Gibson Dunn trainee Samaya Prakke talks seats, secondments and stupid questions
What began as an interest in how law shapes the world around her has developed into a career in commercial law for Samaya Prakke. Now in her second seat with Gibson Dunn‘s projects team in Abu Dhabi, on secondment from the firm’s London office, she sits down with Legal Cheek Careers to discuss her journey into law, why the firm stood out and life as a trainee.
Originally from Bhutan and the Netherlands, Prakke grew up moving around frequently. During school trips involving social development programmes, she began to see how law underpinned many of the social, political and economic issues around her.
“That is when I started to consider it seriously as something I could study,” she recalls. “It was not necessarily the commercial law that I am now doing, but law more generally.” Knowing she wanted to study the subject, Prakke chose the UK over the US because she could pursue law from undergraduate level, later completing her LLB at King’s College London.
Once there, the analytical side of the subject clicked. “I really liked the way of thinking they teach you with a law degree,” she says. “It is about how you approach and analyse sentences on a piece of paper. I liked that analytical mindset and the problem-solving side of it.”
The solicitor route also felt like the better fit for her. “I knew I wanted to be more in the documents than out in front like a barrister,” Prakke explains. She later completed an LLM in international business law, which gave her greater scope to explore the areas that interested her and helped further cement the decision to pursue a career as a commercial solicitor.
Before joining Gibson Dunn, a leading US law firm which each year recruits up to 25 trainees in London, Prakke worked as a legal research consultant and a data privacy associate. Rather than pulling her towards an in-house career, those experiences reinforced the value she saw in training in private practice. Lawyers she worked with who had spent time at firms spoke positively about the breadth of experience private practice had given them.
With private practice in mind, Prakke researched firms by following major commercial stories and taking note of which firms were acting on them. She found herself drawn to US firms, particularly those that seemed open to candidates bringing different experiences and perspectives to the table. Gibson Dunn stood out for its emphasis on proactivity and becoming part of the team. “The firm emphasises that they want someone proactive who wants to get into a team and become a member,” she explains. Conversations with trainees at the firm who spoke highly of their experiences reinforced that impression.
Having previously worked in relatively small teams, another draw was Gibson Dunn’s smaller trainee intake relative to some other City law firms. Prakke liked the prospect of building close relationships with her cohort and integrating into the teams she joined. While the firm is growing its trainee intake, she says there is a continued focus on preserving that close-knit training experience.
Prakke’s first seat was in real estate finance. Having joined the training contract intake relatively late after completing the summer vacation scheme, she had missed the usual seat selection process, but found graduate recruitment willing to be flexible. “We had a 30-minute conversation about what I found interesting,” she recalls. Drawing on practice group introductions from the vacation scheme and areas encountered during her LLM, real estate finance emerged as a seat she was keen to explore.
It proved to be a strong introduction to life as a trainee. “I liked it as a junior because you can get really involved in the process,” Prakke tells us. “It is a fast-paced environment where you can learn a lot.” She was soon managing condition precedent calls and marking up opinions, while working closely with lawyers across the team. This gave her an early understanding of transaction management as she saw how different pieces of a financing came together.
Towards the end of each rotation, trainees rank their preferred next seats, with graduate recruitment working to accommodate their choices. Gibson Dunn’s free market system offers further flexibility. Subject to capacity and supervisor approval, trainees can approach other teams for work, giving them the chance to explore different practice areas and develop their interests before making future seat choices.
Projects had been on Prakke’s radar from the beginning. Practice group sessions developed that interest, while conversations with the London Projects team gave her the chance to ask more about the work and what it might look like in the Middle East. When applications opened for a six-month secondment in Abu Dhabi, she put herself forward. “A firm sending you abroad for six months is an incredible experience,” she says. Having grown up moving between countries, spending part of her training contract overseas also held a particular appeal.
Her projects seat has offered a very different perspective from real estate finance. While her first rotation involved faster moving transactions, projects can unfold over several years, meaning trainees may work on one stage of a much longer process. “A project might take years to get running, and you work on your six-month segment,” Prakke explains.
Being based in Abu Dhabi has also brought her closer to the work on the ground. “Seeing it in person is very different,” she says. “Being in the region for Middle Eastern projects and meeting clients face to face is something I have really enjoyed.” She has seen projects at different stages, from those just beginning to others nearing completion, while regularly working with colleagues across offices, including the project finance team in London. The experience has given her a clearer sense of how individual pieces fit into transactions spanning several years and jurisdictions.
Across both seats, Prakke has particularly valued being encouraged to form her own view and meaningfully engage with the work. “I remember supervisors asking me, ‘What do you think?’ after I handed them a task,” she recalls. “Being in an environment where people take the time to support me in developing my opinions made me feel valued.”
That trust also feeds into the level of responsibility trainees can take on. “Gibson is a place where if you show you can take on responsibility and be reliable, people are more than willing to give it to you,” Prakke says. Regular feedback and a strong network of junior lawyers provide support alongside that early exposure.
That support has been particularly valuable in projects, where the scale and complexity of matters can take some getting used to. “You can ask all the ‘stupid questions’ because supervisors will sit down and help you understand,” she says. For Prakke, that willingness to explain the bigger picture has also helped her understand what a future in the team might look like.
The culture has also stood out more than she expected before joining. “Everyone is open to having a conversation,” Prakke says, describing senior lawyers as approachable and invested in trainee development. “People are overwhelmingly nice and want you to develop into a strong lawyer. It makes a world of difference who you are working with.”
For those considering applying, her advice is to let some personality come through. “The application process is really human,” Prakke reveals. “They ask about you as a person, not just where you went to school.” While academics matter, Prakke says applicants should also think about what they would bring to the trainee cohort and show that they are willing to get involved, ask questions and keep learning.
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