Louise Nahon

I was not the usual graduate trainee. At 40, with two children and a 16-year career in engineering behind me, not every firm would consider giving me a training contract, but Pinsent Masons did. I believe that says a great deal about the kind of firm this is. They are prepared to take you at your own value and give you a chance to show what you are capable of.

I was looking for a firm with a strong commercial side which would use some of my past experience, and that’s what I found. I liked the people, I liked their attitude. They were lawyers of course, but they were also business people, commercially minded and down to earth.

Property and Construction were my first two seats and you might think with my background they were ideal, but it was when I hit Dispute Resolution & Litigation, that I knew I had found my niche. It was brilliant. Every day there was something different to do. I had left engineering because I had grown painfully bored, but there was no chance of that happening here. I was given as much responsibility as I could handle and I still have the opportunity to get involved in engineering-related disputes, so am able to use my technical knowledge. Branching out, more recently I have started developing an interest in environmental issues.

Once you qualify there is a big step change but the support is still there. I’ve probably got at least 20 files ongoing with four major jobs active at any one time.

One of the most challenging has been a multi-million pound dispute involving a guy who was prosecuted for demolishing a building containing asbestos in a dangerous manner. This has given me my first day in court, all be it with good support, and a chance to brief counsel for a subsequent Crown Court hearing.

I am also working on a dispute over faulty products with a Middle-Eastern company. This has added an interesting international dimension to my work, not to mention a trip to Cyprus.

As a newly qualified solicitor you can expect to work on a great range of cases and for me it’s often the smaller jobs that offer the best learning opportunity because they give you the kind of responsibility and challenge I wouldn’t normally expect to have so early on. On some recent jobs I have actually been able to take the lead.

Promotion isn’t something I really worry about as I am progressing all the time. In the last few months I have also been really encouraged to contribute in new areas, such as pitches for new business and writing articles for newspapers and internal publications. There always are new challenges to stretch me and I can really see how my career will continue to move forward.