UCL Competition Law students selected for Herbert Smith Freehills (Brussels) summer vacation scheme

The scheme, which is open to UCL Laws LLB and LLM competition law students, is a joint initiative between Kyriakos Fountoukakos, Managing Partner at Herbert Smith Freehills (Brussels) and Visiting Lecturer at UCL Laws; and Dr Deni Mantzari, Associate Professor in Competition Law and Policy at UCL Laws and Co-Director of the UCL Centre for Law, Economics and Society. It aims to offer successful candidates the opportunity to gain first-hand experience in a leading global law firm for four weeks in June and July.

Claudia is extremely grateful to have been given such a fantastic opportunity. She particularly enjoyed learning about some of the newest issues in competition law, especially concerning Big Tech and GAFAMs, and hopes to get involved into client-facing investigations and merger control work during the vacation scheme. This will allow her to gain insight into competition law in practice before potentially undertaking a 6-month competition seat during her training contract.

Jiri is truly excited about the opportunity to work closely with the renowned Herbert Smith Freehills competition law experts in Brussels. As an EU qualified attorney, he hopes to valuably contribute to the team’s work on exciting cases and get an insight into the day-to-day operations of one of the EU's leading competition practices. Following a rewarding and multidimensional study experience at UCL Laws, the vacation scheme constitutes yet another chance for Jiri to further expand his academic and professional horizons.

Maria is extremely grateful and excited for this opportunity. She is hoping to put all her acquired knowledge of competition law into practice during the two-week period and valuably contribute to the firm's day to day operations. Maria is equally looking forward to meeting and networking with distinguished experts in the field and expanding her understanding of the industry. She hopes that this vacation scheme will open doors to her future professional aspirations.   

Dr Mantzari (UCL Laws) and Andrew McLean (UCL Laws) expressed their gratitude to Herbert Smith Freehills and Kyriakos Fountoukakos for this initiative: "There were many bright and motivated students in our competition law classes this year and competition for the scheme was intense. We are truly delighted that Claudia and Jiri have been selected to join the firm over the summer months and we wish them all the very best with their future career."