Interview with Giulia Peluso, an associate at Clifford Chance

In this interview, Eleanor Teh interviews Giulia Peluso, an associate at Clifford Chance.

Q: Let’s start with a brief introduction about yourself! 

My name is Giulia Peluso and I was born and raised in Italy. I came to the UK and did my law degree at Queen Mary University of London, studying English and European law doing my year abroad in Italy. After I graduated, I worked for a year at American Express as a paralegal and then joined Clifford Chance (London) as a trainee after finishing my LPC with Masters in law, business and management. My seats have been in Banking, Intellectual Property, Environment and Planning, and Litigation (seconded to the Singapore office). 

Q1: That’s great, thank you! My first question to you is – why did you decide to come to the UK? And why did you choose to go into commercial law? 

When I was 15, I stayed in Sydney for a few months where my family lives, and I felt surprisingly comfortable in such an international environment. Given that in Italy there are limited opportunities to have an international career, especially in Naples, the next best location for me in that respect was London, to match that element of multiculturalism and international opportunities. Also from a more practical level, having the UK qualification is much more transferable worldwide, so I thought it would make sense to first qualify in the UK rather than staying in Italy where the civil law system is quite limiting.  

On a more personal level, because I have a disability being born with a visual impairment, I thought that accessing the resources and the support available in the UK would have made a massive difference to me and to my studies. Having access to amazing support from the UK university, such as digital copies of books and access to reasonable adjustments, made my academic studies considerably more enjoyable, allowing me to be confident and show my full potential. 

As for why I chose to study commercial law, that was a particularly difficult decision. Coming from a family of legal practitioners, I had the amazing opportunity to see all the different paths a law degree can take someone, as you can end up doing anything both in the public and private sector. I was initially very torn between commercial law and criminal law, but during my time at the Queen Mary Legal Advice Centre and in the pro-bono society, I realised that working on criminal law matters was too emotionally consuming for me. This is especially due to my family background where my mother worked as an anti-mafia prosecutor in Italy, so I understand the struggles of doing such a tough job.  

On the other hand, my dad is a commercial lawyer, so I was inspired by the type of stimulating and collaborative environment he works in every day. Growing up, I was able to listen to him speaking to not only lawyers, but also experts in other fields and making relationships with them. I particularly enjoy the aspect of commercial law being a full-service area of law, which is why I chose to do seats which allowed me to build a variety of skills and explore different types of work – transactional, advisory and contentious. I’ve chosen to do commercial law in an international setting, in particular, as I can use my multilingual abilities as an international candidate and leverage my experience in the civil law jurisdictions. I find it fascinating being in a firm that recruits people from all over the world with the most varied background, and it is quite stimulating for me to be working alongside people with completely different skills or experiences from me. 

Q2: Why did you choose Clifford Chance? Could you tell us about your experience as a trainee there?
There are 3 reasons why I decided to apply to Clifford Chance. When I was applying for CC through its direct Training Contract (TC) route, I was still a paralegal at American Express (“Amex”). There, I enjoyed juggling different types of work (e.g. digital, privacy, employment, business contracts) and thanks to that experience, I learned what type of firm I wanted to train at – a law firm with a full-service offering. While I only looked at applying to full-service law firms, Clifford Chance particularly stood out for its balanced full-service offering, being market-leading in all aspects of commercial law. Knowing that I wanted to have a balanced training contract and choose very different seats, which I eventually did, I wanted to get the most out of CC’s balanced and excellent training. 

The second reason was CC’s global network. When I was at Amex, I supported both the UK and Italian markets and I had met colleagues from all over the world, both virtually and in personal when I travelled to New York. CC’s international work, network and trainee secondment opportunities (which I eventually experienced) were therefore particularly attractive to me.  

Last but not least, for accessibility reasons. Amex had a very open and inclusive culture, and I was also part of its Disability Awareness Network. I often worked outside of the box to advocate for disability awareness and inclusion, as I understand the need to have access to resources to be able to perform at my best. I applied to Clifford Chance after I attended a mentoring scheme with them, which was founded by Fadeia Hossian (now a tech knowledge lawyer, former senior associate in the financial regulatory team). Fadeia has been at the firm for 10+ years as a fully blind lawyer and she is one of the most amazing people I have ever met. For a few months, she showed me what it’s like to be a lawyer with a visual impairment and introduces us to trainees and junior associates to let us understand more about the tasks across different departments. She also gave us access to training sessions about ‘how to confidently showcase your skills’, most of which we would have gained as a consequence of our disability, and how to treat these as an asset. I realised that I really wanted to be at a firm that not only cared about inclusion, but was also ahead of the curve in terms of experience, leading on the accessibility front in the legal sector.

