University: Durham University
Degree: Classics
Year of qualification: 2019
Position: Associate
Department: Corporate and capital markets

What attracted you to a career in law?

I was interested in a varied career that developed my problem solving and communication skills. I was also attracted to the idea of working in a team to advise clients from a range of different commercial backgrounds and industries, helping them to achieve their business goals. I was excited about working in an international context, with colleagues and clients from around the world. I’d always had a general interest in business and current affairs, so the world of corporate finance and capital markets was naturally appealing.

What kind of legal or non-legal experience did you have before applying, and how did it help when you were making applications?

I’d worked at a couple of small charities during university holidays, which helped to develop my communication skills and provided me with experience working in a team within an office environment. It also meant that I was more confident at picking up the phone and speaking to different stakeholders – a useful skill for lawyers to have.

On the legal side, I started seriously researching my career options in my final year of university. As part of this, I attended as many insight days and graduate recruitment presentations as I could. These were a great opportunity to speak to trainees and associates at law firms I wanted to apply to, understand more about the job, and learn about the differences between each firm and the work they did. This preparation definitely helped when making my applications.    

What do you think made your application successful?

I tried to put myself into the shoes of the law firm recruiters. I wanted to communicate succinctly that I understood – and more importantly – was excited about the work at the law firms I was applying for. As I was applying from a non-law degree background during my final year of university, I thought carefully about what relevant career and university experience I’d accumulated to date, how it’d benefit my development from a trainee perspective and how I could contribute to transactions.

Please outline your area of expertise. What might you do in a typical day?

I work in the corporate team at Cooley in London, specialising in corporate finance, equity capital markets and public company advisory work. We advise innovative clients in the technology and life sciences sectors on initial public offerings (or ‘IPOs’) and to raise capital on the major US and UK stock markets (i.e., the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq and the London Stock Exchange). We then help them to navigate life as a publicly listed company.

In a typical day, I might guide a listed-company client through its annual general meeting process, review and comment on public stock exchange announcements, draft submissions to UK regulators and advise our US-listed clients on ad hoc UK company law matters (e.g. directors’ duties and share issues). I’ll also join calls with our clients, financial advisers and team Cooley colleagues in London and the US to discuss capital raising opportunities. I try to find time to stay on top of the latest legal and market developments as my practice can be influenced by what’s in the press and updates from regulators like the UK Financial Conduct Authority and the US Securities and Exchange Commission.  

What are the most challenging and rewarding aspects of life as a lawyer?

It’s rewarding to help companies to execute deals, raise money and ultimately grow their businesses or reach scientific breakthroughs, especially when working with great team Cooley colleagues, your clients and their other advisers. The challenging aspect is that our job can sometimes be very full on and involve round-the-clock work – our clients and colleagues expect us to be responsive and help them to get their transactions over the line.

What makes your firm stand out from the rest?

Cooley is focused on supporting our clients at every stage of their growth journey. We have a fantastic emerging companies team, which is brilliant at working with founders and early-stage start-up businesses across the venture capital ecosystem. The firm also has specialist regulatory, advisory, litigation and M&A capability to help these same businesses as they scale up and grow in sophistication and complexity. Finally, we have a top-tier public companies and capital markets practice – we advise on hundreds of public capital markets deals annually and work for leading investment banks and innovative companies. Very few law firms can do all three of those things.

What advice do you have for budding solicitors who are contemplating a career in law?

Think about the skills that the lawyer of tomorrow will need, not the lawyer of today. Legal technology and AI solutions are changing the legal industry at an unprecedented rate so focus on building a skill set that machines find difficult to replicate. I remain hopeful that there will be a place for analytical, creative legal thinking and explaining that to clients in a personal, human way!

What diversity and inclusion initiatives does the firm have in place?

We remain very committed to diversity and inclusion and social justice. We have a number of firmwide affinity groups and also organise London-specific activities, where we welcome external speakers. Recent highlights include a powerful session on trans and non-binary inclusion, and a women’s initiative ‘lunch and learn’ with a senior executive coach. I also recently participated in a school careers afternoon!

Does your department largely work independently, in support of another dept or is it routinely supported by other depts?

Our team regularly works alongside other departments; for example, the tax, compensation and benefits, and life sciences teams are integral to a lot of work we do. We also work as an integrated group alongside US capital markets lawyers in Cooley’s US offices.

What’s been the highlight of the last month at the firm?

Cooley’s 10-year London anniversary celebration was a great event – we invited all our clients and lots of colleagues from the US along for a big party at Sushisamba. It was very special to meet so many familiar faces in one place and to see how much the London office has grown in a relatively short space of time.  

Where is your dream holiday destination?

Malaysia!