Arbitration falls under the broad umbrella of dispute resolution and offers a means for parties to resolve their commercial disputes in a private forum. In practice, arbitration can offer an alternative to drawn-out litigious battles in the domestic courts. Perceived advantages over traditional litigation include privacy, speed and, on occasion, a level of informality which can allow, for example, the parties to avoid the expense of a detailed disclosure exercise.

Sarah Walker is a partner in the dispute resolution team at international law firm Bird & Bird. With the long-term goal in mind of a career in law, Sarah embarked on an Italian and politics degree at University College Swansea, followed by two years in Italy. "My careers adviser at school said I should do law, but I was interested in politics and I wanted to do a language because I thought I'd find it useful." Sarah's route into the profession via a politics degree is a common one, and combining her subject with a less-commonly studied language meant that she had a more diverse skill set to offer future employers.

After her conversion course, Sarah began training at legacy law firm Middleton Potts (now merged with Hill Dickinson), where she was able to put her Italian to good use. "The firm was primarily a shipping and commodities practice, but had a massive Italian client base. That was the attraction for me because I was looking to use my language and they liked to have Italian speaking trainees."

While Sarah was lucky enough to be exposed to good-quality work for prominent clients early on in her training, she values the broader perspective she now has as a partner. "You do much more of the day-today work as a trainee or assistant solicitor, sometimes enjoying less of a helicopter view over the case as a whole. I always try to make our trainees a part of what we're doing - and not just in one aspect - so they do get to see the whole picture. As a partner or a senior fee earner, you can view the case holistically, but as a trainee you can often find yourself working in a vacuum."

Juggling a variety of tasks is a big part of Sarah's day-to-day job. "I manage a large caseload, a considerable part of which involves the supervision of other fee earners. I also handle the overall strategy on a lot of cases, assist in departmental management and sit on the Bird & Bird trainee recruitment committee. It's a real mix of things, but I always get a lot of client contact. Everyone here has a direct dial so our clients can easily reach us. We have a trial coming up in a couple of weeks so I've had a lot of conversations with the client about that today, and I've had members of the team in and out of my office all day with questions on various other cases we are working on."

The economic downturn has had a direct impact on Sarah's activities, significantly increasing the volume of court work she does. "Before the recession, parties would try to trade out of a dispute so we were used to doing a lot of pre-action risk management and advisory work, but we now find ourselves in court on a fairly daily basis."

There's been an upturn in "sexy" fraud work too, which Sarah relishes. "You're not a litigator if you don't like the thrill of the injunction - that's what we all live for, if we're honest. Everybody likes the fight and the urgency that an injunction brings. I find fraud work fascinating. To see what drives a fraudster and the patterns of the fraud - it's a real study in human nature. We're seeing a lot more at the moment and the perceived wisdom seems to be that yet more will flow."

Sarah does notice the effect of her career on family life. She has to balance a relatively demanding job with two small children, but insists that it is still "very manageable". However, with such a challenging career comes inevitable sacrifice: "There are times - perhaps in the junior parts of your career - when non-lawyer friends stop understanding when you cancel on them. You need to have very loyal friends."

Dispute resolution particularly appeals to strategists, which is partly what attracted Sarah to the field. "I like the practical side to the work - finding a commercial solution to a problem. Winning in court is fun, but most cases don't get to court. It's about getting your client out of the situation, protecting them and ensuring they emerge with a wellmanaged costs budget and maximum return. There are a lot of tactics involved in trying to achieve the best result for our clients."

To be a good dispute resolution lawyer, a certain skill set is required. Sarah explains: "As for litigation, you need to be analytical and able to recognise the big picture. It's important to determine the end goal at the outset and always be aware that dispute resolution - in all its many forms - is merely a means to an end, not an end in itself. It's vital that you maximise the commercial angle and recognise what the client wants - however much you enjoy the intellectual challenges of the law."

So what advice does Sarah have for budding dispute resolution lawyers? "You need to be relatively robust and able to keep in mind the end goal. Good litigators are the ones who are always three steps ahead, can see what is coming and drive the matter forward rather than being simply reactive and responding to each letter when it comes. Our clients are sophisticated users of legal services and they come to us to solve their problems effectively and cost-consciously. We must always keep sight of this end goal."