2011 Summer Placement Blogs: Week One in Private Wealth by Isabel Francis:

I graduated last year with a degree in Biology from the University of Bristol and I have just completed my GDL at the College of Law London Bloomsbury.

One of my main reasons for applying to Bircham Dyson Bell was its strength in private client work. Therefore I was thrilled when I received a letter from BDB in May stating that I would be spending the first week of my two week summer placement in the Private Wealth department.

My first day began with a morning of induction talks which included an intriguing group exercise involving prioritising survival items in the desert. I learned that my knowledge of survival skills was much improved when I worked in a team rather than as an individual! Then I met my trainee buddy Helen and I was off to the Private Wealth Department.  I was introduced to the whole department and everyone was very friendly and welcoming. I met my supervisor Henry and then I was given my first task which was research on the inheritance tax acceptance in lieu scheme. I had not really studied or experienced much tax law at all so it was interesting to research and discover a new area of law and later receive feedback. At the end of the day we had drinks in the Litigation department as they had just moved onto the same floor as Private Wealth which was a lovely welcome to the firm.

The rest of the week I carried out a variety of tasks, both from my supervisor Henry and from other lawyers in the department. I did a lot of research tasks specifically on double tax treaties, custodian trustees and calculating inheritance tax. I also got to makes amendments to a client’s will. As my supervisor was technically a property lawyer although he did a lot of work in Private Wealth to do with landed estates, I also got to experience a lot of work involving property law. I got to review and write a report on the planning permissions and agreements of a property and on my second day I personally took a transfer of title form to a client to be signed which was very exciting.

I also got to attend two meetings. The first was a Charities Team Meeting which the Private Wealth department was invited to attend. I was really impressed at how departments worked together and I really enjoyed a presentation about relevant areas of employment law for charities including a very interesting section on whether volunteers counted as employees. I also attended a Private Wealth Information Exchange Meeting in which the definition of mental capacity was discussed as well as the new lifetime giving scheme similar to the inheritance tax acceptance in lieu scheme I had researched on my first day and I enjoyed being able to understand more about the discussions at the meeting due to the research I had already done.

There were also chances to socialise with my fellow summer placement students and the trainees including a walking tour around Westminster followed by drinks at the pub which was very enjoyable! Additionally all the placement students would try and meet up for lunch every day in St James Park if we were free (and weather permitting!)

All in all I highly enjoyed my experience in Private Wealth and it confirmed to me my interest in private client work. I was sad to leave the department as it felt like my week had gone too quickly but I was excited to begin my second week in the Government and Infrastructure department.