How did you find your way to your current role?
I wanted to be a psychologist when I was in my final year of high school and had always planned on pursuing psychology as a career. When it came time to finalise my preferences for university courses my favourite teacher at school suggested that I should study law so I changed my preferences at the last minute. I was aware of Arnold Bloch Leibler (ABL) when I was at university through careers events and from friends who had worked at the firm. Towards the end of my degree I completed a month-long seasonal clerkship in the banking and finance team at ABL and I’ve been in the team ever since.
How did you choose your specialisation?
Three main factors influenced my decision to specialise in banking and finance: my brother-in-law is a banking and finance lawyer and I’ve always looked up to him; I didn’t study commerce at university so I thought banking and finance would help me cover a gap in my knowledge; and one of the ABL partners that interviewed me for a seasonal clerkship position was in banking and finance and he was someone that I wanted to work with. ABL is unique in that you have the opportunity to specialise in a particular practice area from day one and you’re not required to rotate through other practice areas. This was important to me as I’ve been able to fast-track my development and consolidate in my chosen area of banking and finance.
What does your role involve?
When I first started as a graduate, my work involved a mixture of project management and drafting loan and mortgage documents under the supervision of senior lawyers. I didn’t come into the role with a finance or commerce background so my first few months were also spent learning how a typical finance transaction unfolds and what the key concerns are when acting for a borrower or a lender. Before long I was responsible for running phone calls with clients and other lawyers and negotiating and drafting the key finance documents in a broad range of transactions. My role has changed a lot over time and I am increasingly responsible for training the junior lawyers and new graduates in my team, which I really enjoy.
What do you love most about your job?
The thing I love most about my job is the people that I work with. I have been lucky to learn from senior lawyers who are experts in their field and who have accelerated my development as a banking and finance lawyer. Our team works closely together and there is always someone who has a patient answer to my many questions. Even beyond my own team, some of the people I’ve met at ABL have become my closest friends.
3 pieces of advice for yourself when you were a student...