Plum - SJ Berwin UK Graduates

sectors
During your training contract with sJ Berwin you will ‘sit’ in four
departments over two years: however, this does not mean that you
will simply be liaising with your immediate colleagues, you will also
be part of a “sector” at the same time.
What is a Sector?
the firm is moving towards a “one Firm” approach which
means that all departments in all offices have the same
strategic vision and work together in order to achieve this
vision. in order to implement this across the firm, sJ
Berwin utilises cross-departmental “sectors”.
sectors reach across the different departments and
encourage people in different parts of the firm to work
together. therefore, when you start as a trainee at sJ
Berwin, if you have a particular interest in a specific
sector, you can follow that one sector through your
different departments and, if you decide to do a client or
overseas secondment or complete the Ma law with
Business in conjunction with Bpp and undertake the final
module with a client, you can tailor those choices to your
chosen sector.
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What Sectors does SJ berwin have?
some of the sectors we have at sJ Berwin include:
• communications, Media and technology
• Betting and gaming
• Healthcare
• Financial institutions
• retail
how do Sectors work in practice?
the chart on the opposite page demonstrates how our
“retail sector” works in relation to one of our clients,
M&s, and how you might be involved with retail related
work in your different departments. you can, of course,
be involved with your specific sector in different
departments that are not shown below (for instance, the
firm has retail clients in corporate, intellectual property,
employment and reconstruction and insolvency), this is
simply figurative of how one client, in the retail sector,
crosses departments and types of work. it is anticipated
that, as the firms grows and gains more clients, the
departments in each sector will increase.
Case Study: Marks & spencer
real estate
we advise M&s on mainstream real estate transactional
work. in particular, we have been instructed by M&s on
a number of high profile property transactions
including the new westfield store in
stratford and working with the paris
office, M&s’s store on the
champs elysees.
construction
we review building
contracts and other
construction
documents relating to
M&s’s properties. we
help to ensure the
buildings are in an
acceptable state
before they are
handed over to M&s
and that, if there are
problems with the
building works, M&s have
recourse against the
contractors (and other
relevant parties) involved in the
construction of their properties.
property Litigation
M&s have over 700 stores in the UK and each
has a chain of leases, a range of licences and the
potential to become the subject of a dispute. the work
largely involves issuing lease renewal proceedings at
county courts all over the country. there are also more
substantial parts of litigation, for example, we have
worked on a service charge dispute where there was
disagreement over the sum owed by M&s to the landlord.
tax
we advise M&s on an ad hoc basis in relation to tax
matters that arise out of other matters, for instance, we
recently advised M&s on the vat treatment of
beauty products supplied to M&s (in the
UK) from a supplier established
outside the UK and with no place
of business in the UK.
Berlin Brussels Dubai Frankfurt Hong Kong london Madrid Mila
n Munich paris shanghai
eu
commerce &
technology
we are currently
advising M&s on their
newly-launched
beauty range, and
on the restructuring
of M&s’s UK
logistics supply
chain in order to
rationalise the number
of warehouses and
suppliers used by M&s
in the UK. this involves
negotiating, drafting and
finalising contracts and
undertaking any necessary
due diligence.
we advise M&s on a variety of matters,
including their relationships with suppliers, the
interaction of intellectual property and competition law,
regulatory work relating to the supply of electricity, and
the use of land as grocery stores.
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