2025
Tell us about something you are passionate about, and explain how your passion impacts you (or others). (200 words)
I am passionate about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), particularly addressing the challenges faced by aspiring solicitors from ethnic minorities. This passion drives me to create opportunities for others and highlight that success is attainable while remaining authentic.
To promote DEI, I co-founded my university’s first Black Law Society, providing a space for students to connect and support one another. During the pandemic, I launched my legal Instagram page to document my journey and build a network of aspiring solicitors. Expanding to TikTok during my internship at [redacted], my videos gained over 20,000 views, demonstrating the importance of representation and inspiring others that success in law is achievable, despite your background. This visibility led to my invitation to join [redacted] mentoring programme as a mentor, highlighting the value of personal branding.
While inspiring others, I continue to learn by attending DEI-focused events, broadening my understanding of the obstacles underrepresented groups face. At Lewis Silkin’s ‘A Force for Good’ event, I saw how DEI and social mobility are embedded in its culture, reflecting its founding values. This shows that Lewis Silkin is a place where my passion can thrive and where I can actively contribute to its initiatives.
If you could work with any client as a lawyer at Lewis Silkin (even if they are not currently a client of ours), who would it be and why? (200 words)
My chosen client would be Casyo Johnson (Krept), the British rapper and entrepreneur. Krept’s varied ventures across music, business, and media perfectly align with Lewis Silkin’s expertise in intellectual property, reputation management, and brand protection. This presents opportunities to support his personal affairs and businesses.
One of Krept’s ventures that particularly interests me is Nala’s Baby, a black-owned baby care brand focused on sustainability and inclusivity. Nala’s Baby’s collaboration with Disney for Mufasa: The Lion King highlights its ability to align with iconic franchises and grow through strategic partnerships. Advising on such collaborations would involve navigating trademark protection, advertising regulations, and licensing agreements. Similarly, Krept’s record label, Play Dirty, presents opportunities to advise on copyright ownership, negotiate partnerships, and provide talent management support, requiring legal expertise and commercial awareness to align with his objectives.
If Krept sought to take his business, brand and creativity global, Lewis Silkin’s international network and expertise would ensure seamless support, enabling him to achieve his ambitions without disadvantage.
Working with Krept would highlight Lewis Silkin’s strengths in the creative industry. Krept’s influence and network could create opportunities through referrals and generate revenue for Lewis Silkin, demonstrating the firm’s ability to support creative individuals and ideas.
How does the change of government create opportunities for Lewis Silkin as a law firm? (200 words)
The change in government has introduced ambitious house-building targets, aiming to increase affordable and social housing to tackle the UK housing crisis. This creates significant opportunities for Lewis Silkin, particularly for its Real Estate team.
To meet these targets, private developers and homebuilders must navigate various legal and regulatory challenges. Site acquisition and planning processes will become critical as developers compete for prime locations, now including brownfield and green belt land. These projects will also require funding, which may involve structuring joint ventures, securing loans, or navigating investment agreements. Furthermore, compliance with environmental regulations and Labour’s green building commitments will necessitate tailored advice.
These changes will drive demand for legal expertise in areas such as land transactions, planning applications, and environmental compliance. Lewis Silkin is ideally positioned to assist clients by offering end-to-end support, from drafting contractual agreements to navigating planning permission complexities and ensuring adherence to sustainability requirements.
As government initiatives increase activity in the housing sector, Lewis Silkin’s ability to deliver innovative, commercially focused advice positions it as a key partner for developers. By combining practical advice with thought leadership, such as publishing insightful commentary, Lewis Silkin can further strengthen its reputation in real estate and construction services.
Pick a skill or behaviour which you think is essential in a lawyer and describe an occasion on which you have demonstrated it. (200 words)
Taking ownership is key behaviour for a lawyer.
During my first year of university, I worked as a receptionist at a boutique physiotherapy studio. One Saturday, I was opening the studio for an 8am class, but by 7:55am, the trainer had not arrived, and my attempts to reach the trainer and manager were unsuccessful.
Although my role was ordinarily limited to reception duties, I took on the responsibility of resolving the issue to deliver a positive outcome for our clients. I provided reassurance and when I confirmed that the trainer was unavailable, I offered alternative solutions which met the clients’ differing needs and ensured their satisfaction. When one client expressed frustration, I arranged a free personal training session to meet their expectations and build goodwill.
The client and manager’s feedback highlighted that my proactive approach resolved the situation and built client loyalty, with the client booking additional sessions with the personal trainer.
This experience taught me that clients value not only immediate solutions but also trust and consistent support. At Lewis Silkin, these skills would help me quickly adapt to client expectations and anticipate commercial risks, fostering trust and delivering results aligned with clients’ objectives.
Is there anything else that you would like us to consider when reviewing your application? What makes you stand out from the crowd? Don't feel obliged to answer this question! (200 words)
I am committed to continuous learning, which I believe is essential for personal and professional growth. Currently, I am learning Arabic to strengthen my Quran reading abilities. My enthusiasm for learning extends to undertaking a Cybersecurity course, which develops my understanding of data protection and its practical implications. As data underpins everything we do, this course provides insights into the real risks associated with data privacy, helping me approach matters from the perspective of regulatory complaints and management strategies. This skill can be applied across various practice areas, combining compliance with practical considerations.
