Ask Ashurst

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Introducing our Corporate Partners, Ashurst – a global law firm committed to thinking outside the box and making a difference. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to work in the legal sector? Here 5 Ashurst employees give an insight into their roles and offer advice on nontraditional legal careers – could one of them be for you?

Naomi Jones

- Legal Project Manager, Ashurst Advance

What is your role?

I have been working as a legal project manager for around 18 months and thoroughly enjoy the role.

What do you enjoy about your role?

I really enjoy the variety and the challenges the role offers – no two days are the same and I get to work with a range of different people and clients.

What advice would you give on pursuing this type of role?

I would encourage people not to be put off if you don’t have a legal background – sometimes it can be a benefit as you can bring in different perspectives and experience to the role!

Alexa Crawford

– Senior Operations Manager, Ashurst Advance Reach

What is your role?

Ashurst Advance Reach is the firm’s dedicated flexible legal resourcing platform, part of the Alternative Resourcing offering of Ashurst Advance, enabling us to offer flexible resourcing solutions to our clients and our own legal teams. I joined Reach at its launch phase and so in many ways it has been like launching and running a new business, so my role has developed and changed as the business has grown.

What do you enjoy about your role?

The variety. I speak to many different people every day and I enjoy that. I also get a sense of satisfaction from solving people’s problems and offering them solutions. The best part is when a consultant is really excited about a new role and you have helped create that opportunity for them.

What advice would you give on pursuing this type of role?

You don’t need any formal qualifications to apply for a recruitment role, but you do need to be able to demonstrate that you have people skills, strong communication skills, that you are organised and probably fairly resilient as things don’t always go to plan!

You don’t need any formal qualifications to apply for a recruitment role, but you do need to be able to demonstrate that you have people skills, strong communication skills”

Natasha Hussain

– Legal Project Manager, Ashurst Advance

I would say stay true to yourself.

Discover your strengths and weaknesses by trying things out of your comfort zone.

I am a legal project manager.

What do you enjoy about your role?

I enjoy being a legal project manager because every day is different. The role is very people-focused. I get to work with colleagues at all levels and departments in the firm, as well as high profile clients and be involved with designing and implementing exciting pieces of work. I love organisation and this role is a perfect outlet for that!

What advice would you give on pursuing this type of role?

I would say stay true to yourself. Discover your strengths and weaknesses by trying things out of your comfort zone. It’s not just academic achievements that count. Your personality and attitude matter greatly for this type of role as you will be dealing with people, representing your firm to your clients and finding solutions to difficult situations every day. Use every opportunity to better yourself, even if it is something you do not like doing and you will be amazed how it shapes you. Work on your key soft skills like communication, timekeeping and critical thinking. Take a course in the discipline you are thinking of and network with people in the field. Before long doors will open.

Chantal Schofield

– Knowledge Consultant, Knowledge and Expertise

Helen Murray

– Manager, Risk Assessment & Business Protection

What is your role?

I am a knowledge consultant: I work with expertise lawyers and knowledge teams across the global network to support them in executing their practice area’s legal knowhow strategies.

What do you enjoy about your role?

It is a very unusual role – always very hard to describe to people – but it is a great bridge between worlds, especially that of IT and Legal. I need to understand both sides, looking at what we want to achieve vs. what is actually possible. You work with a variety of people and see the workings of a law firm from a completely different angle to most. I like that it requires a legal understanding and that you work with so many lawyers so closely, but that it is very much within the 9 til 5 working hours of support services and doesn’t get the same client pressures. To me, it provides a great work-life balance. It’s also a great place to learn a lot.

What advice would you give on pursuing this type of role?

Getting involved in a law firm’s Knowledge or Expertise department (sometimes also called Professional Development) simply involves you being open minded – in terms of even looking out for the role to apply for, what you start off doing when you join v. where the route can take you. You need good attention to detail and have strong communication skills, but anyone who wants to do this role can if you lookout for it.

What is your role?

I am a Manager in the Risk Assessment and Business Protection Team in Brisbane, Australia.

What do you enjoy about your role?

Anti-money laundering regulatory compliance is still unchartered territory for many law firms in Australia and so I am incredibly excited to be part of a global team that really is at the forefront of the market and considered by other firms in Australia as the ‘gold standard’ for AML compliance.

What advice would you give on pursuing this type of role?

Absolutely go for it! Every day brings new and interesting challenge; your objective as a compliance professional is to think strategically and creatively to find a solution that supports fee earners in pursuing commercial opportunities, whilst upholding the highest standards of ethics and ensuring contractual and regulatory obligations are met.