About my experience so far as a trainee at CC, I can not only confirm everything that I’ve said in terms of the three different reasons I joined, but that it has also exceeded my expectations to some extent. In relation to accessibility, I was not only receiving all the support needed (e.g. reasonable adjustments), but I was also part of Clifford Chance’s disability affinity network, Enable, as trainee representative since my first seat. As an example of my involvement, I was able to put back in action a scheme introduced by a former trainee, which gives the opportunity to 1st seat trainees to be matched with other trainees with a similar condition, if shared. This ensures that they are not only more comfortable when it comes to adapting to the change of becoming a trainee, but also learn how to speak to supervisors about their disabilities more proactively and usefully for the purposes of their working lives. In relation to the international network, I am very proactive in this respect and have made the most out of it. I have worked in the Sydney office, have seconded to Singapore, and I just qualified as an Associate in the Milan office. I have attended training from people all over the world and I’ve kept in touch by following up with them. It hasn’t only allowed me to build a network professionally, but also to make a lot of friends. For example, one of my closest friends now is a secondee from the Washington DC Office to Singapore, who is partly Italian, so we were able to bond really quickly! 

Q3: You’ve previously mentioned that you have trained in 4 areas – Banking, IP, Environment and Planning, and Litigation. What did you like most about these seats? 

 I should start by saying that I’m very grateful that I enjoyed every seat that I did, because that’s not necessarily the case for everyone. The reason why I chose Banking first is because I thought I had a big knowledge gap when it comes to the financial legal work and banking law in particular. I never studied anything in relation to economics in my life until the LPC, so I was keen to get started with what seemed to be the most difficult seat for me at the time, as I knew that from there it could have only gone better for me. Among the Finance seats, I chose Banking because that is the bread and butter of what Clifford Chance does. As a junior at CC, you can get exposure to every type of financing. Particularly, what makes CC special is that the firm represents both borrowers and lenders so you could be working with a partner that specialises in either, gaining in-depth understanding of the strategic behind the scenes of a transaction. On a more practical level, I enjoyed that Banking was very fast-paced, which could immediately provide me with the skills necessary to become a solid commercial lawyer: great project management, people management and time management. 

Moving on to IP, what I liked about it was that I did a bit of a step-up intellectually, as I already had the foundational skills from Banking. IP, regardless on what you’re doing, requires you to think through things, because IP law is equally technical and factual, and often there are gaps in the law. At the same time, I kept some of the commercial thinking that I had in banking in IP as there’s no business without IP. So, there is a good balance in terms of technicality of the law and commerciality of the advice. IP is also very much a full-service team, so even though it sits under the corporate team, I was involved in corporate, litigation, and advisory work. The IP team was also significantly smaller than Banking, and I went from being 1 of 17 trainees to only being 1 of 2, which helped me with my confidence. I had the pleasure of sharing an office with Stephen Reese, the head of IP and the Global co-head of Life sciences, learning so much from him and his work across industries. 

The reason why I applied to sit in the Environment and Planning Group (EPG) was because I was missing out on advisory regulatory work at the time, which was 70% of what the team does. The remaining is a mixture of corporate work in the energy sector, finance work in the project finance space, and anything else related to the energy transition (e.g. ERPAs). EPG is super interesting, very topical, and quite technical (as technical as IP). While it was arguably the most challenging seat, it is the one I’ve learnt the most from because I was again in a very small team (1 of 2 trainees), handling difficult associate level work, whether it was from a research, drafting or presentation perspective.  

Finally, what I liked about Litigation in Singapore in particular is that it’s a much smaller team than in London (and I was the only trainee there for 4 months). As a junior in a small team, I supported them in a variety of matters, such as investigations, arbitration, and litigation. Whereas in London, it might be the case that in a bigger team, you tend to be assigned to one or two matters only. While in Singapore I supported in the biggest investigation that the Clifford Chance Asia team has ever handled, working with colleagues across the region, and in direct contact with the client. Investigation work is much more commercial, so as a junior I learnt a lot very quickly about the commercial considerations that drive the client’s decisions. Practically speaking, I enjoyed doing research and getting to know the law in other jurisdictions, such as Singapore, Hong Kong, or Australia. Practically speaking, I also enjoyed doing research and getting to know the law in other jurisdictions, such as Singapore, Hong Kong, or Australia.  

Q4: How has CC supported you during the transition window from your final seat to qualifying as a solicitor? 

It’s difficult to answer as it is quite subjective, and I am honestly glad that I was in Singapore and therefore less stressed out about it, compared perhaps to my colleagues in London. But to answer your question, CC helps us by communicating their timeline reasonably in advance, informing us of what the process is going to look like, such as any deadlines and dedicated group calls. CC also offers the opportunity to qualify abroad if there is a business need for it, which I am an example of, hence they really try to retain their pool of talents where possible.  

Q5: Looking back at your time as a trainee, were there any moments you found particularly memorable or challenging? 

