Up to six UAE law students will be welcomed to Herbert Smith’s Abu Dhabi and Dubai offices every year as part of an internship program with the UAE College of Law.
The program is aimed at boosting Herbert Smith’s pool of locally qualified talent through a grass-roots method of recruitment, and will also boost the firm’s corporate social responsibility rating in the Middle East.
Already two students have been signed up to the program, which offers a route to permanent employment following graduation. The firm will admit another four students later this year. The interns will be given four weeks’ training in the firm’s Abu Dhabi and Dubai offices, and a further two weeks in either London head office or another international office. The interns will also be subject to an “intensive” English language program. Last year, 65 students graduated from the College of Law.
The program was initiated by Diana Hamade, a Herbert Smith consultant and the founder of local firm International Advocate Legal Services. Hamade has written a chapter titled “Women Lawyers – To Be or Not to Be”, in the GLOBAL EMIRATES: An Anthology of Tolerance and Enterprise, advocating for the professional development of female law students.
Neil Brimson, the head of Middle East practice, said that the program will help develop the firm’s local-law capability.
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