Profile (as at Summer 2007)

I first came to London in 2004 to attend a MSc in Law and Accounting at the London School of Economics. Before then I had graduated in Law from the University of Genoa in 2002 and worked for two and a half years as an in-house legal advisor for an Italian company involved in offshore oil and gas decommissioning. My work there mainly involved advising on contractual issues, overseeing litigation and assisting in the company's international expansion, an aspect of the job that involved frequent trips to the various jurisdictions.

While I was in London I came into contact with the UK legal services environment (which is very different from its Italian counterpart), and I was hugely impressed by the scale and quality of the international work undertaken by the top UK firms. Of all of those I had contact with, Lovells stood out and particularly impressed me, coming across as being interested in me as an individual and in my experiences and potential, rather than in just 'another trainee'.

When Lovells offered me a training contract I had no hesitations about accepting it. I was very excited at the prospect of joining Lovells, not only for the top quality training the firm has a reputation for, but also because of the opportunity to be involved in cutting edge international work. My expectations in this respect have been met.

In my first six months I sat in the International Arbitration group and was involved in various arbitrations, none of which had English parties. I believe this really highlights the international dimension of the firm. I also received a lot of training relevant to litigation, including a three day advocacy course which was very interesting.

I am now in my second seat, tax, where I will be working mainly on taxation issues which arise from the international dimension of our clients.