From a late decision to study law to becoming a partner at Slaughter and May, Lorna Nsoatabe shares how embracing opportunities, valuing people, and staying optimistic have shaped her journey

I wasn’t particularly set on law from a young age,” admits Lorna Nsoatabe, partner at Slaughter and May. During her A-levels, she leaned towards studying medicine before a final decision to study law at university. She enjoyed her degree but hadn’t yet decided what she’d like to do after graduating. What she did know was that she wanted a job involving people, teamwork, and challenge. Seeing many peers apply to commercial law firms, she decided to give it a go — reasoning that it would tick those boxes and make good use of her degree. “I applied, without a huge amount of thought about what’s going to happen in 10 years, but more just, I think I’ll enjoy the immediate life as a trainee and hopefully be good at it,” she recalls.

That leap of faith paid off. Nsoatabe began her training contract with the firm in 2012, gaining experience across corporate, financing, competition, real estate and Disputes and Investigations. It was her competition seat that clicked, and she qualified into the group in 2015. Looking back, she says her progression wasn’t pre-planned but the result of seizing opportunities — she worked hard so that “when the next step came, I was ready to take it.”

But why competition? She loved the team, describing a supportive department where everyone worked hard but “didn’t take themselves too seriously” — the mix of humour, humility and excellence was very appealing. The work also appealed. “I wanted to use my law degree while also understanding how clients work and explore the business side of things — even using my maths a little bit.” It combined legal analysis, commercial awareness, and a touch of economics and policy. She “really likes the mix of that business, law and economics” and found that combination “just worked for me.”

Competition also appealed because it is a ‘people’ practice area. “It’s a real people department,” she tells Legal Cheek Careers, involving constant interaction with business teams, in-house counsel, boards and CEOs — an aspect she still enjoys. Years on, her favourite part of the job remains “the people aspect” above all.

To succeed in competition law, Nsoatabe emphasises the importance of the human element as much as the technical. Strong legal skills are essential, but so are communication skills and common sense. “Can you get clients to talk to you and share what’s concerning them? Share what they really want to happen so you can help them make it happen?” she asks. Building trust enables you to truly help the client, while good judgment and pragmatism are key to finding sensible paths forward.

Shifting to the firm, she highlights the appeal of Slaughter and May’s multi-specialist approach. Lawyers at the firm aren’t confined to narrow specialisms; instead, they work across a broad practice area, handling the wide range of matters within it. This ethos brings variety — “nothing is boring, you get genuinely new things every day” — and the challenge of constantly pushing beyond your comfort zone. While this is not for everyone, she explains that “there are real benefits for our lawyers, who develop excellent legal skills and our clients who work with lawyers able to support them on a range of matters”.

This breadth fosters collaboration. “We rely on our colleagues to share their expertise,” she explains. People readily call each other for advice, creating a “really supportive” and notably uncompetitive environment where, as she puts it, “we talk to each other, instead of competing”.

Another distinctive feature is Slaughter and May’s international approach. Rather than a large global network, the firm partners with the leading independent firms in each jurisdiction. This model “encourages us to communicate really well” and consistently deliver excellent work so that each overseas partner “thinks, ‘yes, I want to work with the firm again’”. Clients, in turn, benefit from seamless, high-quality service across multiple jurisdictions.

For Nsoatabe, the multi-specialist philosophy keeps her work exciting. “If my client has any issue across the whole realm of what Competition law involves, I’m able to help,” she explains. That means continually encountering unique legal scenarios and learning new skills, but also developing a really in-depth understanding of her clients. This broad base also sharpens her as an adviser when it comes to spotting potential issues which may impact a client.

Now over a decade into her career, she notes the fundamentals have stayed the same as she rose from trainee to partner — but expectations evolve. As a junior, everything was new but as a senior, you’re expected to handle the unfamiliar with confidence. Even so, new things still come across her desk, and the firm’s training equips lawyers at all levels to tackle “cutting-edge issues no one’s seen before”.

Outside client work, Nsoatabe has championed diversity and inclusion. As an associate, she spent nearly seven years chairing the firm’s diversity network, which celebrates and promotes racial and ethnic diversity. Now, as a partner, she continues as the group’s sponsoring partner, mentoring leaders and advocating for the network in management. “I’m there in a supportive capacity and as a sounding board,” she says. The mission is to “make the firm better, make it more inclusive — a working environment in which anyone, irrespective of your background, can develop and thrive.”

One of the network’s highlights is the annual Carnival event — a celebration inspired by the Caribbean carnival, with music, food, steel drums, and a talk about Carnival’s history. The event brings colleagues together for fun and learning, becoming a highlight of the year. What Nsoatabe finds most rewarding is seeing young colleagues take the lead. Trainees, junior associates and others across the non-legal teams, are encouraged to run events and bring ideas to life. Empowering junior staff has been “a really lovely thing,” she says, and cites witnessing their enthusiasm and success as her proudest achievement.

Nsoatabe believes diversity networks are much more than just PR. They foster inclusion and belonging, which in turn boosts young lawyer’s confidence. “You meet people who are like you, who think like you, who have had the same experiences as you… you have that space to have a conversation, to discuss things that might be difficult or challenging for you,” she explains. They also drive practical change by advising HR and leadership on cultural considerations or current events impacting colleagues. Having a dedicated group for these issues ensures “genuine change and impact can happen”.

Looking at the wider profession, Nsoatabe is hopeful but realistic. “We’ve seen a huge amount of growth in the last 10 years,” she notes, but there’s more to do before the profession truly reflects people from all backgrounds. Her wish is simple: that progress continues so that, in 10 or 15 years, diversity is “just a given” and every organisation knows how to create an inclusive workspace.

As we wrap up, she offers advice for aspiring lawyers. Firstly, enjoy it. “I think it can be a really great job and a really rewarding job,” she says. “Lean into enjoying it and try and have the best time possible”. Take up opportunities, get involved, and “put your hand up for things”. That said, if something isn’t right, don’t simply give up. Instead, speak up and try to make it better: “If you’re not enjoying it, or there’s something that you think can be done differently, try and make a bit of change.” In her experience, people are often receptive: “oh yes, you’re entirely right, we haven’t thought about that, how can we do better?”

Finally, she urges an optimistic mindset. Every generation faces challenges, but “being positive about your own career and about what you want from it, is a much better place to be than just worrying about it. Work hard, stay positive, and never forget the people around you.”

Lorna Nsoatabe will be speaking at ‘What does a world of difference look like? With Slaughter and May’, a virtual student event taking place Tuesday 16 September. Secure your place now.

