Jen went to the University of Toronto and got a first in politics and linguistics. Then she went to Oxford and gained an MSc in social policy.
My family lives in South Korea and I went to boarding school in Ontario. I then went to the University of Toronto and majored in politics and linguistics. After that I thought about going to law school (in Canada you can't do law as an undergraduate degree). But I'd always wanted to come to the UK, so the option of doing an MSc at Oxford was a great way to escape.
I then spent a year in Brussels working
for the European Commission
My job was in the Health Directorate advising on tobacco-free
environments and other health-related policy. I worked with a
Belgian lawyer who was very impressive and that confirmed that the
law was for me.
I applied to a handful of big London law
firms
I attended one firm's assessment day. It was very structured but
you were herded around by HR like cattle and talked at rather than
with. Definitely not for me. In contrast, the interview with
Freshfields was simple. It was one-to-one and I felt they were
interested in me. I accepted and forgot about the rest.
The two years doing the GDL and the LPC
flew by
One of the subjects I studied at university was rhetoric and the
art of persuasion. So for me the areas of law that I find
interesting are the ones where it's about the different nuances of
words. I remember early on being really impressed by a partner at
Freshfields. He was going through a draft witness statement and
considering the significance of each and every word.
I spent the first six months in dispute
resolution
I did three months in engineering, procurement and construction.
For much of the time I worked with an associate on a litigation
case involving Wembley Stadium. Then I did another three months in
arbitration. It was great. Very academic, with lots of research
into points of law.
Next came three months in energy and
infrastructure finance
This was the home of the partner who came up with the first
private/public finance structure. Impressive. Here I worked on
another high profile case concerning a construction project that
hadn't gone well. I like infrastructure projects because it's
really satisfying when you can point to a physical outcome to your
work.
Then I did three months in antitrust,
competition and trade
This was the most commercial of all the seats with economics and
politics thrown in. Things moved very quickly. There'd be an
article in the press one morning and within hours our strategy
would have changed.
I've just started another three-month
seat
This time it's with the oil and gas team in corporate. We're
reviewing several clients' contracts and third party agreements and
assessing their liabilities in different countries. It's
interesting work, not least because it's a highly regulated
industry.
After this, I'd love to do six months in the Paris office working with their arbitration team. I started in dispute resolution, but doing an arbitration seat in Paris - where they do some public international law cases - would let me see more of what's on offer in DR.
If you're thinking about law as a
career, go ahead, it's great
There are easier ones where the hours are shorter, but they don't
open as many doors. And remember, it doesn't mean you have to be a
lawyer forever. Five to ten years after the GDL and the LPC you can
be who you want to be, where you want to be.
