The ELSA

STEP Trainee at Ernst & Young 2001Maria ParkerLegal Counsel Ernst&Young FinlandIn the summer of 2001 the legal departmentof Ernst & Young, EY Law in Helsinkihad the pleasure to host a STEP traineefrom Austria, Mr. Christopher Swoboda.Our legal department is one link in theever growing chain of firms offering legalservices in the global network of Ernst &Young. In fact, after I joined EY LawHelsinki as Legal Counsel in early 2000, theunit has grown tremendously, fourfold!Therefore, since we offer law services notonly to domestic audit clients, but also toother corporations and individuals andfurthermore very often handle internationalassignments, making a decision tohire an ELSA STEP trainee seemed verynatural.Consequently, during the Summer of 2001Chris worked for and with us for roughlyone and a half months. During thetraineeship it became clear that we couldvery well have had him for another periodof at least the same length, as he fittedvery well into our team, both professionallyand socially.On top of it all, we never had to botherwith logistics or hassle with relocationissues (which can be cumbersome for aunit of lawyers who know that time andefficiency are of essence!). The local ELSAgroup in Helsinki had thought of everythingand arranged for all details, housingincluded. A big thank you goes to theELSA Helsinki team for their efforts andachievements.Reviewing and assessing the traineeshipafterwards, we found that Chris wasindeed an able budding lawyer and wasvery useful in our team, dealing with anythingranging from handling contacts toour German speaking clients, to assistingin competition issues towards the EUCommission. We recommend taking on aSTEP trainee, just as we will do for 2002.7