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Legal Cheek Careers speaks with Clyde & Co’s Tom Bedford about his work in professional negligence and regulatory defence, and what it’s like to represent solicitors accused of wrongdoing

Tom Bedford, a specialist in professional negligence and regulatory defence at Clyde & Co, began his career as a junior lawyer acting for banks in negligence claims against solicitors and surveyors. After a couple of years, however, he “fancied switching sides.” “I didn’t love the idea of suing my own profession,” he laughs. He moved into defence work, representing solicitors facing claims and regulatory investigations — a decision that has shaped his career for more than a decade.

Bedford’s path into this area of the law was not one he originally planned. As a law student, he considered becoming a family lawyer but quickly realised that line of work wasn’t for him. “I don’t think this is for me,” he recalls thinking, after finding the area “very emotionally challenging”. However, he knew he wanted a “people-focused” career in law. During his training contract at Eversheds, he gained experience across a range of practice areas, but by the time he qualified in 2009, Bedford had discovered a passion for litigation. “I liked the idea of representing other people’s interests,” he says, noting that every case carried a compelling human story behind it.

When Bedford qualified during the financial crisis, he was faced with a choice between employment law and professional negligence. He opted for the latter and hasn’t looked back. “I thought the work was very varied and interesting — there are so many different things that can go wrong,” he says of what drew him to professional indemnity work. Defending lawyers also meant working with legally savvy clients. “You’re reporting to people who get it,” he explains, pointing out that his clients — often fellow solicitors or their insurers — understand the legal process, allowing for “a really nice, sensible conversation” instead of lengthy explanations. He enjoyed feeling part of a close-knit sector — being “part of a club” within the wider legal world.

Bedford’s practice today spans both defending negligence claims and representing lawyers in disciplinary proceedings. “My job is nice because it’s quite varied,” he tells me, describing how he divides his time between fighting cases and broader responsibilities like client training, mentoring junior lawyers and even helping with the management of the firm. “I love the variety that I have now in my job,” he adds.

After more than a decade at his previous firm, Bedford joined Clyde & Co 14 months ago as partner in the firm’s Bristol office. “No firm can offer globally what Clyde & Co can offer on solicitors’ liability. Clydes essentially wrote the book on this area!” he says of the insurance law giant’s appeal. Another big draw was the firm’s entrepreneurial culture. “If you want to do something, it can be done. No one’s going to stop you unless it’s something really mad,” Bedford laughs. With its strong reputation and high standards, the firm has given him an ideal platform to further grow his practice.

I ask Bedford what qualities make a good lawyer in his specialist area. Unsurprisingly, he emphasises the importance of empathy and strong communication. Professional negligence and regulatory cases can be intensely personal for the clients involved. “Particularly in the regulatory aspect of my practice, I’m acting for individuals who may be facing career-damaging sanctions,” he explains. “People think solicitors are tough cookies but for anybody these are extremely stressful situations to deal with.” Bedford sees his role as not only handling the legal complexities but also supporting his clients through the ordeal. “You should be providing pastoral support because you want to put your clients in the best possible position to defend themselves,” he says. “On a human level, no matter what someone’s done, they’re entitled to be represented, and they deserve that support.”

Equally, building trust is crucial. “It’s never left me that it’s such a huge privilege to be asked to advise people about something that is really important to them – their business or their career,” Bedford reflects. Earning that privilege means fostering strong relationships. He finds common ground with clients and reassures them through clear, frank communication. “You want people, if they have that problem again, to come back to you,” he says, adding that being approachable and honest is key to encouraging that loyalty.

Having solicitors as clients puts Bedford in a somewhat unusual position – one with distinct advantages and a few challenges. “Solicitors make great clients because they understand the job I’m doing and I understand theirs,” he notes. However, the flip side is that a legally trained client will quickly spot any lack of expertise. “You have to know what you’re talking about, because if you don’t you’ll quickly be found out,” Bedford cautions. He advises junior lawyers never to bluff. If he doesn’t know something, he’ll readily admit it and go find the answer. “Saying ‘I don’t know, but I’ll go away and look at it’ is definitely the best course of action to build trust with clients,” he says. Another test for young lawyers in this field can be managing ego. Without independent experts to call upon in solicitor negligence cases, it often falls to Bedford and his colleagues to tell a fellow lawyer — sometimes one far more senior — that they’ve made a mistake. “When you’re junior and you’re saying to somebody much older than you, ‘Actually I think you’ve made a mistake,’ it can be quite difficult,” he admits. “But there are ways to do it.” The key, he stresses, is to “lean on those same communication and relationship skills to navigate the situation.”

He has also noticed the profession itself being held to higher account. The Solicitors Regulation Authority has sharpened its focus on lawyers’ personal conduct outside work, he says, which is leading to more disciplinary cases from off-duty missteps. Bedford reminds juniors that solicitors hold a “special position in society” — “it’s not just any kind of commercial job,” as he points out — and predicts such scrutiny will only increase. “I think we will see more and more of that,” he adds.

As our conversation draws to a close, I ask Bedford for one final piece of careers advice for those starting out. “Be yourself,” is his response. He acknowledges that the hunt for training contracts and junior roles is “hugely competitive”, so it’s natural to want to put your best foot forward — but he insists that authenticity is paramount. “Some people will love you and some people won’t,” Bedford says. “If you’re completely yourself and you’re not successful [with an application], then probably you wouldn’t be happy there — you’re not the right fit.” And if you do find a place that appreciates the real you? “If you go in authentically and the firm likes you, I think it’s a recipe for success — and for happiness,” he finishes.

Tom Bedford will appear on the panel at ‘Ethics and the law – with Clyde & Co’, a virtual student event taking place TOMORROW (Tuesday 9 September). Apply now to attend.

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ULaw SQE student Layla Qazi on her journey from history graduate and tax consultant to future trainee

Future Taylor Wessing trainee Layla Qazi didn’t set out to be a lawyer from day one. She read history because she loved the subject and liked the flexibility of converting later, and she always had law in mind.

“I was so happy to get in,” she says of studying history at Oxford, adding that the subject isn’t “so divorced from law that it’s not really a difficult adjustment.” But as a non-law undergrad, she quickly realised the profession doesn’t necessarily come to you. “As a non-law student, you have to go out and seek things a lot more,” she says. She missed out on first-year insight schemes, simply unaware of them as a history student. The silver lining? “There are so many different entry points now and it’s great if you do a first-year insight scheme, but it’s not necessary to get a training contract.”

In her second year and beyond, she became a fixture at law fairs and networking events. “I don’t even think I could count how many I went to. I went to so, so many,” she laughs. Fairs can feel like speed networking, but even a few minutes with a couple of trainees gives you something real to reference later — and sometimes you discover a firm you’d never thought about.

