Twelve Days, Fourteen Firms, Nineteen Cohorts – An ILFA Experience
19 Africans wandering the streets of London; not always together, must have caused quite a stir in certain quarters especially Liverpool Street where we seemed to frequent ever so often given the concentration of major firms in the area.
In 12 business days, even the worst of us at geography had mastered the art of reading the different coloured lines on tube maps, while the very African ones like me had no choice but to love the British staple: Tea and biscuits and of course the idea of lunch in the UK- "Sandwiches, Crisps, Salads."
Some days were better than others. The weather couldn’t quite seem to make up its mind on whether to rain on the Africans or remind them of home with some sun. Let's just say the British weather chose to serve us a balanced diet of all its glory, except some snow, thankfully.
Combining our compulsory geography lessons on taking the tubes, with jumping on the London red buses to catch another session, learning to love tfl.gov.uk, and stuffing up on breakfasts of croissants, au pains, and all kinds of flour based breakfast items and fruits, came the need to sit through training sessions on different topics at different law firms. Some firms were more prepared for us than others, but then again, the mission was some knowledge acquisition and that mission was accomplished.
While acquiring added knowledge on private equity, trade finance, project finance, sub-contracting arrangements, dispute resolution, negotiating the contract, and other interesting commercial subjects which come to fore in the course of global transactions, most sessions were succeeded by some form of networking or the other, some of course more memorable than others.
No one can forget the Firm with the perfect and hot hors d'oeuvre and an amazing view of the Tower Bridge, so yes; perhaps the networking at some firms was with the food and the view. But at some other firms networking was with amazing partners and lawyers, afternoons and evenings of drinks, bite-size snacks, rare hot lunch, and interesting conversations about anything and everything law and non-law.
While there were a couple of memorable nights in the course of the twelve business days, one night stood heads and shoulders above the rest. A ride on an old London bus, with tour guide commentary on major attractions along the way, champagne and other drinks on the ride, partners and associates of the sponsoring firm also along for the ride, and the destination; the rooftop at the Vista @ Trafalgar. Need I say more? Excuse the levity, but this was testament to the fact that the law and fun do mix and the law firms set the pace in that regard.
While it was absolutely great to see the insides of leading international law firms and hear partners and associates speak on their areas of strength and practical experiences in Africa, it was extremely amazing to sit with brilliant minds from other African countries, hear and share thoughts on the different training sessions. That in itself was a great intra-Africa learning opportunity and priceless bit of networking.
So twelve business days of wandering the streets of London, sitting through advanced training sessions, partaking in some interesting team activities, and rubbing minds with brilliant cohorts from the East, West, North and South of the African Continent it was. But more importantly, it was twelve business days which only signified the start of a remarkable ILFA secondment experience.
Nigeria, ILFA Lawyer 2015
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