Chloe Budd discusses training at Travers Smith, the firm’s international strategy and what her clients are talking to her about at the moment
“I really connected with Travers Smith from jump,” says Chloe Budd, associate in the firm’s competition department. “From my very first training contract interview, I felt that the firm encouraged intellectual curiosity and technical rigour without compromising on a good collegiate culture and strong supportive relationships.”
Budd was studying Land Economy at Cambridge University when she decided to pursue a career as a solicitor. “My degree was very varied — it included economics and law modules, as well as elements of sociology, geography and finance,” she tells me. “The legal parts of my degree made sense to me, more than any other. Those modules gave me the opportunity to try out qualitative problem solving and to apply logic and ethics to real world problems. So, at that point, becoming a solicitor is quite a natural next step.” Having secured a training contract with Travers Smith, Budd started at the firm in 2019 and qualified into its competition team in 2021.
“The training contract at Travers is excellent,” Budd enthuses. She describes how the firm’s room-sharing policy, in which every trainee sits with a partner and at least one associate, lived up to her expectations of a dynamic and collegiate environment. “Under our room-sharing system, you’re always in an environment where you can ask questions, you can explore and find out more about the work you’re doing,” she explains. “You are not only supported but also challenged to deliver the best work you can. You get detailed feedback from the people you work with so it’s far from a faceless process.” Over the course of her training, Budd completed seats in the corporate, dispute resolution, finance and competition departments. “You get a really great spread at Travers, from the contentious to the transactional and everything in between,” she says. “There are so many opportunities to explore and shape your work in a way that follows your interests and focuses your future career.”
It was in search of a diverse spread of work that Budd decided to qualify into the Competition department at Travers Smith. “I really enjoyed my disputes seat, but I also really enjoyed my corporate seat,” she tells me. “Electing to sit in competition for my final seat was a bit of a last-ditch attempt to try to combine those two areas. I wanted to have the short-term wins that come along with transactional work, but I also really enjoyed the long-running, strategic matters that I was exposed to in disputes.” Budd seems to have found this happy medium in the Competition department. “Competition lawyers can find themselves grappling with a tricky deal one day, working on a complex bit of litigation the next day and the following week they might be part of a regulatory investigation,” she explains. “This area also offers a great diversity of subject matter that I really enjoy to this day.” She also mentions the supportive welcome she received from the department. “The competition team at Travers are excellent and I felt there was a place for me in the team and a gap I could fill. I have also had the benefit of strong and generous mentors in the group who have very much supported me over the last few years,” she says.
Having heard about the training process, I am curious to know what Budd values about working at Travers Smith post-qualification. “I really appreciate the firm’s ability to evolve and change,” she responds. “We respond to market changes quickly and stay at the cutting edge of the legal market.” She goes on, “A good example of this is the firm’s approach to artificial intelligence. We recently launched our market-leading AI software by way of a new company, Jylo. That’s now out there in the market and lawyers at Travers are benefitting every day from this move, which I think is brave and set us apart from the rest of the market. These exciting cutting-edge decisions get me really excited about where the firm is at the moment and our potential.”
Travers Smith also sets itself apart from many firms of its size through its independent international strategy, deciding against the rapid international expansion and mergers many UK-based firms have pursued. “Our international strategy is quite special,” says Budd. “Despite being London-based, we are very focused on advising our clients on international matters across the board and meeting their needs in all the jurisdictions they want to conduct business.” She goes on to explain, “To do so, we’ve developed strong relationships with carefully chosen lawyers at leading overseas independent law firms that share our specialist strengths and demanding quality standards.” This results in a closely tailored approach to international work. “We don’t have exclusive relationships with any foreign law firm. Our approach is to partner with the right lawyers in each location for each matter,” Budd tells me.
I ask Budd to share a particularly interesting matter she has worked on with an international element. “I’ve been working on a case in the European courts in Luxembourg,” she tells me. “We are appealing a cartel decision which was brought by the European Commission in connection with a financial services cartel. I’ve been working on it since I was a trainee. This matter covers a wide range of topics in cartel law and being involved in it allowed me to get to grips with first principles in that interesting area of law.” While working on this case, Budd had the opportunity to attend the oral hearing at the General Court in Luxembourg. “That was a surreal and incredible experience,” she recalls.
I am curious to know what the key skills are that competition lawyers need to work on cases like this. I’d say the skills which I lean on most often are close reading, situational awareness, analytical thinking and problem solving,” Budd replies. “The most important thing is being able to apply those skills pragmatically and creatively to solve real world issues.” This practical, commercial thinking is a core part of working in competition law. “Competition or is very much about the operation of our clients’ markets,” says Budd, “so it’s very important to be curious about what our clients actually do on a day-to-day basis.”
So, what are the legal and commercial issues affecting Budd’s clients at the moment? “One thing clients are worried about is increasing complexity in the M&A filings landscape,” Budd responds. “This is particularly impacting our private equity and asset manager clients.” She explains how global regulators in merger control and FDI have become more interventionist in recent years, and regulators have been focused on a wider range of issues when reviewing proposed deals. “The burden on our clients to engage in these processes has massively increased as these regimes have undergone a significant proliferation”, Budd says. Clients are also talking about AI and competition. “The CMA has published quite a lot of material on AI, including an initial review into foundation models, markets, and a strategic review. They’ve reviewed several partnerships in the AI space as well,” Budd tells me. “As our clients are excited about deploying AI in their businesses, they’re curious as to what this this increased regulatory focus is going to mean for them. That’s something that we’re talking about a lot now.”
As we round up our discussion, I ask Budd for a piece of careers advice she would give to an aspiring lawyer. “I would say keep your options open wherever you can,” is her response. “You really don’t know what aspects of the law you’re going to enjoy or be good at until you’re really there practicing it,” she explains. “Being open-minded and saying yes to opportunities has allowed me to get to a place where I’m really happy with my career and passionate about what I do.”
Chloe Budd will be speaking at ‘International strategy at Travers Smith: what it means in theory and in practice’, a virtual student event taking place on Wednesday 8 January 2025. APPLY NOW.
@traverssmithgraduates To wrap up our series on interview tips Ben Lowen, Corporate Partner, explains how he would best prepare for a Travers Smith interview! #traverssmith #fyp #foryou #lawyer #law #solicitor #legal #lawfirm #aspiringsolictor #student #lawstudent #interview #interviewtips #commercialawareness ♬ original sound – Travers Smith Graduates
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