MHC Intern Life: Emma Flanagan

For the next MHC Intern Life, we talked to Emma Flanagan, a law with social justice student of University College Dublin and one of our July interns. Emma describes her final week as an intern here.

Week 3 started off with a talk from some of the firm’s newly qualified (NQ) lawyers. They shared their experiences of training, and now practicing at the firm. We heard from NQs who have qualified into the PRI, Commercial, Insurance & Risk, and Corporate departments. They outlined the reasons why they chose their respective departments, and provided a thorough overview of the work each one does.

They then touched on the benefit of the firm offering a pre-seat to trainees. This is where trainees have the opportunity to sit an additional rotation in a different department during their traineeship. This means that by the time they qualify, they will have had experience in five different areas, rather than the typical four that most other law firms offer. The NQs emphasised how helpful this can be in figuring out what work you do (or don’t!) want to do.

After the talk, the NQs and the interns all had a lovely lunch together. It was great getting to hear from people who had been in our position not that long ago, and chat about life after qualifying.

On Tuesday, the Employment Law team hosted a welcome morning in the atrium. There were plenty of people to tell stories about what it’s like working in employment. There were protein balls and health juice shots on offer, to make sure everyone was energised and ready to start their day!

I then attended a knowledge session with my department. The firm has an excellent team of knowledge lawyers, who run regular briefings where they talk through legal updates relevant to each department. The briefing I attended was about the Product Liability Directive, and how this effects the regulation of software and digital goods.

One of the key parts of the internship is the group project. Interns are split into groups and assigned a topic. An executive summary is written up, and a presentation of the key points is delivered. My group’s topic was on the new legislation introducing representative actions to Ireland. We learned a lot about the practical implications of the legislation, and the sectors it impacts most. We practised our presentation many times during the week, before presenting to a boardroom full of partners in the firm. While it was intimidating initially, the confidence boost afterwards was brilliant. It was a great opportunity to learn how to balance being informative and delivering an appropriate level of detail, whilst also being engaging. Getting to work together with my group and then deliver something we were really proud of was definitely a highlight of my internship experience.

We rounded off our internship with a delicious lunch out in Angelina’s with our partners. We got to chat and reflect on the past three weeks. It was a lovely way to mark the end of the experience and spend time with the partners who had been so brilliant in mentoring and supporting us. In the evening, we went out for drinks with our trainees. We had a great time, chatting and laughing away, before we got to say our goodbyes. I really loved getting to end the internship surrounded by the people who had made it so enjoyable – the partners, the trainees, and of course, my fellow interns!

Overall, I feel incredibly lucky to have had such a wonderful time here. Everyone was so warm and welcoming, and it made settling into my role so seamless. The firm’s emphasis on teamwork and collaboration really shines through.

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