Off the back of that she joined the university’s commercial law society and moved from attendee to organiser, sitting on the sponsorships committee and emailing graduate recruitment, setting up panels and chatting to trainees. Seeing “the other side of it” made those application form staples much easier. The dreaded “why this firm?” stops being so difficult when you’ve spoken on a more personal level with the firm about team sizes, the support trainees get and which seats are on offer.

Qazi stresses that there’s no single trick to success but focusing on what genuinely interested her and being honest about the fit really helped. She knew early on that the sectors drawing her in were tech and life sciences. That guided her research and helped her craft a consistent story across applications and interviews. “You can dive into your specific interests and create a bit of a story for the ‘why law’ and the ‘why this firm’ question,” she says.

She also drew on “unorthodox” experiences to evidence her skills. In one application she wrote about helping run her university roller-skating society. It was small when she started, but after she convinced a few friends to join, she and the committee grew it into something much bigger. “It’s so random, but honestly the non-traditional stuff really does stick out if you can show that you’ve got a bit of personality and drive.” The lesson, she says: you don’t have to be president of the law society to have something interesting to say. “I worked the Next Boxing Day sale,” she jokes. “That will teach you something about resilience. Honestly.” And that’s what firms are looking for.

Between university and law school, Qazi took what many would see as a detour: a year as a tax consultant at EY. It turned out to be a perfect primer for vacation schemes and, soon enough, a training contract. “The biggest thing for me is confidence,” she says. Coming into vac schemes after time in a corporate environment meant she wasn’t fazed by writing to clients or speaking up in meetings. “You’ll have to do things like presentations to partners and I’m like, ‘I’m just going to pretend this is my manager.’” Perhaps most importantly, it sharpened her writing style. History essays and client emails are different beasts; in practice “you still have to analyse things but with a view to an answer… it’s got to have your client in mind.”

Her tax job turbo-charged her commercial awareness, too. Anticipating the impact of the government’s annual budget or changes to the ‘non-dom’ tax regime, and thinking about how these changes would impact her clients, soon became second nature. Building on that foundation, she developed a daily habit of reading newsletters like Finimize and scanning the Financial Times — which made the buzzword “commercial awareness” far less daunting.

From there, she dug deeper into a handful of topics she genuinely cared about, turning to law firm podcasts and sector reports that translate abstract headlines into client issues. Those bridges from “news” to “what does this mean for this client and our firm?” are, she points out, exactly what interview case studies probe. Picking news topics she found genuinely engaging — tech and life sciences — kept the routine sustainable and the conversations authentic.

Vacation schemes confirmed law was the right path for her, securing spots at Osborne Clarke, Pennington Manches Cooper, Cooley, and of course Taylor Wessing. When asked about her favourite practice areas so far, she says every seat has had its own highlights.

At Taylor Wessing, she especially enjoyed the breadth of her seats, ranging from banking and finance to tech, IP and information. “Broad teams,” she explains, “let trainees explore and find a niche without feeling pigeonholed too early.” That open-mindedness extends to qualification, too: when friends ask her what type of lawyer she’ll be, she replies wherever the work and the seats take her.

With her training contract at Taylor Wessing secured, Qazi began her transition from historian to lawyer with The University of Law. She has just completed her PGDL and will be sitting her SQE exams there over the next year. “The PGDL course at ULaw did a great job of starting things from the basics and building different concepts up,” she explains. “The structure of the course meant it was never overwhelming … I feel very confident going into the SQE having had the ULaw PGDL as a foundation.” Converting from history to law is a sprint through core subjects; doing it within ULaw’s structured programme, with clear materials and a supportive teaching team, made the leap feel manageable.

Looking ahead, she says: “The course has definitely developed my critical analysis abilities and encouraged me to think about academic concepts from a practical perspective. Next summer … the SQE Plus part will let me explore different practice areas ahead of starting my TC.” Having already endured long stretches of exams — first at university, then as a tax consultant, and now with the PGDL and SQE — she’s eager for the finish line. “What am I most looking forward to? Finishing the SQE,” she laughs. “Exam-free” life can’t come soon enough.

If she could advise her first-year self, she’d start with reassurance: follow your interests, build skills, then learn to frame them in a lawyerly light. “I was so surprised the roller-skating thing went down so well!”. The point isn’t to collect a checklist of “law-only” experiences. It’s to show initiative, teamwork, time management and resilience — the qualities firms look for in trainees. Whether it’s building a university society from scratch, surviving a Boxing Day rush at Next or presenting to senior people at work, every experience counts if you can draw out the skills. “Relax and do what you want to do,” she says, “but also do law stuff as well.” That balance has kept her motivated — and made her applications feel personal rather than generic.

For students starting out, her advice is straightforward. Meet as many firms as you can early on — at fairs, talks and virtual events — rather than relying solely on what’s on their websites. Think carefully about the sectors and environments you’ll thrive in, then build your narrative around that. Make use of university and law school resources: newsletters you’ll actually read, podcasts you’ll actually listen to, and reports that translate abstract headlines into challenges and opportunities for clients. At the same time, pursue the passions and interests that genuinely appeal to you — non-legal experiences are just as important. And if your path isn’t linear, that’s fine. A year in industry can make you calmer, clearer and more client-focused when you eventually step through a firm’s doors.

With her PGDL completed at ULaw and the SQE ahead this year, she’s now closing out the study phase and looking forward to day one at Taylor Wessing. The destination hasn’t changed since those early career talks, she’s simply taken the route that made the most sense for her — and picked up a toolkit along the way that will let her hit the ground running when client work begins.

Legal Cheek Live in London takes place in-person NEXT WEEK on Thursday, 11 September. The afternoon features a series of careers and commercial awareness workshops delivered by top law firms as well as a careers fair featuring early talent and graduate recruitment teams. Register to attend now.

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Taylor Wessing’s Emma Danks discusses the evolution of private equity, the firm’s ambitious culture, and her advice for aspiring solicitors

“There’s a huge amount of ambition here and no complacency,” says Emma Danks, head of the UK corporate group at Taylor Wessing, reflecting on what drew her to the firm 15 years ago. After over a decade at a Magic Circle firm, Danks joined Taylor Wessing in 2010 to help grow its then-burgeoning private equity practice. “It was very attractive to join a team that was growing and ambitious,” she recalls. Fifteen years on, she hasn’t looked back.

