Accepting a Training Contract — A Portfolio Career Approach
Recently I was reminded by a family member of my childhood days when I would unsuccessfully try and scrawl a contract, in the hope that it would be signed and I would be allowed to go on a play date or get an ice cream.
A lot has changed since then and at 20 life has taken me in all sorts of directions.
My decision in early Jan 2023 to accept a training contract at the international law firm Stephenson Harwood came as a slight surprise to many including myself, given my career history in the tech, startup and venture capital worlds. Ultimately, when I received the offer after a successful vacation scheme placement at the end of December, sleepless nights and excessive thinking didn’t change my gut feeling of wanting to accept. 6 months later, my thoughts have evolved somewhat, but my decision remains unchanged.
Below, is a deep dive into the inside of my brain, my thinking behind why I accepted a training contract, whilst being so adamant that city law firms are on the cusp of a technological revolution, and a little tale of my career journey to date.
Let’s set the scene:
It’s Autumn 2021, and I’ve just started my law degree at Queen Mary off the back of an extended summer (due to cancelled A-Level exams), part of which was spent working with the incredible Ash at Dffrnt as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence. I’ve recently started freelancing for Ada Ventures (an early-stage London-based venture capital fund) on social media and content, started rowing, continuing to release The Exploratory Journey podcast episodes and exploring every career option under the sun.
But that’s not the whole story. My entrepreneurial journey started in my early teens when I grew an Instagram page to over 110k followers, and since then I haven’t managed to lose the bug of creating, trying different things and learning.
So as time progressed, I explored other projects from the NextGen VC podcast to setting up Cataclysm Ventures, a LegalTech community, continuing my journey with Ada Ventures as a Venture Scout and diving into the impact venture space at Social Impact Capital, learning from the awesome Peter Bruce-Clark.
When I started the second year of my degree, it seemed like I was going down a totally different path from your traditional law student.
Even though I had spent some of my first year delving a little into the law via insight schemes and open days, I still was unsure as to the direction my career was taking, and from the outside, it definitely didn’t seem like I was about to join a city law firm.
So how and why did I end up accepting a training contract?
Well after applying for a few vacation scheme placements, I secured one at Stephenson Harwood and enjoyed it significantly more than I had expected. Below I’ve outlined some of the reasons which ultimately led me to the decision to accept the training contract offer.
Impact.
After a conversation with Nikita at the end of 2022, I realised what linked my passion projects and career trajectory wasn’t purely tech or startups, but ‘impact’, and my early career decisions had been more in the tech and startup world, as I had found opportunities to create impact there and learn, at such a young age.
Impact is however subjective and comes in all shapes and sizes.
Working in law, however, still allows me to have an impact, albeit in a different form, and my interests in areas like ClimateTech wouldn’t be nullified when joining a firm which has such a big focus on decarbonisation.
Moreover, I would still be able to continue to pursue impactful projects outside of the law, such as those I engage in via my work as a World Economic Forum Global Shaper.
Work on problems that matter.
Most recently I’ve spent the past few months engaging in Entrepreneur First’s Polaris Fellowship (and loving every bit of it!). If anything I’ve learnt from the super smart and driven people I’ve met, it’s how important it is to work on problems that matter. The problems I care most about today be it AI safety, climate change or adapting to the future of work, have huge legal and regulatory elements which will only intensify as these problems continue to grow.
A lot of mentors I’ve spoken to have said, that the best advice they would have for themselves in their early 20s, is to put themselves in situations with high learning curves, and optimise for professional development over all others. Law allows me to do this.
As much as some would like to believe, startups cannot solve huge problems alone, and an interdisciplinary approach to problem-solving, is more critical than ever.
A rotational TC, the ability to get huge amounts of exposure and keep learning would be a great opportunity, and in the long run, would empower me with the potential to a create greater impact via the work I do.
Venture capital … the beast itself.
My first interaction with the VC industry was with Augmentum Fintech via the TeenVC competition, and since then I’ve been hooked. Ironically, I later learned that Stephenson Harwood had acted for the fund on its IPO, so I guess I’ve done a full 360.
However, pigeonholing myself into a full-time role in VC, if one ever even came up straight out of university (European VC jobs are far fewer than many assume), didn’t seem as appealing to me as it did 12 months ago.
VC is glamorised so much! It’s a hard industry to break into, an even harder industry to do well in, and people end up in venture at all different stages in their careers via all sorts of different paths.
Something I also realised was the potential value that a recent 20-something y.o. could bring as a venture investor, is probably more limited than most would like to actually admit, and there is huge value in having operators in venture.
However, more than anything, I realised, one doesn’t have to be a full-time investor to play a role in the venture ecosystem. Venture is a fascinating space which is rapidly evolving and I’ve learned a ton, but it’s also a very opaque one. So I’m by no means saying goodbye to the venture ecosystem, and I’m sure I’ll be doing lots in the space in some shape or form over the next few years, even if it’s not at the core of my main role.
There’s only so much you can witness from the outside.
I’ve been exploring the LegalTech landscape for a few years now, in a variety of different forms, but always from the outside. I’m a big advocate for technology and the role it could potentially play in the transformation of every aspect of legal services.
However, something that’s always been missing has been the opportunity to witness it from the inside. Doing legal work, as a lawyer and seeing where and how tech and innovation can potentially change legal services for the better. Taking up the training contract would allow me to do so.
Think in decades not months.
The other big learning I’ve had from Polaris is to think in decades, not in months. The startup world, especially at the early stages operates on a crazy timeframe like no other (and rightly so). But that also makes it harder to take a step back and think about the bigger picture. Some would say jumping into law would slow my life down a tad bit and only time will tell on that point. However, putting oneself on a different trajectory neither invalidates one’s other experiences nor does it slow down ones learning.
The biggest problems we face, cannot be solved overnight, and putting oneself in the best position to work on the things one cares most about, is sometimes just as important as actually working on the problems themselves.
I, as with many students, like to think in years or even months, and what will come of them. Careers last decades, and in today’s day and age careers aren’t static or set, but rather they evolve drastically. Some even say you’re likely to have five careers in a lifetime.
If anything my perspective on career planning and professional development has shifted for the better, and my decision to enter law seems to further validate my thinking around this.
Accepting a training contract doesn’t stop me from still pursuing other passions and side projects, nor does it restrict me from exploring other industries. Law doesn’t exist in a silo, so in reality, it enables me to delve into countless sectors and learn more about all sorts of issues, whilst also allowing me to continue to develop upon my own ‘portfolio career’, a phenomenon which I’ve been so vocal about.
Making career decisions.
Careers are complex beasts, and not enough people actively understand the importance of active and thorough career planning. In today’s day and age making the right career decisions are just as important as other life decisions and should be afforded just as much thought and consideration.
When making career decisions, a handy pro-con list can always help, and practical concerns are always important to consider, but if I'm optimising for impact and have an incredible opportunity to keep learning, growing, and fulfilling a childhood dream of qualifying as a lawyer, then why not take it.
Once upon a time, society would frown upon such career frivolity, but today varied experiences play a huge role in building unique skill stacks and distinctive perspectives, and I’m sure my experiences will serve me well going into the law.
So I’m excited to see where the future takes me, grateful for the opportunities and experiences I’ve had, and glad I live in a world where it’s possible to have side-projects and passions that are adjacent to one’s full-time gig, be it as a law student or trainee lawyer.
