I am a Counsel in the Energy and Natural Resources Group at law firm Reed Smith.

I advise trading companies, banks and utilities on commodity trading, transactional, and regulatory matters. Most recently, I was seconded to ADNOC, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, to work on the development of its new trading business, and was fortunate enough to be able to be based in the client’s office in the UAE.

I decided to qualify into the field of commodities trading because of the dynamic and fast-paced environment driven almost entirely by geopolitical events, meaning the nature of the work changes on a regular basis. I work the clients based across the global, which brings with it an opportunity to understand each client’s product, project and geographic concerns, making each matter that I work on unique.

I read French and Philosophy at UCL. I then did the law conversion course at the College of Law, graduating with an LLB. I then studied for an LLM, whilst doing my training contract. I was very lucky to have good careers advisors who told me that it was possible to have a career in law without studying law as an undergraduate degree at university, and that I could undertake my law conversion course following the completion of a Bachelor’s degree.

My language skills have been hugely beneficial to my career: I spent part of my training contract in Paris, following which I was seconded to a client in their French-speaking Geneva office. Being a fluent Russian speaker, I am able to work closely with colleagues in Reed Smith’s Nur-Sultan office, and conduct negotiations with clients in Russian.