Alastair Keatley

• Degree: Classics, University College London
• Joined: February 2011
• Doing now: Product Liability Litigation
• Office location: London
• Favourite quote: “There are no bad people. There are only bad cultivators of people.” (Victor Hugo)

I first came across Hogan Lovells in the Chambers Guide for students and then at my university career fair. I was definitely impressed enough to want to find out more so I applied and was accepted onto a vacation scheme in July 2007. Because I hadn’t studied law at this stage I didn’t have a total understanding of what a City practice was like to work in. However my biggest concern was actually whether I would ‘fit in’ and what the other lawyers would be like to work with. Thankfully any concerns I had were dismissed as I found that people at Hogan Lovells are genuinely welcoming and extremely down to earth. Overall Hogan Lovells appealed to me more than other top end firms I had done internships with.

I was offered a training contract in September 2007 and then completed my degree in Classics. As I had now settled on a career in law I decided to study a two-year law degree as an affiliate student at Cambridge until 2010 and then took the six month LPC until February 2011. I currently sit in Product Liability and Commercial Litigation.

My work so far has been a good variety of banking litigation for the firm’s biggest litigation client and other types of work for our technological clients. This varies from assembling evidence for hearings to drafting and helping piece together advice or statements. Some of the highlights have been attending key hearings which have given us valuable disclosure orders. These in turn have helped us advance our evidence and case. The international nature of our cases means that you’ll frequently liaise with colleagues in our international offices. In my short experience this has included Moscow, Tokyo, Dubai and Hong Kong.