George Garthwaite

Education: Classics, UCL

I studied classics at university, which gave me experience in analysis and led me to pursue a career in law. And that was absolutely the right decision for me.

As a new trainee, you want to sink your teeth into a juicy piece of work – it’s all about getting good exposure. Straight from my first seat in corporate, I got immediate client exposure: meetings with directors and face-to-face contact from an early stage. With six seats you’re able to work with many different supervisors: some senior associates, some partners. That’s been key for my growth and enjoyment.

As you finish the training contract, you enter WFW’s fantastic associate programme which builds your commercial skills as well as the leadership skills you need to become an established figure within the team and firm. As an associate, you gain increased exposure to clients and become more responsible on transactions. You also become more familiar with how law firms operate and learn to support partners in activities besides legal work.

In a client-based industry, we are expected to be as efficient as possible, so having room to explore, grow and contribute, to suggest and implement new approaches, has allowed me to develop – and get recognition if my ideas bring success. The partners at WFW are very approachable and I can talk to them freely about personal or work-related issues, about our growth as a firm and what we want to achieve. At WFW, the entrepreneurial spirit runs deep in the psyche, always asking “how can we improve?”