Legal traineeship in the Philippines

published on 11 October 2021

From 1 July to 30 September 2021, Yannic Ratt spent his legal traineeship at Rödl & Partner, especially dedicating his efforts to our office in the Philippines. Covid-19 unfortunately set up some unscheduled hurdles, forcing our young colleague to mainly join the Rödl universe from our office in Cologne or from the home office. Dr. Marian Majer and Markus Schlüter were his caretakers and contact persons via telephone and internet, gaining a wonderful new colleague we only reluctantly let move on to his next station. Read about his personal impressions of the job and environment at Rödl & Partner:

Describe Rödl & Partner with one word: innovative

What makes Rödl & Partner an interesting employer?

Rödl & Partner stands out thanks to its internationality. We work on highly exciting mandates and get an extremely interesting insight into our globalized world. This broad view opens up new perspectives and correlations.

In addition, it is the colleagues who create a very special atmosphere. Regardless of whether you have personal, telephone or digital contact, you always get to deal with a most likeable and helpful counterpart.

What tips can you give applicants or future colleagues?

Be yourself and try to be involved everywhere you go. If you are willing to go the extra mile, this will definitely be rewarded.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

I very much enjoy the variety of areas in which I work, and solving problems for clients. In this respect, I find it exciting to be confronted with new and different tasks every day, and to be able to contribute my own approaches to solving problems and providing support.

Describe your team in three words: likeable, competent, diligent

Did you already know during your training or studies where exactly you wanted to go?

I always had an idea of my future job, but I didn't/couldn't commit to a specific career goal during my studies. In this respect, I very much welcomed the various stations of the legal clerkship in order to gain a broad insight into different areas of jurisprudence. With this approach, I ultimately ended up in the legal traineeship at Rödl & Partner.

What does your day-to-day work at Rödl & Partner look like?

The pandemic had a big impact on my day-to-day work, both in terms of mandates and from a very personal perspective. Due to the pandemic conditions, it was unfortunately not possible for me to maintain the intense personal contact with my colleagues that would have been the case without Covid-19. However, despite this setback, I had an enormously instructive and exciting time at Rödl & Partner.

My work was characterized by digital office solutions, i.e. I mainly communicated via e-mail and video calls. I had a wide range of tasks, from assisting with litigation and company formations to independently writing articles for Rödl & Partner's German and international website. Of course, the research work lawyers are more than familiar with was not lacking either.