for an oil and gas company. I enjoy the fact that we are a general finance group and have the opportunity to turn our hand at all types of finance work.
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Pat
Stafford
University of Strasbourg, France, French Law,
Private Equity Practice
I joined the Firm as a trainee in September 2001 and during my training contract experienced the transition to Jones Day. I have not been disappointed and feel privileged to have been offered the opportunity to work at this Firm. I joined the Firm for a number of reasons which remain today - the training contract coupled with the ability to take on responsibility from an early stage and against the backdrop of a summer scheme among a group of people with whom I felt comfortable and who obviously enjoyed where they worked.
The training contract in many respects sells itself. For example, having your own office from day one and participating in the non-rotational training system can be a great advantage over the more rigid six-month rotational system at other firms where you are placed in an office with an associate or partner. The nature of the training system means that the Firm works very much on the basis of an 'open door' policy. Because trainees do not need to move seats every six months, they feel part of the team they are working with as they see transactions through to closing. In many ways, the training system empowers trainees in the sense that there is no assumption that a trainee will work with a particular team, associate, or partner. Trainees are more likely than not to choose their own work, which puts the onus on the associates and partners to build working relationships with trainees that will result in the trainee wanting to continue working with that team. The transition to qualification is seamless. Again, largely because of the nature of the training system, you will by the time of qualification be working within the practice in which you are to qualify and with clients and colleagues you will continue to work with on qualification.
The quality of work undertaken by the Firm is high, and whether you are working on a purely domestic transaction involving colleagues in London or international transactions involving colleagues in offices around the world, you will feel a real sense of teamwork and cohesion.
After six years at the Firm and the benefit of hindsight, if I were making the decision now, I would look no further than Jones Day.
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In the Editor's Weekly article " Comfortable Seats" the writer says that 'Jones Day may be on to something' in choosing not to operate a seat system.
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