Allens Confidential podcast
Rotation in focus: Funds, Super and Financial Services
Can junior lawyers work in an area of law in which they have no previous experience? Intimidating as it might seem, this week's episode reveals why diving into the unknown can often be the best move at the start of your career. In this episode, Cat and Sam meet Funds, Super and Financial Services partner Kerensa Sneyd and lawyer Curtis Haas to find out more about the practice area and what makes it special for early-career lawyers. What actually is funds, super and financial services? Do you need a business degree to thrive? What skills does it develop in junior lawyers? Kerensa and Curtis share their interest in the practice, how they (unexpectedly) ended up there and what it feels like to see their advice to clients in action.
Some of the questions we discussed
- What is funds, super and financial services?
- How did you end up in the team and what do you like about it?
- How is work allocated to junior lawyers?
- What are the key skills that the group develops in junior lawyers?
This episode is part of our 2024 series.
Listen to the episode
About the presenters: Sam Guzman and Cat Thomas
Sam joined Allens as a clerk in 2020/21 and is now (surprisingly to some) a 'qualified' lawyer rotating through the Banking & Finance team. Sam enjoys acoustic jams to 90s/2000s RnB and watching Survivor (US and AU) to wind down. If he's not watching Survivor, he's probably listening to podcasts dissecting the latest Survivor episode or chewing someone's ear off about it (…so beware).
Cat describes herself as being a victim of the height of 2012 Tumblr emo aesthetic epidemic. Having bravely freed herself from the clutches of the flannel shirt (mostly), she switched out her Vans for pumps having joined Allens as a clerk in 2020/21. Cat is now, against all odds, happily rotating through the Banking & Finance team, despite mentioning that it was her last preference during her clerkship interview. As you can tell, she has a bit of a reputation for saying the quiet part out loud, mostly because she says everything really loudly.