The Legus European Internship: Suzanne Elzinga
In October 2023 we announced the launch of a new Legus European Internship, allowing a number of Russell-Cooke associates to spend a week in a European member firm, and for us to host their solicitors in turn. As part of our blog series on the subject, we asked our first intern Suzanne Elzinga of Köster Advocaten in Haarlem, The Netherlands about her time at Russell-Cooke and what she's learnt from taking part in the programme.
Q: Who are you and what is your role at Köster Advocaten?
My name is Suzanne Elzinga and I work as a third-year solicitor at Köster Advocaten in Haarlem (The Netherlands) in our corporate department. My work at Köster mainly consists of working on mergers and acquisitions and advising on the corporate governance of companies.
Q: How did you become an intern at Russell-Cooke?
My supervisor asked me if I wanted to join Russell-Cooke as a Legus intern for a week as part of the international intern programme. Of course, I did not hesitate and immediately said yes!
Q: What did you do during your week here?
During my week at Russell-Cooke, I joined several departments and ended my week on the Friday with the 'CoCo' (corporate and commercial) team. I got to join meetings with clients, internal meetings and case law presentations (and of course some after work drinks).
Q: What would you say are the benefits of this programme? What have you learned?
I believe a key benefit of the programme is the opportunity to learn alongside fellow lawyers at your experience level, allowing you to build an international network early in your career. In addition, it is highly useful to see how lawyers in the UK work (and funny to see that there are so many similarities between Dutch and UK lawyers after all!)
And some slightly more fun questions...
Q: Do you have any hidden talents?
I am very good at remembering lyrics from songs and like to sometimes sing a song in a karaoke bar.
Q: Who inspires you?
All the hard working women in the legal profession (from a business perspective) and of course Virgil van Dijk (captain of the Dutch soccer team).
Q: What is the last book you read?
Lean In written by Sheryl Sandberg (former COO from Facebook).
Q: What would your dream weekend look like?
Doing some strolls through the city (Haarlem or London of course), having (too) many coffees and having a dinner in a cozy restaurant.
Q: If you could have dinner with a famous person/character from film, book or TV, who would you choose?
Without any doubt DJ Fred Again.
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