A Deep Dive into the Clifford Chance SABRE Global Virtual Internship

Mar 09, 2023

Written By Helena Kudiabor

Completing a virtual internship is an excellent way to gain hands-on legal experience, and learn first-hand from Clifford Chance’s leading trainees and lawyers. Clifford Chance have recently launched a brand-new Structured Asset Backed Real Estate (SABRE) virtual internship. Completing this internship could be what you need to kickstart your legal journey.

Why should I complete a virtual internship with Clifford Chance?

Clifford Chance’s virtual internship is an excellent way to gain an insight into the work trainees are involved in and the key challenges the firm and its clients are facing. You’ll be able to complete the internship at your own pace, no matter where you are in the world. You also won’t have to worry about accessibility, seeing as you won’t need to travel to the firm.

Furthermore, you’ll also get the chance to hear from lawyers at one of the firm’s many international offices, meaning geography is no longer a limitation. You’ll also get the unique opportunity to complete trainee-level tasks. The skills and insights gained from this programme will help you stand out when applying for a vacation scheme or training programme.

What is SABRE?

Structured Asset Backed Real Estate (SABRE) is part of Clifford Chance’s Global Financial Markets practice. This practice area makes up almost 40% of the firm’s work, so it’s an excellent idea to gain some experience in this area.

The firm’s SABRE team focuses on three main areas: Real Estate Finance, Structured Debt, and Loan portfolios. Within these areas, the team works on a range of financing products and solutions, all of which are supported by assets. Clients work with Clifford Chance’s SABRE team to finance solutions for assets like office buildings, hotels, a portfolio of loans or even a credit card loan.

Lawyers working in this area use their market leading, cutting-edge expertise to guide clients through sophisticated financial markets, and help them to anticipate issues, manage risks, and succeed as a business.

What does the SABRE Global Virtual Internship Involve?

The internship is made up of five stages, with each stage discussing the important SABRE work Clifford Chance does. By completing realistic, intellectually stimulating tasks, you’ll gain valuable practical skills and develop your interest in law.

This is how the internship is structured:

1) Introduction to structured, asset backed and real estate finance and the SABRE group at Clifford Chance. Here, you’ll learn about the variety of financing techniques used by the SABRE team, and will be asked some questions about key concepts. Practical skills you’ll gain here include: legal knowledge, market/industry analysis and understanding different legal structures.

2) Assessing the regulatory framework of ‘buy-now-pay-later’ loans and considering the proposed reforms to this type of financing. You’ll also need to respond to the client’s questions on the regulatory framework of ‘buy-now-pay-later’. Practical skills you’ll gain here include: research, written communication and attention to detail.

3) Winning a mandate from a new client of Global Financial Markets (GFM) to assist with a proposed financing of student loan receivables. Prepare a pitch to highlight Clifford Chance's abilities and then markup a document based on proposed financing of student finance receivables. Practical skills you’ll gain here include: commercial awareness, attention to detail and drafting.

4) Preparing disclosure (making information known to the public) in reaction to current issues. Here, you’ll also consider current issues and major economic events in the context of transactions to developing disclosure. Practical skills you’ll gain here include: identifying key issues, current events, commercial awareness and drafting.

5) Advising a client on the common issues on a data centre financing. You’ll also need to communicate to a new fund lender the key legal considerations for data centre financings. Practical skills you’ll gain here include: presentation, identifying legal issues and market/industry analysis.

How long does the internship take?

One of the best things about this internship is that it's self-paced, so you don’t have to worry about completing it in an allotted time. You also don’t have a set amount of time to complete it, so you can easily fit it alongside your other commitments and activities. This decision was made by Clifford Chance in order to ensure education is equitable and accessible to all.

As a general guide, the internship takes about six to eight hours to complete, but don’t feel bad if it takes you longer than this.

How do I apply for the internship?

There’s no application process required for this internship: no application form, no personal statement, no psychometric test. Just click here to register.

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