Juliana Atere

“Weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning”.Psalms 30:5

These were the words that came to mind when I was sat, on my first day, in the physical comfort of the flat I would call my home for the next few months, yet emotional discomfort of realising this flat was not only above my employer’s office but also came at the cost of leaving home behind.

I had just moved from London as a newly qualified associate to practice corporate law in the Channel Islands. Having left my family, the firm where I had trained and the country in which I was born, this move was possibly one of the most significant achievements of my life and legal career to date.

I grew up in South East London and went to a comprehensive state school with less than 35% GCSE pass rate at the time. Having completed my A-levels, I went on to graduate from the University of Cambridge with a law degree. How I managed to achieve this whilst our family was dealing with the demands of my eldest sister who had been diagnosed with a severe mental illness which often threatened our lives, is only by God’s divine grace and purpose. Yet, after graduating, while all my friends had secured the training contracts needed to launch their careers in their second year of University, I graduated without a job.

A year later, I eventually went on to secure a training contract and gained excellent legal experience along the way at magic circle firms and a global electronics company but after completing my training contract, I was not offered the role I wanted on qualification.

Whilst this should’ve felt like a setback, it launched me into one of the best legal roles I’ve had for my career. While I had the challenge of finding and establishing a new home and dealing with a colleague who some may describe as a bully, by implementing the following principles and leaning on my faith, I built and maintained professional relationships to see me through the immediate obstacles:

be innovative - This led me to pitch a global marketing campaign to the firm’s managing partner to address the needs of the firm following its recent merger;

be proactive - I made the firm where I trained a client of the Channel Islands firm by maintaining contact with old colleagues and letting them know of the services I was able to offer them in the new role;

be positive - have faith and stay resilient - I have had so many reasons to stop pursuing my career. One notable one was when a former colleague attempted to demean my contributions in front of senior colleagues. However, having made the effort to pitch my marketing campaign, one of the senior colleagues in the room spoke up on my behalf to endorse my proposal. Our experiences are quite often there to teach us and launch us to the next level;

be resourceful and seek advice - I had to leave my role in the Channel Islands after my eldest sister became pregnant and my family needed reinforcement in dealing with the family court case of my unborn nephew. Deciding the next steps were critical but I reached out to my University’s career service, as well as our profession’s career service which put me in touch with senior lawyers and recruiters to give advice. As a result, my career dilemma ended up being published in one of our legal publications to help others with similar career questions. I took their advice which led me to the incredible role in which I currently am.

I add value in my present role, as an international business reorganisation lawyer, advising large multinational and listed companies who wish to reorganise their business to reduce and maximise investment in new markets, rationalise their supply chain or take advantage of efficiencies available to them. We help companies integrate acquired businesses, prepare companies for sales and simplify their structure.

How do I seek to advance my career? Being technically brilliant is paramount. Alongside this, I will continue to add value in accordance with my firm’s values.

I am the first person to spearhead a legal initiative across associates at the firm, since my current firm became a multidisciplinary practice. The aim is to develop lawyers through personal, legal and business development workshops throughout the year.

I am on my firm’s Social Mobility Committee to help deliver the national firm-wide strategy on social mobility.

I am a mentor as part of our diversity mentoring scheme which aims to connect young people from underrepresented backgrounds with mentors at my company who can provide insight, guidance and skills necessary to approaching work life.

Finally expanding your network was useful a piece of advice I was given by a lawyer and CEO of a data protection company. This is one of the things I am grateful for and admire about YDWC. I am excited about what is in store for the network this year. If you have any questions about career, faith and/or family, please email the YDWC team to contact me. I’d be happy to help.