Banking and finance is a global industry involving major transactions and disputes covering multi-jurisdictional issues. Increasing internationalisation and a wide variety of financial products mean that modern banking law practice is becoming ever more complex. One result of this complexity, and the recent financial downturn, is that the need for adequate protection of both sides is increasing. Disputes continue to involve insolvency proceedings and the enforcement of rights under financing agreements, as well as criminal prosecutions and Department of Trade and Industry inquiries.

Aymen Mahmoud was drawn to law more as an intellectual discipline rather than through any particular vocational calling. He had studied law at A-level and done work experience prior to his degree, but it wasn't until midway through his time at university that his ideas about where his legal career might take him began to crystallise.

In first year, his inclinations tended towards the Bar - something he puts down partly to the focus on human rights and social justice that prevails in the student environment. However, a couple of mini-pupillages persuaded Aymen that his future might lie elsewhere. "I'm not sure I would describe it as losing that idealism; more gaining realism," he says. "It's about having more of an understanding of what the two strands of the profession do and which one your personality fits into. I couldn't really see myself doing something like family or criminal law, because I didn't want a job that would be hard to emotionally detach from. My parents are both doctors and I know that it can sometimes be hard not to let your work encroach into your private life."

Around the beginning of his second year, he made the decision to concentrate on more commercial areas of law. He researched a number of practice areas and potential future employers, looking for a top-level firm where he would be pushed to perform at his best: "I wanted a firm that was really going out there and trying to kill it," he recalls.

Upon landing a training contract at White & Case, Aymen was immediately alive to the differences between the rarefied study of law and its application at the coalface. "Hard work in the City has a completely different meaning to hard work at university," he explains. "And no one prepares you for the fact that you can't readily translate the things you read in legal journals and texts into reality. You are faced with a separate skill set you have to learn - the practical application of the law in the context of complex client requirements - and that is the main challenge."

During his training contract, Aymen served a six-month stint in New York at the height of the credit crunch - a twist of fate that lent an extra piquancy to his finance seat. Banking and finance soon became one of his preferred areas, but he was still cautious when considering which department to qualify into: "You have to make a judgement based on a number of variables. Can you go and do other things with your experience? What is the reputation of your firm in that area? If you started off wanting to be the best, are you at a firm that might not be in the top couple of tiers in that area? It's about matching your hopes, expectations and ambitions."

Having settled on banking and finance, and now at Latham & Watkins, Aymen continues to relish this area of law - not least because of the challenges it presents. "At a law firm like this, you are advising the top banks and borrowers in the market on pretty much all of their financing needs," he says. "The level of complexity is high and clients' expectations are significant - and rightly so. But what I really enjoy about this practice area is the combination of developing cutting-edge legal skills and delivering complex legal solutions in a short period of time."

To underline his point, Aymen points to some of the deals he has been involved in during his relatively short career. While still at White & Case as a newly qualified solicitor, he worked on the biggest pre-packed administration in UK history. After moving to Latham & Watkins, he went on secondment to Goldman Sachs for six months, working in leveraged finance - which he describes as "brilliant, while challenging". Having returned to Lathams, he is now involved in the biggest leveraged buy-out since the credit crunch, as well as several of the top financings in the market.

The recent turmoil in the financial sector means that this is one of the more interesting and varied practice areas around at the moment, he suggests: "It's a constantly changing sector. You have to be aware that there was a big banking crisis and there still haven't been any concrete decisions about how to regulate financial institutions. Another key factor is what will happen with the so-called ‘wall of maturity'. There are problems with market liquidity, so as the investment window of funds and collateralised loan obligations expires; and as loans mature and need to be paid back over the next few years, it will definitely be interesting to see how many of those loans need to be restructured or can just be paid back."

While the natural assumption might be that banking and finance involves working with figures and thus demands a mathematical mind set, Aymen insists that this is not the case: "We're not doing any complicated calculations or anything like that, so there's no need to be good at maths. Of course, having a skill in your armoury that the people you are working with have is always pretty useful, but it's not essential."

What you do need, however, is an interest in what you are doing, self-motivation and the ability to work well as part of a team. Aymen acknowledges that these skills apply equally to many practice areas in the legal profession, but he also suggests that in banking and finance it is particularly crucial to balance legal skills with business sense. "You don't want to get stuck in first-principle arguments about things that are obviously done for commercial reasons, while your clients are under time pressure to get a deal done," he says.

It's also important to demonstrate this commercial awareness from an early stage in your career if you think banking and finance could be the area for you. "There's a good chance in the future that your clients will include the big banks," suggests Aymen. "So you could show your interest in a training contract interview by having some idea of what the markets are doing. This doesn't mean you need to analyse spreads in commodity prices - just pay some attention to the corporate world."

He also stresses that while good grades are important, you shouldn't over-focus on the academe. "You should have a good grasp of your subject," he says, "but I think students have a tendency now to get very competitive when it comes to academics and I don't think that is necessarily the way to go. It's one thing to become a know-it-all about esoteric points of law, but it is far more important to understand just how legal principle actually underpins and applies to the things that happen in the real world."