Qualifying in 2001, Danks cut her teeth amid the mid-2000s private equity boom, and later weathered the 2007-2008 global financial crisis that reshaped the market. The post-crisis landscape sparked her interest in the mid-market segment, making Taylor Wessing’s more entrepreneurial platform an appealing next step. Now a senior partner, she leads the firm’s corporate practice and advises on private equity transactions day-to-day. Danks acts for private equity sponsors on buyouts and private M&A deals, as well as for the management teams of PE-backed companies — a mix that gives her “a really nice view of the whole market,” she notes.

While Danks was initially drawn by Taylor Wessing’s growing private equity practice, it’s “the energy and the entrepreneurial spirit” which is keeping her at the firm 15 years later. The firm is full of “very bright lawyers who are driven to do the best job they can for their clients and to win more market share,” she tells me. This ambitious but collaborative ethos means there’s little room for egos. In short, it’s a “really high performance but friendly place to be.”

Early in her career, Danks found herself drawn to transactional work. “There is a particular inclination most lawyers have, either towards transactional, advisory or disputes work,” she says. For her, deals hold a special appeal because “you’re creating something” for the client rather than fighting an opponent in court. She enjoys digging into the commercial drivers behind a transaction — understanding what the business does and why a deal matters to a client — and collaborating with the other side to reach an agreement (while still “protecting your client’s position,” of course). Delivering a deal that is important to a client brings “a real sense of satisfaction and professional pride,” Danks says.

When Danks qualified as a private equity lawyer, the industry looked very different. “It’s a more sophisticated asset class today”, she notes, with deal structures far more complex than 25 years ago. “There is a wider range and number of private equity funds. So they’ve got different styles of investing,” Danks explains. “25 years ago, it might have been more of a classic ‘we will acquire a majority and hold it for three to five years and then we’ll sell it’ situation. Whereas now you have funds wanting a longer hold period or they might acquire just a minority, which then requires a different negotiating style.” Private equity has also entered the public consciousness as PE firms have acquired household-name brands, she adds, and its techniques have “influenced the broader M&A market in lots of different ways.”

This constant evolution is part of the appeal of private equity for Danks. “I never wanted to get to a stage in my career where I think, ‘I can do this in my sleep,’” she laughs. The ever-changing nature of the private equity space means she is always learning and adapting. That can be frustrating at times, she admits, but it suits lawyers who are “intellectually curious” and like to be challenged — and for her it’s “a really enjoyable part of the job.”

I ask Danks whether one deal in particular stands out in her memory. “I would say one of the standout career highs for me was a deal we did in 2019,” she responds. The Taylor Wessing team advised the private equity arm of Standard Chartered on its spin-out from the bank into a new independent fund. “We were working with brilliant clients. They were at the top of their game, really bright. It was personally very important to them as well because they were creating a whole new fund,” Danks recalls. Complex deals like this don’t get off the ground without some serious hard work, of course: “We were in the trenches all together,” Danks recalls, describing weeks of intense negotiations as lawyers from multiple firms hammered out the terms. A “real career highlight”, the deal landed Danks’ team “Private Equity Team of the Year” at that year’s British Legal Awards. It was also a roaring success for her clients: “They successfully spun out of the bank and have been a very successful private equity fund in their own right – I’ve actually just had the invitation through for their sixth anniversary celebration!” she tells me.

Today, the market presents new challenges. The past few years have been “turbulent,” as Danks puts it. A post-pandemic surge of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity in 2021 gave way to a slowdown as interest rates rose and political and economic uncertainty made many businesses cautious about making significant investments. “Markets like stability,” Danks says. “Changes of government around the world and US tariffs early this year have meant a lot of dealmakers have paused to let everything settle. However, although the volume of deals has dipped, I’ve found the deals which have happed have been more high value.” And there have been certain sectors bucking the trend. Tech and life sciences assets “have continued to be really competitive.” She shows particular excitement around artificial intelligence, where acquiring an AI-driven company can be a “fast-track” for traditional businesses — why spend years developing a new technology in-house “when you can buy a company that’s already done it”?

In this uncertain climate, lawyers have a crucial role in helping clients navigate deals. Danks sees her job as twofold: first, offering clients a broad perspective on market “commercials” gleaned from her experience across many transactions. Her team works on far more deals each year than any single client, so “they like us to give some market insights,” she explains. Second, a good lawyer will “future-proof” agreements to withstand whatever arises from the counterparty or the wider business environment in the months and years to come.

Before wrapping up, I ask Danks what career advice she would give to her younger self or a new trainee. She recommends gaining as broad experience as possible and being unafraid to question things. “Take time to get as much experience as you can,” she advises, “and always try to look into the corners of every issue — maintain an intellectual curiosity at all times.”

Emma Danks will be speaking on the panel at Legal Cheek’s upcoming virtual student event ‘Inside the global dynamics of M&A — with Taylor Wessing’, taking place virtually on Wednesday 24 September. Apply now to attend.

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Clifford Chance lawyer Alex Panayides reflects on his career journey and the exciting work he has undertaken along the way

“I came to Britain at the age of eight, having left Cyprus as a refugee when Turkey invaded in 1974,” says Alex Panayides, dispute resolution partner at Clifford Chance. Speaking over fifty years later, Panayides has built a career studded with high-profile cases. From insurance litigation following the 9/11 attacks, to the controversies around the Qatar World Cup 2022, to litigating the salvage rights to the wreck of RMS “TITANIC” — the list is impressive.

A Clifford Chance ‘lifer’, the firm first caught Panayides’ attention during his second year at university. Reading law at Oxford University — but “without any firm intention to become a lawyer” — Panayides recalls “one of my rare visits to the college library” during which he discovered “fellow law students filling in application forms for what were then called articles, now training contracts.” With Britain’s economy in decline in the early 1990s and graduate jobs scarce, he sent out a few speculative applications in the hope of securing a role.

Clifford Chance “stood out” because of its international outlook. “At that time, the firm was expanding into Europe when the majority of London firms were very, or in fact exclusively, UK focused,” Panayides explains — an attractive prospect for a globally-minded student. Training contract secured, he joined Clifford Chance, became a partner in 2002 and, 30-something years later after joining the firm, he’s still there. He is a partner in the litigation and dispute resolution practice, leads the firm’s oi & gas disputes practice and the disputes practice in Africa.

During his training, Panayides sampled a range of practice areas — property, banking, even a stint in New York — but it was the firm’s shipping department that ultimately hooked him. “It was awesome, frankly,” he tells me. “I did all kinds of fun work that was in the news and enormous amounts of travelling.” In the pre-email era, Panayides had to get to where the work was, spending much of his time as a young lawyer working from shipyards around the world, from Singapore to Brazil to Mississippi. This was “a wonderful way to learn”, not least as he was able to get a taste of an “extremely unusual” mixture of transactional and disputes work.

