Nic Bottomley left his finance job at A&O in 2005 after working there for over seven years, in order to set up an independent bookshop in Bath with his wife (who is also an ex-A&O lawyer).  The shop has since won a string of awards including “Independent Book Shop of the Year 2008” (awarded by the British Book Industry).  We spoke to Nic about his decision to do something completely different, how he went about it and how he has...

Helen Hart trained at Allen & Overy before embarking on a couple of in-house roles.  After being made redundant in 2005, she returned to private practice for a few years, before moving to be an editor in the commercial team at Practical Law Company (PLC).  She leaves early two days a week so that she can do the school run, and works from home one day a week.   We spoke to her about her different roles and why her current job sui...

We spoke to Emma Kennedy (of radio, film and TV fame) about her stint as a trainee at Macfarlanes, her 18m of litigation at Stephens Innocent (now Finers Stephens Innocent) and her successful career post-law (including several books and six more in the pipeline over the next three years).  Despite being very involved in writing and performing at university, she went on to train as a solicitor and only picked them up again up sev...

Penny Bullen qualified at Farrer & Co in the 1970’s, where she stayed for two years as an assistant until she had her first child and the family moved overseas.  She returned to law eleven years later where she was able to do a number of part-time roles for a further twelve years.  At 51 she re-trained as a primary school teacher and she spoke to us about what that involved and how she has found the switch. 

mtl: Hi Pen...

Elizabeth Annys has worked in a large City firm, a small City firm, a regional firm on the south coast and has now been in her role as in-house banking solicitor at Coutts in London for the last three and a half years.  We asked her about her moves and why she enjoys her current job so much.  

mtl:  Hi Elizabeth, please can you start from scratch with why you did law? 

Elizabeth:  I actually studied psychology at un...

Rowena Samarasinhe trained at CMS Cameron McKenna and qualified into their IP and Technology group in 2006.  She left last year to follow her interest in sport by working in Geneva on the broadcasting rights for Euro 2008.  She has since moved to be General Counsel of Athletics Management and Services AG in Luzern.  We spoke to her about her job changes and how she finds life in Switzerland compared to working in London....

Ming Kong was called to the Bar in 1997, where she practiced as a criminal defence lawyer before joining the Government Legal Service (GLS) in 2000. Her first GLS posting was as a prosecutor and human rights co-ordinator at the former Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Prosecutions. Since then she has worked at the Attorney General’s Office and is currently in an advisory role at the Department for Business, Enterprise and R...