Lise W

Profile:

I grew up in Dublin and studied Business & Law at UCD. Interested in a legal career, I followed my peers in applying for training contracts at large corporate firms in my final year. Without contacts in the profession I felt underprepared having never heard of “vac schemes” or “open days”. In hindsight, corporate law was not really of interest to me – I was far more intrigued by private client practice areas. After some very tough interviews, feeling disheartened and questioning whether the law was for me at all, I made the move to London and spent nearly five years working for a city management consultancy.

Working for a variety of clients in different sectors gave me a breadth of experience that has been so helpful in a legal setting. Whilst consultancy was not my dream job, it pushed me out of my comfort zone and afforded me time to develop my skills and figure out exactly what I was interested in.

When it came to training contract applications in 2018, I had a much clearer idea of the type of firm I wanted to work for and the type of clients I wanted to work with. This was of huge help in narrowing down a small selection of firms to apply to.

I understand how the legal profession can feel impenetrable at times and I hope that my experience shows that getting a training contract straight after university is not the only route. I would be happy to discuss taking a non-conventional route to a training contract and how to showcase transferable skills you might have picked up in other roles.

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