Later in his career Panayides chose to focus full-time on disputes. I am keen to know what it was about contentious work that appeals to him. “Because I find it perpetually interesting and varied,” he replies. “No two disputes have been the same, and I still learn something new every day”. Over the course of his career Panayides has tackled “the sorts of problems that people don’t believe can be solved.” Illustrating this point, he jumps back into one matter in particular: “I spent about 10 years arguing about whether 9/11 was an act of war, or an act of terrorism,” he tells me, “which of course had enormous repercussions in numerous contexts, including insurance and finance” Panayides found himself “navigating law and politics on a topic that was not just in the headlines; it was the headline for so long.” Commuting back and forth from New York “on some occasions on Concorde” was also “extremely exciting for a relatively young lawyer.”

Another career highlight he singles out is a pro bono project for Save the Children which held a deeply personal resonance. “Save the Children decided, with exceptional ambition, to procure, crew and deploy a rescue ship to pick up refugees in the Mediterranean.” The project came off in record time: “It was an amazing success,” Panayides reflects. He recalls that “Save the Children, when I started working with them on this, didn’t know that I myself had been a child refugee who had crossed the Mediterranean in a small boat some years previously — for them that was just mind-blowing.”

With a career spent at the sharp end of global disputes, Panayides has witnessed first-hand how world events can upend the business landscape. I ask what key geopolitical issues are occupying his clients right now. “If one had to distil everything that’s going on into one word, it would be ‘uncertainty’,” he replies. That uncertainty, he explains, is the most “challenging thing for markets and governments because it chills investment decisions and can cloud the intentions and plans of politicians”. US trade tariffs, China’s developing global ambitions, conflict in Europe and the Middle East have all contributed to the volatile environment. For clients trying to navigate these choppy waters, this is “obviously extremely challenging”. We live in an age of information overload — “there is much more data and information and insight available to any of us with a computer than at any previous time in history,” Panayides says. This “puts a real premium on the skills required to declutter an issue and really understand what’s going on at its core”.

Even having just scratched the surface of Panayides’ career it’s not hard to see why he finds the work engaging, but there are two other key factors which mean he loves his job: the firm’s people, and its culture. “We’re not at all hierarchical. We like to have a laugh even in the challenging and difficult moments,” he says. “It’s always a team effort.”

As we wrap up our discussion, I am keen to hear Panayides’ advice for aspiring lawyers. “Keep an open mind,” he says. “The training contract is a wonderful opportunity to experience lots of different kinds of law.” He would discourage law students from having a rigid idea of where they want to qualify. “Have an idea by all means,” he says, “but when you start rotating through the practice areas, give your best effort in all of them because you might surprise yourself about what you actually enjoy. And choosing an area you find genuinely stimulating is crucial: “The demands can be immense,” Panayides admits, “but it’s amazing how hard you can work and still be cheerful if what you’re doing is what you enjoy.”

Alex Panayides will be speaking on the panel at ‘Geopolitical risk, trade and the law — with Clifford Chance’, a hybrid student event taking place TOMORROW (Thursday 4 September). In-person spots are now fully-booked but you can still apply to attend virtually.

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Linklaters’ Shamin Choudhury, managing associate and co-head of the firm’s global sports sector group, discusses building a sports law niche at a Magic Circle firm, the legal and commercial forces shaping the sector, and his advice for aspiring sports lawyers

“We officially set up the sports practice in 2019,” recalls Shamin Choudhury, managing associate and co-head of Linklaters’ global sports sector group. He and a veteran partner spotted sports deals ballooning in value and complexity to the point a Magic Circle firm could add real value and apply global expertise. Armed with that insight and a passion for sport, Choudhury helped grow Linklaters’ sports law offering as a newly qualified solicitor — and he’s been at the heart of its growth ever since.

Choudhury, a former state school student who studied law at Warwick University, admits he “didn’t quite enjoy” the dry academic side of his degree until a practical law-and-business module hooked him and made him see a future as a solicitor. By graduation, he still hadn’t secured a training contract. Instead, he took six months to travel and worked briefly as a temporary paralegal at Goldman Sachs, an experience that gave him a glimpse of the finance world and how it operated.

He eventually landed a winter vacation scheme at Linklaters in late 2016, seated in structured finance — a department he jokes he “still doesn’t fully understand what every part of the team does” — which led to a training contract offer. During his training, Choudhury rotated through a series of transactional seats from banking to private equity, including a secondment in Dubai. “I always knew I was more of a transactional lawyer than a litigator,” he reflects. He qualified in March 2020 having just returned from secondment, just as Covid lockdowns hit which he says was an unusual start to life as a new associate.

Right as he qualified, an early mentor, partner Julian Davies, saw the sports sector on the cusp of something big. Sports deals were reaching sizes and levels of complexity where “it made sense for us to be involved,” Choudhury explains. So in 2019 Linklaters formed its dedicated sports sector team, with Davies spearheading and Choudhury handling much of the early legwork from the transactional side. What began as a speculative venture with an open “give it a go” mentality quickly gained momentum.

Choudhury continued his structured finance work (which often lent itself well to unique sports deals) even as sports mandates started to flow in. “We got a lot of mandates from various types of institutions in the sports space, and that’s where we really grew our practice,” he says of the early mix of sports-related M&A, regulatory and financing matters. In 2023, he spent nearly a year on secondment in New York, serving sports clients while further honing his finance skills. Having now worked in London, Dubai and New York, he brings a global perspective to the practice. Today, as co-head, he coordinates and works with a network of lawyers across the firm whenever a big sports deal comes in. “It’s not six or seven people sat in a corner doing sports work every day,” he points out. Instead, specialists from competition, litigation, corporate, finance and other teams assemble around each sports matter, marrying their expertise with a shared passion for the sector.

His client work is equally varied. One day might involve quietly chipping away at a long-running project; the next could bring urgent calls requiring quick thinking and reactive advice. “You’ve got to manage your day well,” Choudhury says, describing how he juggles steady deal work with ad hoc queries by setting priorities and pulling in colleagues as needed. Amid it all, he carves out time for business development, constantly looking for new opportunities and connections. He urges junior lawyers to do the same from early on: building confidence and a network is an ongoing part of the job, not something to leave until you’re senior.

Over the past few years, Choudhury has amassed an enviable roster of sports-related work. Much of it is confidential, but a few highlights can be shared. On the club side, he helped a long-term client go from minority ownership in 2021 to majority ownership of Norwich City FC by 2025. “We’ve assisted in the journey of acquiring a small piece to becoming the steward of the club,” he smiles, having guided the client through incremental share purchases and the maze of football regulations that come with club ownership. His team has also been involved in private equity investments across sports, including in league-based deals and media rights — though details remain under wraps. More recently, he’s advised on a deal spanning across women’s football, basketball, cricket with others in the practice advising in the fast-paced sphere of Formula 1. It’s an eclectic practice that, he jokes, makes his mainstream finance deals feel less exciting to others by comparison.

