Page 34 - Future Leaders 2018-2019

ALUMNI 10TH
ANNIVERSARY
SPOTLIGHT

Law
KEON STEWART

LEGAL EAGLE

Keon appeared in the magazine in 2013. She is now a solicitor in the corporate department
at Fieldfi sher LLP, winners of Law Firm of the Year at the Legal Business Awards 2018.
She works with a range of clients across many industries, providing advice and support
regarding their commercial activities and legal concerns.

fter I graduated from the University of I spent the following year working as a derivatives
Manchester, I took a year out as I was paralegal at Schroders.
A unsure whether I wanted to pursue a The transition from being a student to being
career in law. During my time at university, a trainee solicitor undoubtedly requires a lot
the mid-tier fi rms did not have a huge presence Once you leave of hard work – passing the LPC, securing the
outside of Oxbridge and London, and after university, the training contract, networking etc. Appearing in
swiftly deciding that I was not suited to life in stabilisers are Future Leaders helped to give me the confi dence
the Magic Circle or the high street, I went in off and you have to pursue a legal career as I was able to rest
pursuit of other opportunities to help me fi gure to take the time assured that I was a worthwhile candidate.
out what I wanted to do. to really think However, what usually goes unsaid is the amount
I ended up working for a social enterprise of refl ection you need to do within yourself to
restaurant and swiftly progressed from waitress to about what your make sure that you are continuing along the right
leading the front-of-house team to implementing career looks path. Once you leave university, the stabilisers are
marketing strategies and eventually to gaining like to you – not off and you have to take the time to really think
some legal experience, which helped me to your peers or about what your career looks like to you – not
decide what type of law fi rms I wanted to apply your parents or your peers or your parents or anyone else. People
for. Out of all the experiences I have had, this was anyone else. can be easily swayed by the reputation, size or
by far the most valuable and helped me to stand salary of a fi rm but do not pay as much thought
out against other applicants. So do not discount to the culture of a fi rm, the level of responsibility
non-legal experiences! and sacrifi ces you will need to make or the
After doing this for a year, I studied for my type of work you will be getting involved
LPC (self-funded) and began to seriously in. It is important be clear on this
focus on obtaining a training contract. before you make any training contract
I spent the next nine months attending applications so that you know that
open evenings, presentations and you are going to an organisation that
skills workshops almost weekly to gain is right for you.
knowledge of the legal market, the sectors Completing the training contract
I was interested in and to improve my has not been easy but I have learnt
commercial awareness. All of this hard a lot over the past two years, both
work resulted in three assessment centres, professionally and personally. I am
two vacation schemes and a training happy to be staying on at Fieldfi sher
contract offer from Fieldfi sher. As I had as a newly qualifi ed solicitor as the fi rm
two years before starting the training has provided me with a great platform to
contract, I worked at my law school in enhance my strengths, and the support
the Careers and Pro Bono department for to develop my areas for improvement.
a year, helping other students to obtain The next few years will require even more
training contracts. hard work and focus to establish myself, but
it is satisfying to fi nally ‘live the dream’.