To kick off our new MHC Intern Life series, we asked Seaghan Ferry, a graduate of the Law & Business (BCL) degree in Maynooth University and an intern in our June intake, to describe his first week as an intern here.
My first week as a summer intern at Mason Hayes and Curran has been a fantastic experience. I initially felt a combination of both excitement and apprehension at the prospect of spending three weeks at a leading Irish law firm, however, as soon as I was introduced to the team, my fears were allayed.
On arrival to South Bank House, myself and my fellow interns received a warm welcome from several partners, senior associates, associates and trainees, some of which are acting as our mentors over the course of the internship programme. While it was only our first day, we were immediately made feel part of the team and were encouraged to get involved in as many activities and events as we could during our time here.
June is WOW month and there are many activities planned throughout the month, including free breakfast, afternoon drinks and numerous wellbeing activities. This has given us the opportunity to meet other departments as well as speak to current trainees on their previous experiences as interns and of obtaining a traineeship, which has been invaluable.
The first few days of our schedule were packed with activities. We had several introductions to the various departments in the firm, as well as some induction and training. Following these sessions, we set off for GoQuest for a team bonding session. The GoQuest Arena is an indoor challenge zone with 29 challenges split into different rooms, each room having a mixture of physical, skill and mental challenges. While (bitterly) disappointed our team didn’t win, we had a great time getting to know each other in a competitive but fun environment. To finish off the team bonding session we went to Paulie’s Pizza for delicious pizza and drinks and were accompanied by some mentors and trainees.
On Thursday and Friday, we were given a more detailed insight into the departments that we would be working in, as well as the teams that we will be a part of. I was introduced to various members of the Commercial team and given an overview of the work they do, which was extremely interesting. I was also very fortunate to sit in on a number of client calls alongside my mentor on a range of privacy and data protection queries. It provided me with a fantastic insight into the type of work the team carries out and was an opportunity I never thought would come along in my first week in the team.
My first week as an intern has absolutely flown by and I have had nothing but great experiences to date. I’m really looking forward to coming back on Monday to start Week 2!
Learn more about our internship programme.
