Frankfurt
Kirsten Campbell-Ferguson
Trainee secondment to Hengeler Mueller
I am currently on secondment for six months to Hengeler Mueller in Frankfurt, sitting in their Employment team. I enjoyed sitting in the Pensions, Employment and Incentives (PEI) team at Slaughter and May earlier in my training contract, and my secondment has been a fantastic opportunity not only to experience living and working in a new jurisdiction and make international connections, but also to gain new insights into the area of law I am most interested in, which I can take forward with me as a newly qualified lawyer.
During my time here, I have been involved in a wide range of matters, both with the Employment law team and assisting other teams on M&A transactions and contentious work. The highlight so far has been working with Hengeler lawyers in Berlin to carry out a workplace investigation at a major German company, which gave me invaluable experience in conducting witness interviews and writing up an investigation report.
Outside of work, I have been playing in a tennis team, through which I have made great friends. With Frankfurt being a transport hub, it has been very easy to explore other parts of Germany, like Berlin, the Bavarian Alps and Heidelberg, as well as hop on a direct train to Paris for the weekend! I've also made it my mission to explore every bakery in the city, as German bread and pastries are on another level.
I have found the culture at Hengeler to be similar to that at Slaughter and May, and my new colleagues made me feel very welcome from day one. A real highlight so far has been attending Hengeler's Germany-wide Frühlingstreffen (Spring Meet-up) event, which involved all colleagues from the Frankfurt, Berlin, Munich and Düsseldorf offices coming together in Munich for a big black-tie dinner and party!
An international secondment is an amazing opportunity to travel, experience a new culture and expand your network. Some of the German lawyers I have worked with and got to know well will, vice versa, be coming on secondment to Slaughter and May, so it's great to have established these connections and be able to build on them further.
