Technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) is one of the fastest-developing sectors in the legal market. The continual introduction of new technology pushes legal boundaries and practically begs for the development of precedents. TMT lawyers advise on market developments, regulatory changes, legislation, and commercial and technical issues. Outsourcing continues to be a particularly hot topic.

Laura Berton is an associate solicitor at medium-sized City firm Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP (FFW). She studied English and French law at the University of Kent: “I really enjoyed it and had brilliant lecturers, including one who even made me like property law!” After a year in Paris as part of her degree (where French-born Laura was complimented on her “quite good” French!), her initial idea of defending “widow and orphan” was replaced by a more commercial motivation – the need to make some money: “Although I initially wanted to do both contentious and non-contentious work, I decided that if I was going to do commercial law, it would be more interesting to work on negotiations and deals, rather than just problems.”

After a year of travelling and then the LPC at The College of Law in Guildford, Laura did her training contract at niche media firm, the Simkins Partnership. Part of her role involved watching reality TV and going to screenings – nice work if you can get it! On qualification, Laura worked in-house at a software company, after which it was off to FFW, where she’s been now for just over a year.

As part of the firm’s technology group, Laura enjoys the variety and commercial focus of her work: “A typical day would be drafting, reviewing and analysing IT-related agreements, such as website terms of use, privacy policies and software licences. I also give advice on data protection, e-commerce and new media issues. We also work a lot at an international level, dealing with our European offices and other firms in China, the Middle East and the United States, and some very high-profile UK government projects.” True to its high-tech reputation, FFW is involved with virtual world Second Life. Laura explains: “It is a parallel, online life. We were the first serious law firm to open offices there, which is exciting. Part of my job is for my avatar to be online and talk to clients in our virtual offices. It’s a great marketing and recruitment tool.”

The opportunity to go on secondment is one that FFW is keen to promote, which meant that Laura found herself in Saudi Arabia practising her Arabic: “FFW has a great range of clients – telecom, media, government – so there are some really interesting secondment opportunities. I had a great seven months running the legal department of a Saudi aviation company; everyone else was male and twice my age, which was a challenge! But what’s nice on secondments is that you have the security of the firm’s support, but you’re exposed to issues from the client’s point of view having to offer them real-time solutions.”

Laura considers the best and worst aspects of the job as two sides of the same coin: “Having chargeable hours means the figures speak for themselves – there’s no-one looking over your shoulder. On the other hand, you have to work intensely all the time you are in the office. On those days when you’re tired or not in the mood for work, you can’t take things easy. You cannot charge clients for work you haven’t done!” We suppose that curbs the time spent on Facebook somewhat.

Laura explains the sort of skills that are useful in TMT: “As in most practice areas, you have to be very commercially oriented as well as having a full range of legal skills. However, specific to IT, I think that clients need an extra level of support and guidance because the industry has developed so quickly. Clients don’t always know what they should be asking for, so it’s your job to understand what they need. A lot of smaller businesses are really enthusiastic and doing fantastic jobs, but you have to be commercially minded – it’s no good just giving them a legal memo!”

In terms of securing a training contract, Laura suggests that “work experience is always good because you get to see what people actually do”, but good grades are essential: “You won’t be recruited because of them, but they will stop you from being eliminated from the process. Paralegal experience is also useful for making contacts and trying your hand at drafting. But at the end of the day, it’s about creating the magic on paper that gets people interested.” She also has a warning about what not to do: “I was once showing around some prospective trainees, all of whom had brilliant CVs. I was talking to one of the guys, who ended up insulting me! So I’d suggest being confident but not arrogant.”

Finally, Laura has some sage advice on knuckling down while at university: “Doing the work when you’re younger means you get the freedom to do what you want when you’re older. And law is good training in being highly efficient, detailed and extremely client oriented, which are great skills and training for any job.”