My Journey In Law - An Unconventional Journey Into the Unknown

From my sciences background, to Head of Legal, my blog below maps out my legal journey. The blog I have written below was written for, and first published by, BPP Law School’s Student Life magazine - https://lnkd.in/dKT9YFxz (page 46).

HOW IT STARTED

“Join the Army”. “You won’t get the grades you need for Uni”. “What’s Forensic Science”. “Where’s Lincoln?”.

These are all genuine remarks made from people I knew: teachers, careers advisors, and friends.

I didn’t join the Army. I did get the grades I needed for university. I think there were only a handful of universities offering Forensic Science courses in 2004, compared to over 400 courses across 57 universities in the UK today. For those still wondering, Lincoln is in Lincolnshire! I graduated in 2007 (with a 2.2.).

After I graduated, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I enjoyed crime scene investigation, but I wasn’t ready for a life in the labs. I had options, but no real guidance. I was interested in studying a masters course in Aircraft Accident Investigation at Cranfield University; I received a job offer to work for a sports doping laboratory in Cambridgeshire; and another offer to work as a DNA Liaison Officer for the British Transport Police in London.

At the same time, while online, I kept seeing pop-up adverts for the law conversion course, and I was lured into the prospect of becoming a solicitor, by the fancy websites of Linklaters, A&O, and Freshfields. Put on a suit, get paid city money. How hard could it be, I thought to myself (I can’t even blame ‘Suits’, because this was years before Mike and Harvey were brought into our lives!). So, I applied for the GDL at BPP in Leeds, and embarked on the “lawllercoaster” of a lifetime.

Law school was tough! It was a steep learning curve. I’d completed the first term and wasn’t sure what area of law suited me, or if I even wanted to continue studying law. It was a lot of reading, and writing (and no titration calculations). What had I done?! I’d gone from studying cadavers to studying Lord Denning. From doing a dissertation on lie detector tests, to weekly dissertation-length analyses on Donoghue -v- Stevenson. I had taken out a professional development loan to pay for my GDL, so quitting wasn’t an option. NatWest’s interest rates made sure of that. I was interested in criminal law, but was discouraged from working for the CPS (and I didn’t quite fancy the life of a criminal defence lawyer). I didn’t have a training contract, and I wasn’t sure how I’d get one. I applied for multiple internships and work experience, but my first lifeline came in the form of the remarkable BPP Access to Practice Scheme (which I believe was a joint initiative with Addleshaws). This led me to meeting my

mentor and legal trainer, Qamar Ayaz, and ultimately to my training contract. I had a unique opportunity to work alongside Qamar, who left his stable job with DWF, to open his own law firm (Stradbrokes Solicitors), specialising in catastrophic injury.

You could say my training was pretty hands-on; so hands-on in fact that when I was still a paralegal, I got to play advocate in a one day trial, before Recorder Lewis QC, as he was then (Andrew Lewis KC), who granted me rights of audience to represent my client after a blunder with instructing counsel. I was up against two barristers. Granted, it wasn’t a complex case, but I didn’t wake up that morning expecting to represent my client in court and cross-examine four witnesses. The firm funded my LPC, which I studied part-time whilst working full-time. I worked with Qamar for 5 years until I qualified, after which point I wanted to work for a big firm. Qamar and I remain good friends to this day.

QUALIFICATION

I qualified in September 2013 and I moved to Birmingham, to start life as an NQ at DAC Beachcroft, in their niche sports liability team. I learnt a lot, had another great mentor who’s now a partner at DAC, and lots of autonomy. We defended high profile, high value, racing incidents, football incidents, and rugby incidents. I stayed on at DAC for 4 years, but transferred to their Leeds office to be closer to family in 2016. I was like a sponge, just challenging myself to learn from every case I worked on. I also got to work on highly confidential MOD and NHS cases. I didn’t lose one trial (the trick is knowing which cases you’re bound to lose, settle those, then prepare a solid case for the runners).

Then in 2018, I moved over to rival firm, Clyde & Co, and I did a two year stint as a catastrophic injury and large loss associate in their Manchester office. I maintained my 100% trial success rate, the culmination of which was a hotly contested High Court Declaration Proceedings matter, with issues of fraud and voiding an insurance contract. That was my final trial, although I am still involved in litigation

and arbitration but haven’t had a full-blown trial since then.

In 2020, I made the decision to move over to a Claimant catastrophic injury team at Minster Law. I moved into a management position within three months of being at Minster, and this time also coincided with the pandemic. Now, I was managing a new team of around 20 lawyers, in a new role, fully remote; talk about imposter syndrome.

THE RETRAIN

Life was ticking along smoothly. Then in December 2021, my wife got the job offer of a

lifetime that threw our stable lives into an adventure we weren’t particularly looking for at that time.

We moved to Dubai in March 2022. With this came the opportunity for me to build my own practice. I joined a consultancy firm, Mezzle.

In Dubai, the legal market was heavily focused around corporate commercial, and as I was beginning to find out, in the emerging technology sector. I always had an interest in emerging tech, and had been reading textbooks, articles, and attending courses about blockchain and AI law, since 2019.

The AI and blockchain scene was booming in Dubai. Fintechs were being set up at an alarming rate, and investors were throwing money at these shiny new projects. I had a unique opportunity to work with start-up founders from all over the world who were coming to Dubai to make it big, with projects

ranging from electronic payment platforms; e-commerce; on-demand service apps; deal aggregators; trading platforms; crypto exchanges; NFT marketplaces; social media platforms, and so on. I was drafting online policies; SAFTs and SAFEs; funding agreements; and a whole suite of software, cloud services, and hardware agreements. I’ve seen smart contracts coded, been involved in NFT projects, cryptocurrency exchanges, and I’ve been at the forefront of developing metaverse projects.

Dubai’s legal scene is quite different from the UK. Lawyers not only move around more frequently, but they freelance as legal consultants. It’s not unusual to come across lawyers who work for a law firm, and they’re also legal counsel on a couple of side projects.

As I was working in the region and building on my experience, I was offered to work as sole in-house legal counsel for a global trade and commodities company. This role saw me involved in cross-border transactional work: dealing with trade deals, sanctions, acquisitions, and learning the process of metal refinery, and mining precious metals in Africa!

From catastrophic injury to dealing

with lithium mines in Namibia, I never would have mapped out this experience. It’s been an

interesting journey, and it feels as though I could publish a book filled with all the incredible anecdotes I’ve collected over the years!

HOW IT’S GOING

I’m currently senior legal counsel working on confidential projects in the AI and blockchain technology sector. My day to day role consists of managing the legal department, drafting and reviewing contracts, preparing legal opinions, dealing with regulatory authorities and licensing requirements, and dealing with disputes.

I’m hoping my journey resonates with some of you, and that it demonstrates that you don’t have to get stuck on a linear track. Not everybody has it figured out. A legal career wasn’t even on my radar until after I had completed my undergraduate degree.

If you have your eyes set on a partnership,

or perhaps you think that you’ll never make Partner, remember that this isn’t the only option available to you. Your career can be more fluid, and you can change specialisms. Don’t get too hung up trying to map out your entire legal career, and don’t worry about what your peers are doing, or where you think you should end up. Enjoy the process of learning, and your unique journey. Most importantly, make sure you’re being the best version of yourself right now in each role, and I promise you, the rest will fall into place.

You can read the original article in the Student Life magazine - https://lnkd.in/dKT9YFxz  (page 46).