Choudhury sees a few major trends powering the sports law boom. “Women’s sport is front and centre for many now and represents a strong business opportunity,” he says, highlighting the surge in interest and investment in women’s leagues and clubs. Investment within and originating from the Arabian peninsula is another driver — countries in the region are pouring resources into sports at home and abroad, rapidly transforming the landscape. Then there’s the continued rise of competition law issues in sport. From breakaway leagues to clubs and players challenging regulations and laws, stakeholders are more alive than ever to their legal rights and increasingly willing to compete in legal forums. As deals get larger, “clubs, leagues and investors are getting more clued up about protecting their own interests,” he notes.

With these opportunities come challenges. One is the sheer volume of regulation: sports businesses must comply with layers of sporting rules on top of ordinary law. Another is bridging the cultural gap between traditional sports insiders and the finance-savvy investors now entering the arena. “These two groups have not typically worked closely together in the preceding decades,” Choudhury explains — and part of his job is translating between the passion of sport and the pragmatism of business. Finally, there’s often tension among stakeholders themselves. Sport is an inherently emotional investment, he notes. Owners who are fans at heart want to win trophies, which doesn’t always sit easily with the need for sustainable, profit-minded management of a pure business. Negotiating that balance is often important for a lawyer to understand — a rounded commercial view is a powerful tool for any lawyer, he notes.

For those keen on this field, Choudhury’s advice is straightforward. He emphasises that “sports law” isn’t a single defined discipline — “there’s no Sports Law Act,” he quips. Rather, it’s a collection of legal areas applied to a sports context. So focus on the aspect that excites you most — be it finance, regulation, media or something else – and get as much exposure to it as possible. That could mean writing about sports-related legal issues, volunteering with a sports organisation, or simply reading up extensively. Networking is also key. Choudhury encourages reaching out to people in the industry for insights — “nine times out of ten, they’ll say yes,” he notes — but he advises having a clear purpose when you do, rather than a vague request to chat. And don’t worry if your route isn’t linear. Choudhury himself took a winding path, and believes those extra experiences only helped. It’s a long career — “a marathon, not a sprint” as many of his mentors have advised over the years — and the world of sports law will reward genuine passion and the initiative to seize opportunities when they arise.

Shamin Choudhury will be speaking at ‘Behind the game: Explore sports law — with Linklaters’, a virtual student event taking place on Thursday 25 September, from 4pm to 6pm. APPLY NOW.

@linklaterscareersuk It’s Summer Vacation Scheme Season! Here are our Top Tips for Day 1: Arrive early – a little extra time helps you settle in and shows your enthusiasm Introduce yourself – greet your new colleagues and fellow schemers, and let your personality shine Dress professionally and comfortably – first impressions matter, so choose something professional that you feel good in Don’t forget your notebook and pen – you’ll want to capture key insights along the way Come along with Jess to see what a day on the scheme really looks like! #vacationscheme #linklaters #career ♬ House Glamor Fashion – PMsound

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A&O Shearman’s Francesca Bennetts discusses her exciting work at the cutting edge of legal tech and her advice for young lawyers navigating a changing legal landscape

“I didn’t study law at university,” says Francesca Bennetts, partner at A&O Shearman, kicking off our interview ahead of her appearance at our upcoming virtual student event, ‘The Hybrid Lawyer: Where human expertise meets artificial intelligence’. Instead of law, Bennetts pursued an undergraduate degree in theology, which she “absolutely adored” and which helped her develop valuable skills in critical thinking and research. Still, law had always beckoned, so after graduating she took a one-year conversion course to qualify as a lawyer.

Bennetts ultimately chose Allen & Overy (now A&O Shearman) to start her career – and the deciding factor was the people. In her interview for a training contract, the conversation drifted onto an unlikely topic: kitchenware. “We ended up having a really in-depth discussion about the relative merits of Le Creuset versus different saucepans,” she laughs. “That personal touch made an impression. They just seemed very human and that made my decision for me. A&O really felt like the place for me,” she says.

Once at the firm, Bennetts’ first seat as a trainee proved a baptism of fire: derivatives and structured finance. “Coming from a theology background, I had absolutely no idea what derivatives would be,” she recalls. “It was full of complex commercial transactions and a whole new taxonomy to learn”. It was challenging, but her supervisor was David Wakeling – now head of the team Bennetts herself would later join — and the group’s innovative mindset quickly captured her imagination. The team, she noticed, was “very interested in thinking outside the box, leveraging technology and streamlining processes” even back then. That forward-thinking attitude resonated with her.

After trying seats in litigation and even an international secondment to Rome, Bennetts returned to the derivatives department to qualify, drawn by its mix of complexity and innovation. She spent the next few years working on major finance deals, while her team continued to test tech-driven ways of working.

That experimental ethos paid off when regulatory changes required repapering huge volumes of contracts. Bennetts’ team built a platform called MarginMatrix in partnership with Big Four player Deloitte to automate the process. “We built the tech infrastructure and provided the substantive legal advice and template amendment agreements, and then Deloitte helped with the outreach and repapering,” she explains. Using this approach, they helped eight clients update their contracts — rather than just one or two via the traditional manual approach.

“That really started triggering a thought that this could be a specific practice area,” Bennetts says. In its wake, the firm established the Markets Innovation Group (MIG) – a practice dedicated to tech-enabled legal solutions. Since then, the MIG has tackled projects such as the Brexit and LIBOR transition and grown substantially. Now she helps lead the group, which is focused firmly on generative AI. “How can we best use generative AI to make ourselves more efficient internally, but also to build solutions for clients?” Bennetts says, outlining MIG’s guiding question.

One answer has been the group’s flagship product, ContractMatrix, developed in collaboration with AI start-up Harvey and Microsoft. The tool enables users to open any legal document in Word and query it using generative AI. The twist, Bennetts explains, is that the AI’s answers are “grounded and benchmarked” against the user’s own data– so lawyers can instantly compare the AI results against their trusted precedents and extract reliable insights from documentation previously agreed.

It’s clear that A&O Shearman’s investment in innovation goes well beyond lip service. Early on, the firm’s senior leadership made generative AI a strategic priority. “We made a proactive decision that we wanted to be on the front foot on adoption rather than reactive,” notes Bennetts, adding that this approach saw A&O become the first law firm to roll out generative AI firmwide and develop its own tool with Harvey. “We’re not afraid to try things and see how they work,” she adds.

