University: University of Limerick
Degree: Law and sociology (LLB)
Year of qualification: 2021
Position: Associate
Department: Energy and infrastructure
Pronouns: He/him/his

What attracted you to a career in law?

I decided to study law because it’s regarded as a respectable degree and would provide a good foundation for whatever I’d move on to after my undergraduate.

At the time, I wasn’t thinking about a career in legal services. However, a work placement with a small firm in Limerick city inspired me to pursue a career as a solicitor.

During my placement, I assisted with conveyancing, personal injury and debt recovery matters. I enjoyed the relationship management and client service aspect, and the intellectual challenge of understanding issues and advising clients on next steps. I was also lucky to join the firm when it was expanding and trying to win new clients and work, which meant I could get involved in business development activities and see how (surprisingly) entrepreneurial the career can be.

After my placement, I researched my options. I knew that I wanted to pursue this career but on a global stage, working on complex and international matters, so I pursued a training contract in London.

How much work experience had you had? Why is it so important?

By the time I applied for training contracts, I had substantial legal and non-legal work experience.

Prior work experience (whether legal or non-legal) is crucial, both for the application process and the career itself. Throughout the application process, I referred anecdotally to my work experience and used real-life practical examples, which strengthened my responses during interviews.

More importantly, prior work or volunteering experience in a team or office environment, where you learn to interact with colleagues at different levels and develop workplace 'common sense', helps with adjusting to trainee life.

However, this work doesn’t need to be in a legal services environment – for example, I spent a summer as a bar manager in the US when I was a student. I managed a team, was responsible for inventories and coordinated projects of various sizes (all while making cocktails for some quite famous people). This job was as much part of my training contract application as my legal work experience (and is slightly more fun to talk about!).

What do you think made your application successful?

I wanted to train at a firm that:

• is forward-looking, with a focus on key sectors such as technology and renewable energy and one that embraces technology and innovation;
• offers responsibility by working in more lean teams but without sacrificing the quality of international work; and 
• has a commitment (locally and internationally) to pro bono.

From my research, I knew that I was well suited to Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe (UK) LLP. I tried to keep my application simple, while clearly and methodically matching up my experience, values and ambitions to those of the firm to explain why I was a good fit.

Which departments did you train in?

At Orrick, the training contract consists of six four-month seats. This gives trainees the opportunity to gain a range of practice group experience and work with a variety of clients.

I completed seats in antitrust and competition, technology companies group (our venture capital team), banking and finance, international arbitration and two seats in energy and infrastructure.

Other seat options include cyber, privacy and data innovation, employment, and litigation and dispute resolution.

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

My practice includes advising clients on renewable energy projects (mainly onshore and offshore wind, solar, energy-from-waste and green hydrogen) in the UK and internationally, with a focus on M&A, joint ventures and project development.

A typical day depends on the nature of the matters I’m involved in. For example, on an M&A transaction, depending on whether we’re advising on the buy-side or sell-side and the stage of the transaction, I’ll be conducting/co-ordinating due diligence, leading on, or assisting, with transaction documents and working with other colleagues, the client and advisers to drive the process.

Whereas, on joint venture matters (particularly early-stage joint ventures), I’d typically have calls with clients to discuss commercial positions, explore structuring points and clarify legal concepts. I’d then reflect the points discussed in the relevant transaction documents and assist the client in negotiating the joint venture documentation as the matter progresses.

I’ll often also be involved in advising on ad hoc matters concerning corporate governance, energy regulation or environmental, social and governance/sustainability-related matters.

Otherwise, I tend to be involved in at least one local (ie, UK based) or international pro bono matter at a time. At Orrick, we have incredible pro bono relationships, which provide great opportunities to get involved in meaningful and impactful work. Locally, I’ve worked on immigration and asylum matters (most recently, advising vulnerable families as part of the Ukraine Scheme), benefits appeal matters (including representing clients at tribunal hearings) and legal aid matters. Internationally, to name a few, I’ve advised a Zambia-based non-governmental organisation on a carbon credits-based finance arrangement to develop its rotational grazing project; and spent much of covid profiling Uganda's covid response measures.

