Lisa Prejsler

Assistant Attorney, Tax

As an assistant attorney in the Tax group, my day-to-day work involves a wide variety of assignments ranging from tax law assistance in M&A transactions and preparing share programmes to litigation involving a tax dispute and day-to-day ad hoc tax advice. I like the variety between the smaller matters and the longer-lasting M&A projects and legal proceedings. It is good to try out the different areas of tax law before deciding on a more specific direction.

The daily, ad hoc tax law questions typically come from clients, foreign lawyers or from my colleagues in the other practice groups. Typically, there will be a collaboration between me and one of the attorneys in my group, where I provide the first draft of a response. This can be followed by a discussion between the attorney and I, where we talk through the legal issue and both make sure we have answered it fully before sending our input.

In contrast, there are the legal proceedings, which typically extend over a longer period of time. Here, my job can be to dig deep into a complex legal issue that we need to fully understand and be able to apply to the facts of our case. An assignment may also include drafting pleadings, appeals against decisions or requests for advance tax rulings. Although a lot of time is spent working independently, we also spend time internally discussing the matter. When you are working in-depth on a specific issue, it is extremely useful to share your thoughts with others, and often we can help each other get on the right track.

As an assistant attorney, I have not moved to another group yet and have therefore so far only worked in the Tax group. When I was a law student, I got to work in several different practice groups and thus different areas of the law. As a law student, I have worked with tax, M&A, securities law and EU and competition law. Legal research is a recurring assignment in your work as a law student, regardless of which practice group you work in. This is very educational, as you get to work in-depth with specific legal issues. It is also rewarding, as you know that your work is being used to answer an actual question from a client – unlike the theoretical learning in the classroom.

In addition to the legal research assignments, as a law student in the M&A group, I assisted with the preparation of general meetings and the drafting of various corporate documents. In the EU and Competition group, an assignment could be to review case law from the Court of Justice of the European Union, and in the Tax group, I assisted the assistant attorneys with tax law analysis of both natural and legal persons. The different practice groups naturally offer different branches of the law, but they can also work in very different ways. I think it was good to try out different things before I had to decide on a more specific direction for my time as an assistant attorney.

During my studies, I participated in the Legal Discussion Club’s moot trial. It was a good experience early in the programme to test the skill of going to court and litigating. I learned how to translate actual events and the law into arguments that can be used in a courtroom. In addition, I learned the basic procedural steps that need to be taken towards a trial and the main hearing. Now, when my work involves litigation, it is an advantage that I have gained experience in both writing pleadings and litigating in court.

I experience a good working environment both in my own practice group, in the assistant attorney group and in general in GF as an organisation. In my practice group, we value knowledge sharing so that we are all constantly and collectively improving. It creates a professional team spirit that you can always support and help with each other. We also have a great social environment and have fun together both during and outside of work. For example, we have just been to a seminar in Kolding, we are currently planning an upcoming group trip, and we have put together a few teams for an upcoming running event in August. Knowing my colleagues outside the office and being able to talk to them about things other than work boosts my job satisfaction.

When I started as an assistant attorney, it was with a large team of other assistant attorneys. Even though most of us knew each other well from our time as law students, we still prioritise getting to know each other even better, so that we have each other as a safe base during our time as assistant attorneys, where we experience and encounter many of the same challenges. We have a weekly lunch together where we can catch up on what everyone is doing. We also occasionally get together on a Friday after work for dinner and drinks.