This culture of experimentation thrives on collaboration. “We can bridge the gap between law and tech,” Bennetts explains of her team’s close partnership with the firm’s developers. That approach has created an “unusual synergy” at the firm. “That two-way conversation is absolutely critical,” she says, ensuring tools like ContractMatrix are truly “built by lawyers for lawyers”.

Despite the firm’s strong tech focus, Bennetts reassures future lawyers that no one expects them to be coding experts. “We’re not expecting people to come into the firm who already know everything they need to know about using tech. That’s not a prerequisite,” she says. The firm provides extensive training and resources to help new joiners get comfortable with these tools. Junior lawyers are encouraged to use them (within sensible guardrails) and even offer feedback. “Provided you follow the rules, we really want you to use this tech and tell us how you’re using it, because we can learn from people coming through with new ideas,” Bennetts explains.

So, is the rise of AI changing what it means to be a junior lawyer? Bennetts believes core qualities remain the same – with one notable addition. “The only thing I would ask of someone coming into the firm is a willingness to try,” she says. Trainees are “already going to be bright and eager to learn” – the extra quality she looks for is “a curiosity about using technology”.

To illustrate how tech can enhance a lawyer’s role, Bennetts recounts a story from early in her career. As a teenager on work experience, she once spent hours manually comparing contract drafts because the firm hadn’t enabled Word’s track-changes feature. “It sounds insane to me now,” she laughs. But adopting new tools didn’t diminish the need for lawyerly skill. “I don’t think the advent of track changes has meant I’m a worse lawyer,” Bennetts says. “All it has done is taken the mechanics of finding the changes away… The crucial bit was actually analysing the impact of those changes”.

She sees AI in the same light. Tools like Harvey might “do some of the grunt work, which means we get to the critical thinking, analytical part of our tasks quicker”. But “for juniors, that’s a good thing because that’s the bit that you’re training for,” she adds. Of course, technology is “not yet at a stage where we can take an answer and assume it’s right”, so lawyers must still “critically assess the outputs and validate” what the AI produces. In other words, critical thinking and judgment remain as important as ever.

As we wrap up our discussion, I ask Bennetts for a highlight of her innovation journey. She fondly recalls an early “eureka” moment while beta-testing a Brexit contract automation. She and her team had coded complex logic into a template — then held their breath and “pressed the button” to generate the document. When the draft appeared on-screen, “it was like our firstborn child… the logic worked, the right provisions had dropped in,” she remembers, and the pride of that achievement has stayed with her. Since that moment, the MIG team at A&O Shearman has gone from strength to strength and has made a name for itself as a force driving AI adoption in the legal profession. Future lawyers, watch this space!

Francesca Bennets will be speaking on the panel at ‘The Hybrid Lawyer: Where human expertise meets artificial intelligence — with A&O Shearman’, a virtual event taking place on Monday 8 September. Apply now to attend

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Tilly Twite, SQE student at The College of Legal Practice, reflects on her experience of balancing work and study and offers some advice for fellow future lawyers

“I’ve always wanted to be a solicitor,” says Tilly Twite, trainee solicitor and SQE student at The College of Legal Practice. Tilly achieved A*A*A in her A Levels, including law, at Leeds City College before being awarded a scholarship to study Law at the University of Leeds. After a short break from the law, Tilly joined the Proceeds of Crime team at a Yorkshire firm where she has worked full-time while preparing for the SQE.

“When I graduated from my undergraduate degree, I took a year out completely and worked in Pizza Express,” Tilly tells me, “I just needed a bit of a brain-break from it all and going straight into the LPC or SQE wouldn’t have worked for me.” She then went on to work at a law firm for two years before going back to the books – “I had a quite significant break in study between the undergrad and postgrad,” she says.

Tilly embarked on further study after receiving a scholarship with The College of Legal Practice to study their SQE preparation course. “I am very grateful to The College of Legal Practice for giving me the opportunity to study there,” she says. “I come from a very working-class background and would have struggled to get into law at all without this support – the costs involved can be ridiculous!”

With many law students taking a few years out before taking on the SQE, I am curious to know how Tilly found her transition back to education. “It can be quite hard to get back into studying when you’ve had such a break,” she acknowledges, “but I wouldn’t say it affected my performance in any way.” She found her course at The College of Legal Practice instrumental in bridging the gap: “They provided me with all the material I needed to pass the exams so it didn’t hold me back,” she explains.

Studying for these demanding exams while working full-time as a trainee solicitor is no mean feat and I am keen to hear how Tilly has found this balancing act. “It’s difficult – I’m not going to pretend that it’s easy because it’s not,” she replies. However, she is keen to emphasise that “it is also possible” and she is the proof, having passed SQE1 on her first attempt. With five years’ legal experience already behind her, Tilly will be a fully qualified lawyer once she has passed her SQE2, which she sat in April. “My qualifying work experience is already banked, so I literally just need to pass these exams and I’ll be qualified,” she tells me excitedly.

So how did she do it? “The biggest help for me was The College of Legal Practice’s timetabling,” she responds. “If you stick to the timetable and what they tell you to read every day and complete the mock multiple-choice questions (MCQs) that they set, that will set you up for good results.” Sticking diligently to the course was a core part of Tilly’s approach: “I didn’t lapse on the timetable, I followed it routinely,” she tells me. “If you get behind on a part of your course, it’s so hard to catch up because of the volume of content. It’s really important to structure your week and follow those timetables.”

This wasn’t always easy for Tilly, who works in the Proceeds of Crime team at Yorkshire firm Ison Harrison and often completes long hours and early starts. “Working in criminal law, the hours and working days can be extremely long”, she tells me. “Most days I felt exhausted after a full day at work, but I needed to turn my attention to my studies. These were equally as important. If you want to qualify, you’ll have to be really dedicated and put the work in.”

Luckily, Tilly’s colleagues and employer were accommodating and understood that she had a lot on her plate. “My employer would let me attend online seminars live during the working day, so I wouldn’t have to catch up with these after work,” she says. She would advise other future solicitors who are working while studying to “be open and honest with your employer so they can consider and give you the same sort of flexibility.”

While Tilly is clear about the challenges involved, she is also positive about her SQE experience. “I love studying, for me it’s not a chore so I really enjoyed the course as a whole,” she enthuses. I am curious to know what the highlights of the course were for her. “Criminal law is what I do on a day-to-day basis, so I particularly enjoyed that topic,” she responds. She goes on to tell me, “Interestingly, though, criminal isn’t where I scored the highest – I scored higher in property and dispute resolution which are not my areas of interest at all!”

