An office-wide student internship at Poelmann van den Broek: Inge recounts her experience

Due to the corona virus, Inge unfortunately had to end her internship a little early. But after 6 weeks she knows for sure; Inge wants to continue in the legal profession.

Introduction to Poelmann van den Broek

Since starting law school, the legal profession has attracted my interest. Taking an internship at a law firm for a few weeks should give me a better idea of the legal profession. Once I knew that I wanted to do an internship and when, I started looking for a firm that appealed to me. I got to know Poelmann van den Broek through a Legal Valley office visit. A city tour was followed by a Kahoot, in which a fellow student and I won a lunch with two attorneys . A few months later the lunch followed and we got the chance to ask questions to the attorneys. During this lunch I asked about the internship opportunities and that's how the ball got rolling.

The first week

A few months later, my internship began with the labor law and insolvency law teams. Although the internship is basically office-wide and you can therefore also expect questions and assignments from other teams, my focus was mainly on labor law and insolvency law. On my first day I was immediately lucky: after attending the labor law team meeting, I was allowed to join a consultation with a client. An informative meeting that taught me a lot. In my first week, I was also allowed to go along to a hearing in Zutphen. It was a conversion hearing from bankruptcy to the Wsnp (debt restructuring). Because these hearings always take place behind closed doors, this was a unique opportunity to watch.

As an intern, you don't sit in a lawyer's room. You have your own little office at the end of the corridor. Although I found this awkward at first, because having contact that way is a little less obvious, attorneys often walked in on me or I decided to knock on a lawyer's door myself. After a few days I got used to the work situation and began to appreciate having my own space a little more and more. All in all, my first week was a busy, but above all educational, week full of new impressions.

The atmosphere in the office

What struck me throughout the internship was the friendly and open atmosphere within the office. There is always time for a chat and there is no high threshold for asking questions. For me this ensured that I was able and dared to ask a lot of questions, which of course only helped the learning process. The fact that there is almost always time for a chat also ensures that, as a trainee, you feel completely part of the team. Poelmann van den Broek clearly values a good mutual atmosphere. This is not only reflected in the pleasant interaction, but also in the fact that sports evenings are regularly organized and that the office has a 'special' drink: the frog drink. One of the teams then organizes a special drink, where everything is pulled out of the closet: for example, I have heard stories about laser gaming on the fourth floor of the building.

What I liked about the internship was that as a student trainee you are involved in everything: I was allowed to go along to the legal business day in Utrecht and to bring Poelmann van den Broek to the attention of the Utrecht students. I was also allowed to go to a meeting with the bankruptcy judge in Amsterdam, I went with them after the pronouncement of bankruptcy and I was able to sit in on many client meetings. Because as an intern you are involved in all aspects of the work, I got a good and broad picture of the diverse activities of a lawyer.

The work of a student intern

The assignments you receive as a student intern range from writing internal memos, to sifting through subpoenas and drafting pleading notes. Some assignments are more challenging than others, but on average, I received many different and challenging assignments. I found preparing pleading notes to be a difficult and time-consuming task. So I took great credit when I read the final version of the plea notes and saw some of the version I drafted reflected. You do your job as a student intern for a reason and the attorneys let you know that. I received instructive and good feedback on the notes and other papers I wrote. As a result, not only did I learn to write better legal papers, but my legal knowledge was also broadened. You learn a lot about certain topics in the lecture halls, but in practice, you really learn to use what you have and you notice that creativity matters. It is very interesting to do your bit on cases and thus help the lawyer achieve a nice end result.

Goal achieved?

Although my internship unfortunately ended a little earlier than planned due to the Corona virus, I spent over six weeks at Poelmann van den Broek. Not only the pleasant atmosphere, but also the challenging assignments ensured that I had a very enjoyable time at Poelmann van den Broek. The suspicion that the legal profession is the profession I see myself practicing after completing my Master's degree in Corporate Law has therefore been confirmed!

We are always looking for motivated student interns

Are you a driven law student and at least in your third year? Then come join us as an intern and get to know the various service areas of our firm. For more information click here.