What do you most/least enjoy about your career and why?

Renewable energy is a fast-growing, dynamic and innovative sector that’s crucial to reducing carbon emissions and achieving net-zero targets. Helping our clients pursue complex renewable energy projects (and to 'do good' while doing it, by helping to tackle climate change) is a privilege, and brings a different type of responsibility to my career that I enjoy.

In addition, learning about emerging energy technologies (eg, carbon capture and green hydrogen), working with international clients and fantastic colleagues and with Orrick Labs (our legal tech innovation specialists) on innovation projects with the aim of developing new client-facing solutions, makes this career exciting and rewarding.

If I had to pick a downside, it’d perhaps be the unpredictability of workflow. The nature of projects work means it can ebb and flow, often at short notice.

How involved are you with business development and promoting the firm?

Associates are heavily involved in business development in our team. We regularly assist with pitches, the preparation of client materials and the preparation and publication of know-how and thought leadership pieces or reports – for example, our team publishes an annual Global Offshore Wind Report, which associates have a leading role in preparing and coordinating.

We regularly attend networking events with clients – for example, we host an annual energy and infrastructure reception for all clients and often collaborate with other advisers to host seminars/networking events.

Associates are also encouraged (and trusted) to take the initiative in building direct client relationships with contemporaries from an early stage.

What skills/strengths do you need to be a successful solicitor?

In addition to having strong technical and soft skills, which are a must for any solicitor, I think the following are important skills, strengths and/or behaviours for a successful career:

• Attitude towards/appetite for work. This doesn't mean overloading yourself or doing as much work as is possible each day. For me, it means that you pride yourself on quality work product, seek out new challenges and opportunities when you have capacity and maintain a commitment to learning and curiosity.
• Be a team player and earn the trust of your colleagues and clients.
• Self-confidence and the courage to back yourself (whether asking a question, sharing your opinion or a piece of work, or putting yourself forward for a matter).
• Understanding the commercial drivers behind different issues and positions.
• Being patient and collaborative, especially when it really matters in crunch periods.
• Being open to new ways of working and embracing new technological tools and solutions.
• Keep track of your development. Set yourself goals at the start of the year, make a plan and try to execute it.
• Practising self-care has never been more important in this career. A healthy and productive work schedule should include time for yourself and your interests.

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

My advice for budding solicitors is to do your research on sectors, areas of law and law firms or other legal services environments that you might be interested in. You should also reach out to people in those sectors, firms or other legal services environments to see whether they can share insights about their role or organisation.

Try to secure work experience – legal or non-legal. The skills gained in non-legal jobs or volunteering are incredibly valuable, not only for your own development but also in creating a more diverse workspace with different backgrounds and perspectives.

I’d also encourage aspiring lawyers to keep an open mind during your training contract regarding seat choices, areas for qualification and opportunities. Apply yourself and seek out tasks in every seat. Although you may have a preferred seat or specialism in mind when starting your training contract, the reality is that at that stage you’ve no idea what you’re good at or what you might like. I speak from personal experience – I hadn’t considered energy and infrastructure during my training contract until I was placed in the team, having not actually applied for the seat. The rest is history.

What’s the work/life balance like at your firm? How often do you have late nights/work at weekends?

In busy periods (eg, amid an M&A transaction), days can be quite intense and involve late nights and some weekend work. However, if I’m between projects or waiting for things to ramp up on a particular matter, it’ll naturally be quieter.

There’s no face-time culture in our team. So, unless busy on a project or matter, there’s no expectation to be working late (or at the weekend).

What’s the biggest opportunity you’ve been given since joining the firm?

I’ve been involved in high-profile and complex transactions, advising some of the key players in the renewable energy sector, which is exciting. However, the biggest opportunity for me was leading on the establishment of early-stage joint ventures for offshore wind in emerging markets (including Vietnam, Bulgaria and Estonia) and for green hydrogen in Oman.

What’s your guilty pleasure?

I’m a film fanatic and love film scores. These tend to be the soundtrack to my working day. I even listen to particular film scores when carrying out certain tasks (late night proofreading is hardly thrilling, unless of course accompanied by John Williams or Hans Zimmer).