Studied: MChem Chemistry with Industrial Experience from Edinburgh University / PhD in Organic Chemistry from Durham University
My first seat was in Corporate Energy and Infrastructure, where I worked on infrastructure and power generation projects. The work included developments to a toll road network in Europe and the sale of a new Energy from Waste power station. My tasks were varied and I helped prepare appropriate contracts and documentation, kept checklists of the status of transactions / acted in a project management role, and researched technical areas of law as required. I also helped to prepare internal resources on a wide range of topics, such as the legal aspects of battery energy storage projects. My chemistry degree helped me in this area, as I was used to getting to grips with a new technical area and reviewing literature sources.
My second seat was in Construction law. I worked on both traditional real estate construction matters (large building refurbishments, new urban developments) and engineering projects (such as undersea cables, solar power projects etc.). It was useful to have a STEM background in this seat – whilst the work did not require technical knowledge of engineering, my background knowledge made the subject matter more interesting as I had an appreciation of the bigger picture and context of the legal work. There was definitely a large amount of project management involved throughout my seat, and my background in managing my own chemistry projects / lab work has proved useful in this regard.