This may be encouraging news for SQE students who worry about their lack of work experience. As Tilly puts it: “Just because you may not have the experience, it doesn’t mean you’ll be disadvantage.” She explains that her own legal experience hasn’t necessarily given her a head start on the legal knowledge that she needed for the SQE, although it has been useful for SQE2’s skills-based assessments. “Skills-wise, the fact that I’ve worked in a law firm for five years does put me ahead because I am practising drafting, legal writing and client interviews every day,” she says.

Tilly found that the provided course materials set her up well for the exams. “I would read all the materials The College of Legal Practice provided, all the information you need to know is in those materials – I didn’t need to look at anything additional because it was very detailed,” she assures me. “The practice MCQs that they provide are really good as well.” She is also full of praise for her tutors who “couldn’t have been more helpful.” She explains, “Tax was an area I struggled with initially but whenever I had questions I could just email my tutors and they would respond promptly – I’ve never had a query they couldn’t resolve.”

In the run up to her exams, practising mock MCQs was the backbone of Tilly’s revision strategy. “When preparing for SQE1, every practice question available to me I did,” she reveals. “I used a bank of questions that The College of Legal Practice recommended to me, I also used the mock questions on the SRA’s website – anything I could find!”

As we wrap up our discussion, I ask Tilly for any advice that she would give to those embarking on a similar journey to qualification. “Stay driven and be resilient. Keep the end goal always in sight” is her response. “If you want to qualify, you will, but it isn’t an easy journey. Think of it as short-term sacrifice for long-term satisfaction.

Tilly Twite will be on the panel at ‘SQE Success: Your route to qualification — with The College of Legal Practice and Reed Smith’, a virtual student event taking place Tuesday 29 July. Apply now to attend.

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BPP LLM student Maria Shakir discusses the highs and lows of her SQE experience as well as her key revision strategies and top tips for success

Since its introduction in 2021, the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) has been a source of dread for future solicitors around the country. To find out what these exams are really like (and get some top tips for passing them) I sat down with recent SQE candidate Maria Shakir, ahead of her appearance at Legal Cheek’s virtual student event, ‘Which SQE subjects do candidates find the hardest? — with BPP’, taking place tomorrow.

Originally from Austria, Shakir moved over to the UK four years ago to study her LLB at the University of Westminster. Having graduated with first class honours, she took the next step on her qualification journey by enrolling on BPP’s flagship SQE Master’s, the LLM SQE 1&2. She flew through SQE1 in January, passing first time, then went on to sit her SQE2 in May and is currently waiting for her results.

Reflecting on her success in SQE1, an assessment known for its low pass rates which have ranged between 48% and 60% for first-sitters, Shakir mentions some of the key revision strategies that worked for her. “I think it’s very important to start early on,” Shakir tells me. This means engaging with the course from the beginning, rather than cramming close to the exam dates: “I went to all my workshops at BPP and did the set preparation in advance,” she says.

Around one and a half months before she sat SQE1, Shakir committed to a period of intense focus, explaining, “I locked in completely and I focused on studying.” As her SQE1 date drew closer, completing timed practice multiple choice questions (MCQs) was a central part of Shakir’s preparation strategy. “In the two weeks before the exams, I did at least one practice exam a day,” she tells me. “I sat, without my phone or any distractions, and timed myself – I challenged myself to finish every question in around a minute instead of the two minutes that you have in the exam”. Getting used to these questions is vital for passing SQE1, Shakir tells me: “I understood most of the content already,” she says, “so what I needed to focus on was how the questions work. They have a very specific style so you need to learn how the questions are asked and how you get to the right answer.”

Shakir also emphasises the importance of looking after yourself, even when adhering to a challenging revision schedule. “It was very important to me that I slept my eight hours every night,” she says. “You can study all day but you won’t be able to retain any information if you’re running on a lack of sleep.” She also kept her morale up by finding interesting and attractive places to revise. “I tried to study in libraries that I found beautiful,” she tells me. “Not many students know this but if you’re studying the SQE, you can use the Law Society Library. It’s not that big but it’s normally empty – that was one of my favourite study spots.” She also recommends finding nice cafes to have a coffee in and making time for walks – “You still have to enjoy your life while you’re revising,” she laughs.

I ask Shakir how she found delving back into some of the underlying law topics from her LLB. “During the SQE prep course we only study the extra modules that aren’t covered in the undergrad, like criminal practice, dispute resolution and so on,” she explains. “So, I had to go back and revise tort law, contract law, public law and EU law – thankfully BPP has textbooks for these areas so I didn’t have to go back to my notes from undergrad!” she says. Although initially daunted by the breadth of SQE content, Shakir found that the underlying law topics came back to her relatively easily: “When you look back at these topics you do remember them – it’s a refresher,” she says. She also offers some advice to current law undergraduate students: “Learn your course content properly, don’t just cram it to pass your first-year exams, really learn it – otherwise you’ll have to do it all over again on the SQE!”

As Legal Cheek’s upcoming event with BPP will focus on the parts of the SQE that students tend to struggle with, I am curious to know which elements of the exam Shakir found most challenging. “My biggest challenge was with SQE2,” she responds. “I don’t have any legal work experience so I had no experience with drafting documents or with the oral skills.” As SQE2 heavily focuses on practical skills which were new to her, Shakir found it difficult to gauge whether she was ready for the exam. “We had practice sessions with BPP to develop these skills during the four weeks of teaching for SQE2 – you really have to take advantage of this,” she advises fellow law students.

On the support she has received from BPP during her studies, Shakir is full of praise for her tutors who she found “very approachable” – “any questions we have, we can always email them or speak to them before or after lessons which has been so useful.” Shakir also mentions how much she has appreciated the personal feedback which her tutors have provided on her tasks. This supportive environment was key for Shakir when she was choosing an SQE provider, “I spoke to staff and students from BPP and thought it would be a great fit for me – I liked the way they structure the course and the support they provide.”

With the SQE 1 and 2 behind her, Shakir is now undertaking BPP’s Essentials for Practice Master’s term, for which students choose to focus their further learning on one of three practice steams: general practice, commercial or corporate. Shakir has opted for the corporate pathway and is taking modules in debt finance, private acquisitions and commercial issues in corporate transactions. “I always wanted to go into corporate law,” she explains “It’s so varied and you get exposure to many different kinds of legal work, so when I had the option to study this area at BPP, of course I chose it!”

Maria Shakir will be on the panel at TOMORROW’s virtual student event, ‘Which SQE subjects do candidates find the hardest? — with BPP’. Register to attend.

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