Yes, there was a somewhat recurrent challenge: not feeling overwhelmed at work. As I was not always in a position to foresee how much time I would need to spend on a given task, that meant eventually that I wasn’t always able to plan my time or anticipate challenges very well. It was normal to struggle, especially when it was the first time that was doing a certain task, to figure out the expected timeframe needed. But I’ve soon realised that the most important thing is just to be honest and communicative; colleagues don’t really care about why you’re taking longer, they just want to know that their expectation is unrealistic and be proposed a new strategy, so that they can act accordingly. Today, one of my greatest challenges, in a way, has become one of my strongest treats. I am now very communicative and good at managing my internal relationships with colleagues (as ultimately the people that I deliver to, I consider my clients).  

Q6: Moving on to some tips and advice for aspiring lawyers, how would you recommend someone who has completely no idea of what commercial awareness is, to start developing this skill? 

I have quite a few tips which worked for me, because I’ve gone through the same process, I know how hard it is to build up your commercial awareness. To be completely honest, I didn’t enjoy reading articles that I couldn’t understand – if anything, it frustrated me. I was never one of those that could read the Financial Times or The Economist and just grasp it and be able to link it with other articles they’ve read it that week. On the other hand, if I was really interested in an article or in a topic, I would be listening to it in audio format, so I was more of a podcast person.   

My top tip is to be creative and learn through active information, by that I mean information that you pursue, instead of absorbing knowledge. Commercial awareness is not just about knowing the financial market, it’s also about knowing how our life, or society in a broader sense, is functioning the way it is. 

At the time, I had come up with a creative and fun approach to gaining commercial awareness. As a very proud Italian, when I go to the grocery shop, I buy Italian products. One time during COVID, I wanted to buy some tomatoes to make my own tomato sauce, but my favourite tomatoes weren’t there. As I was feeling confused and slightly annoyed, that’s when I started to ask myself questions like, why would they not be here? It turned out it was because of massive delays in the supply chains due to the pandemic, in addition to Brexit import/export issues. I started getting into the habit of doing the same exercise at least once every day with everything and anything that I had around me to think about, using PESTLE (political, economical, social, technological, legal, environmental) to guide my analysis. I started off with just understanding the process of making something (e.g. building a skyscraper), and then went a bit deeper when it comes to understanding at which stage lawyers get involved, especially whether it was an area that I was considering practicing in. There were many things I did not have the answers to, which is when I would use the internet to help fill in the knowledge gaps.    

My second tip is to find someone to work alongside during this process of building up your commercial awareness. It is one thing to know, and another to be able to communicate what you know. Even if you become more commercially-minded, you must still be able to explain your thoughts concisely and communicate that logically, especially for the purposes of an interview or an assessment centre. I am a mentor within Solicitors in the Making (run by Akil Hunte), which is a group chat with an amazing community for people who are in the process of completing applications and beyond. With an upcoming interview/AC for CC at the time, I put a text in this same group chat looking for someone who was willing to regularly meet with me to discuss trending topics or news articles. As it turns out, another person in the group had also been invited to an AC with Clifford Chance, and she is now one of my closest friends at CC. We were very consistent and would meet at least once per week, if not more, over zoom. We would usually start by looking at the same article, for example taking inspiration for topics from CC’s Thought Leadership blog. The main exercise would be taking that article to another level and discussing as many things that we could think about; having two brains in the conversation was great as you absorb a lot of information by just talking to another person and communicating your knowledge. It was an incredibly easy and informal way to learn, and before you know it, you would have become a better communicator and active listener.

Building commercial awareness is usually quite a subjective process, but if you find your way, then it’s quite fun. You can make learning more creative by tailoring it to what your specific needs and objectives are. 

Q7: Wrapping up this interview, what advice would you give to yourself as a first-year student at university?
When I was a first-year law student, I was very lost. Being a mentor of many first-year students, I am quite shocked at how many have clear objectives and have already started applying for Open Days and schemes. As for me, I had only moved to the UK a few months prior to university and had no connections, nor any knowledge of the legal market in the UK. I did not apply for any first-year schemes, but retrospectively, I don’t regret that. I was able to take my time to understand what worked for me in terms of study method, relationships, academic preferences, and non-academic experiences. I was focussing on what mattered to me and not what I thought the industry needed of me, so I was quite happy as a first-year. 

Perhaps the only advice I would give to myself is to start building my network a little bit earlier. You will see that there will be a turning point in your academic/professional career, where you then have a lot of people in your network. While I do feel that now, it can be fun to just go out and meet new people, whether that’s in your academic environment or within your extra-curricular groups, as early as your first-year. From a personal perspective, having a network gives you the necessary support for your journey, and it lets you know that you are not alone. From a professional perspective, you may access knowledge and resources that you may not otherwise have access to, as they may have attended an Open Day or have friends in the industry, and so they would have valuable information and experiences to share with you about the role or the firm you are interested in.  

On this note, I am happy to be contacted on LinkedIn for any further questions or simply to connect.