Ragnar Johannesen

Title: Associate
Division: Finance
Location: Moscow

As an undergraduate I read English literature at Goldsmiths. After securing a training contract with Herbert Smith, I completed the Post Graduate Diploma in Law and the LPC at Nottingham Law School. I joined Herbert Smith as a trainee solicitor in March 2003.

I chose Herbert Smith because I had no pre-conceived ideas about the area into which I wanted to qualify and therefore wanted a good mix of contentious and non-contentious experience. Being from the Faroes and having lived and worked in London, Paris and Berlin before returning to England to go to university, it was also important for me to join a firm with an international outlook and presence.

By providing me with first class legal training and giving me secondment opportunities to overseas offices and global FTSE 100 companies, Herbert Smith has helped me gain invaluable international experience and exposure to different markets and legal systems. These are key skills which are easily transferable, even into other, non-legal careers.
I have also been able to develop skills that are not strictly work-related. For instance, whilst in the Moscow office, I chose to take a three month sabbatical to learn more Russian. This time out was unpaid, but Herbert Smith funded the intensive one-on-one language tuition.

In order to have a dynamic and rewarding career, you need to invest in your own training and development. You need skills that will make you stand out and get you towards the next step in your career. Of course, much of the hard work is up to you, but Herbert Smith will help you along the way.