We wel­comed trainee lawyer from Ger­many through Mer­i­tas network

Ear­li­er this year we wel­comed trainee lawyer Char­lotte Schnitzen­baumer from Munich-based law firm GvW Graf von West­phalen for a three‑month inter­na­tion­al place­ment. The ini­tia­tive under­scores our com­mit­ment to glob­al col­lab­o­ra­tion, tal­ent devel­op­ment and the prac­ti­cal val­ue of its long‑standing mem­ber­ship in the Mer­i­tas glob­al alliance of inde­pen­dent law firms.

Char­lotte, who is com­plet­ing her for­mal legal train­ing in Ger­many, joined to gain hands‑on expe­ri­ence in a common‑law juris­dic­tion and increase the con­nec­tion between the two firms.

Swaab Part­ner, James Skel­ton, said it had been a plea­sure hav­ing Char­lotte as part of the Swaab team for three months and the ease with which the place­ment occurred showed the high lev­el of trust and con­nec­tion between Swaab and fel­low Mer­i­tas firms. 

“By hav­ing strong rela­tion­ships with val­ued lawyers in over­seas firms we are well placed to assist when required, whether for a client or as in this case, staff,” he said. ​“I also com­plet­ed part of my uni­ver­si­ty stud­ies in Ger­many, so on a per­son­al basis I have a strong con­nec­tion to that market.”

This exchange was made pos­si­ble through the Mer­i­tas net­work, which con­nects more than 170 law firms across 91 coun­tries. Both Swaab and the GvW Graf von West­phalen are Mer­i­tas mem­bers, enabling the arrange­ment to be estab­lished quick­ly and with confidence. 

Since the pro­gram com­menced in 2019 Mer­i­tas has facil­i­tat­ed 65 lawyer exchanges and place­ments between dif­fer­ent Mer­i­tas mem­ber firms.

GvW Graf von West­phalen Part­ner Chris­t­ian Zerr said it was the first time such a place­ment had been made involv­ing a legal trainee but giv­en its suc­cess its unlike­ly to be the last.

“An expe­ri­enced lawyer would con­tribute deep­er spe­cial­i­sa­tion while a trainee like Char­lotte brings enthu­si­asm, adapt­abil­i­ty and open­ness that sup­ports cul­tur­al exchange,” he said. ​“We want to cre­ate more oppor­tu­ni­ties for future sec­ond­ments and knowl­edge exchange between Aus­tralian and Ger­man firms and this has helped that goal.” 

The pro­gram reflects a broad­er shift in the legal pro­fes­sion: early‑career lawyers are increas­ing­ly seek­ing inter­na­tion­al expo­sure, and mid‑sized firms are lever­ag­ing glob­al net­works to offer oppor­tu­ni­ties once lim­it­ed to large multi­na­tion­al practices. 

Ms Schnitzen­baumer said it had been a great expe­ri­ence offer­ing her real insights into Aus­tralian legal and busi­ness cul­tures and showed that mid-sized law firms can offer grad­u­ate and junior lawyers an equiv­a­lent or bet­ter expe­ri­ence than larg­er inter­na­tion­al firms.

“My place­ment with GvW Graf von West­phalen is part of my legal train­ing in Ger­many and giv­en its size I didn’t expect this type of inter­na­tion­al oppor­tu­ni­ty. I have friends in large inter­na­tion­al firms and it’s very com­mon to vis­it inter­na­tion­al offices, but I real­ly believe my expe­ri­ence with Swaab has been better.”