Louise R

Profile:

I am a Senior Associate in the Real Estate team, having trained at OC and qualified in 2017. Before my training contract at OC, I worked in house at both Yahoo! and Disney, and I had trainee seats in the commercial litigation, real estate, commercial, and corporate departments. I am now a commercial property lawyer, doing a mix of asset management, corporate occupier, retail and corporate transaction support work. I am also now a mum, which is by far my most important and hardest role!

I studied Psychology at the University of York, and loved my degree. It was only in my final year after spending many hours on my own in a darkened room doing my dissertation that I decided a research career wasn’t for me, and I started looking at other options. I went on to do my GDL and LPC at the College of Law in Guildford and whilst I was working in house, I secured my training contract at OC.

I was the first person in my family to go into law and had no legal connections. I applied to in house legal teams to gain a greater breadth of experience at a junior level and also because it felt more approachable than applying directly to private practice. Now I’m in private practice I know this is only a perception and does not truly reflect the firm I currently work in, and this is what I want to be a part of changing.

We need to become more diverse as a profession and one of the ways to increase long term diversity is at trainee level. Working with people from different cultural and professional backgrounds is invaluable, not just in the internal working environment, but also to reflect our clients’ businesses and values. I want to see more people enter the profession from different backgrounds and use this to their advantage, and am happy to provide any form of support you’re looking for.

Back To Mentor Profiles