Dan read ancient and modern history at Brasnose College Oxford and got a first.
By the time I'd finished my GCSEs I'd already done four lots of work experience - two sessions in barristers' chambers and two with firms of solicitors. So I was fairly sure that law was for me. But when it came to choosing my degree someone told me that studying law and practising it were very different. Wise advice I thought, and opted for history which I knew I would enjoy.
In my third year I was still keen on
doing law
But it seemed as if everyone doing history in the year above me
had opted for law. This put me off. Did history graduates choose to
become lawyers because they couldn't think of anything else? So
almost in a panic I decided to do an internship at one of the big
accounting firms. That turned out to be a good decision because by
the end of it I knew definitely that I wanted to be a lawyer.
By that time I had missed the usual
recruiting time-slots
So my first application was to a magic circle firm that was happy
to receive applications throughout the year and only required a CV
and a covering letter.
By that time my CV was quite good - lots of work experience and lots of extra-curricular stuff - so I sent it off. They were very nice (I seem to remember that we talked about football) and offered me a contract. It was almost too easy.
Then the same friend who had told me that studying and practising law were very different told me to take a look at Freshfields. So I did.
Freshfields was very
different
This was a real interview. I did the written exercise and then had
an interview in which we discussed an article they'd asked me to
read. I remember it was all about the Vietnamese textile industry.
Then I had another interview about me.
All in all it was far more challenging
and I liked that
I wasn't sure that I wanted to be offered a contract on the basis
of my CV and whether I was 'the right sort'. I wanted to earn it.
So when the offer came through from Freshfields it was an immediate
'yes'.
I did the GDL at Oxford Brookes and then
the LPC in London
After university it was a breeze. If you do the work you can't go
wrong.
My first seat was in dispute
resolution
I did three months in the financial institutions disputes group.
Fantastic. A big insurer had been all over the press for having
lost a great deal of customer data. The FSA was on its case. Part
of our job was to review their processes and find out how things
had gone wrong. This involved taking witness statements. And it
just so happened that their offices were in South Africa - so off I
went.
My next seat was three months in the
commercial disputes group
Once again the case had been on the front pages of the FT. This
was a tax dispute with HMRC. We involved expert advice from a
number of economists and my job was to go through the expert
evidence looking for factual things that could help us build a good
case for our client. Intense but interesting.
Then I asked to do a three-month seat
with a client
I chose a high street bank that was handling hundreds of claims
for compensation following an OFT investigation into bank charges.
That was terrific. The job involved my going to lots of County
Court hearings.
Then I did another three-month seat in
corporate
This time it was with the financial institutions group. The
clients are big banks and insurers and hedge funds. The work was
mainly M&A deals by banks. There was a certain amount of
organising documents, bundling them and getting them ready for the
client to sign. But I also had to write a due diligence report on a
company that a client was buying. Cost control was important, so
this meant concentrating on things that could be material to the
purchase.
Now I'm in restructuring and insolvency
doing another three-month seat
(These three-month seats are really good; it means you can cover
far more ground in two years.)
The only advice I'd give to anyone
considering a career as a commercial lawyer...
Don't sell yourself short. If you think you're good enough for a
magic circle firm, go for it. Yes, it's hard work. Yes, the hours
are long. But no one's saying that you have to stay for 15 years.
And the training can't be bettered.
