Life after Leeds Law School

My proudest achievement to date would have to be being accepted on a Scholarship Scheme to work at the magic circle law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus. Working amongst trainee solicitors in a top 5 law firm in the country albeit overwhelming, was still extraordinary. I was having conversations with not only people who had been in a similar position as me during university, but also senior partners who had been involved in law for over 30 years. My time there left such a big impact that they invited me to shadow a trainee solicitor and gave me a mentor during my time at university.

After graduating from Leeds Beckett with an LLB honours degree I found myself in a weird situation. I did not take into consideration life after graduating to the extent I should have. I had a multitude of ideas of doing voluntary work abroad or applying for paralegal roles. As conflicted as I was, in the meantime I transitioned from a part-time to full-time role at a call centre whilst staying in Leeds and earning good money at the time. 

I was in a comfortable position of working 8-5 Monday to Friday with a team of graduates similar to me and living by myself. Although it felt like a fraction of independence, it was not where I pictured myself. I moved on to work for a sales company which in theory was perfect for me because it matched my past work experience. However, I did not enjoy the job and decided to leave. I called a previous manager and was given a contract and again, found myself in a comfortable state working at an establishment where I wasn’t utilising having a degree. I started to self-doubt myself.

During all this I was emailing the Dean of Law School, Deveral Capps, who was keeping me grounded throughout all this time. My relationship started with the Dean after he congratulated me in getting accepted for the Freshfields Stephen Lawrence Scholarship Scheme. It was weird because although I really do see myself as a confident individual, it was Dev who kept on reassuring me that I was young and still had time to decide what I wanted to do in life. 

Dev gave me options to study in London and improve my grade in law and connected me with some people in Nottingham who I could contact to improve my work experience. What I decided to do, with his assistance, is apply for a masters in international Relations, which worked hand in hand with my law degree and A-Level results. 

Since January, I have thoroughly enjoyed my masters degree. I have taken this opportunity to get more involved in university and prepare for life after I graduate. With it being International Relations, a lot of commercial affairs have been mentioned in the module, and topics that relate to Covid-19 and Racial Oppression being embedded within in Capitalism. 

Being a part of the university again, I have also started a YouTube Channel where I ask controversial questions involving different perspectives from different universities. This has been very successful across my peers and Nando’s have even partnered with us, allowing us to give free food to all the people we have travelled to. I am now applying for Data Analysts grad schemes for 2021 as my course ends in January, and I am excited about what the future brings.