I am keen to apply this knowledge in practice, and Lewis Silkin’s growing data privacy team offers the ideal environment for this. I attended the firm’s event, ‘The Cutting-Edge World of Data, Privacy & Cyber Law’ which highlighted the team’s specialisms, including cybersecurity and data litigation. The firm’s small, specialised team of 20 fee earners offers a unique opportunity for hands-on experience and exposure to diverse aspects of data privacy and cyber law. This structure would allow me to contribute to a dynamic and innovative team while continuing my professional development through greater responsibility and direct involvement with clients.
2022
Work Experience Summary: What skills/ knowledge have you gained from your previous work experience that will help you become a successful lawyer?
Having worked as a retail assistant at [department store], I constantly provided high-quality customer service and regularly handled complicated situations and have therefore developed strong client-facing abilities whereby I am able to use innovative solutions to solve client problems, whilst keeping costs to a minimum for the business.
Furthermore, through my placement year at Reed Smith, I have been exposed to the high quality of work and calibre of clients, as well as complex, multi-jurisdictional work undertaken by international law firms. Having worked on multiple transactions and disputes, I have had the opportunity to enhance my analytical skills, ability to work under pressure and to produce high quality work which has been used for client facing opportunities.
Being able to balance my studies, alongside my part-time jobs with work experiences and volunteering opportunities, is testament to my effective time management skills and motivation to keep occupied and continue to seek new opportunities which is vital as a lawyer and demonstrates my long term interest in the profession. In addition, having worked as a team in many instances, I understand the importance of teamwork and therefore believe that I can bring this to Lewis Silkin and promote further cohesion and collaboration.
Your Fit: Why are you and Lewis Silkin right for each other?
Lewis Silkin is suited to me for various reasons. The firm's small trainee intake will provide for extensive high- level training and significant responsibility from the outset. Ultimately, I will be known as an individual, enabling me to make a valuable contribution to the firm's work, aligning with my aspirations for my training contract and beyond.
Furthermore Lewis Silkin’s distinctive working culture particularly attracts me, as the firm does not promote a rigid monoculture and encourages individuals to develop their own unique working style, bringing their individuality to the workplace.
Having worked at [department store] and in Reed Smith’s Finance group, I am attracted by Lewis Silkin’s top tier capabilities in the Financial Services and Retail, Hospitality & Leisure sectors. Moreover, engaging with the Working Families and AIRE centre initiatives during my placement year, I have developed an interest in Employment and Immigration & Global Mobility advisory work.
Whilst working as a retail assistant, I developed strong client-facing abilities, through providing consistent high-quality customer service and regularly handling complicated situations, requiring me to provide effective solutions whilst ensuring losses to the business were minimal. This will undoubtedly be of use at Lewis Silkin, helping to build and sustain dynamic client relationships.
About You: Tell us about the biggest setback you have experienced. How did you overcome this setback?
Being a proactive member of the sixth form student council, I decided to organise the sixth form's first student ball. As the first-ever event of its kind, and with the responsibility for the organisation and fundraising entirely up to the students, this was an ambitious challenge.
To organise such a large event, I set up a 15-strong social committee comprised of student volunteers, with the help of the sixth form council, which I was elected to lead.
During the organising process, I faced a significant setback. It had initially been decided that there would be live entertainment at the event, but this proved to be too costly. I proposed that we advertised for performers within the sixth form and we ultimately chose 10 acts to perform during the event. This enabled us to provide cost-effective live entertainment, whilst showcasing the talents of the student performers.
I overcame this setback by thinking in a calm manner and realistically thinking about my options in the little time remaining. By doing so, I was able to find an effective solution which not only impressed the students but upheld the committee's reputation.
Commercial Thinking: Lewis Silkin prides itself on delivering legal advice in a commercial way. What do you think it means to deliver legal advice in a commercial way?
Legal advice is the provision of a professional opinion regarding the law in relation to a specific situation, requested by and delivered to an individual or company, the client. This requires the situation to be analysed in order to provide a course of action based on the applicable laws.
To deliver legal advice in a commercial way means to provide pragmatic legal advice that takes into consideration the market and industry the client works in, thus being tailored to the client. For example, the advice being provided for an Energy Consultancy firm wishing to takeover another firm would differ to a retailer wishing to do the same, both would require advice on acquisitions but this would differ significantly between the two as they operate within different industries.
Commercial legal advice therefore requires a variety of factors, other than the law, to be considered, such as the protection of the clients business interests; foresight of the situation to protection from future implications which may arise and justification as to why certain processes need to be undertaken, all of which requires cross sector and service collaboration. The law is merely the foundation which informs the client of what is permissible.
Extra information: Is there anything else you'd like to tell us in support of your application? Don't feel obliged to answer this question!
I am currently a [retracted university] Student buddy which involves providing academic and emotional support to four first year law students to assist with their transition into the new environment.
I also actively partake in volunteering opportunities. I have previously worked closely with my local borough as a youth councillor which involved leading a team of 20 young adults in developing youth-led projects in [local area] alongside the Young Mayor team.
I led a campaign for a Young Mayor 2015-17 candidate, who successful secured the position of deputy Young Mayor. I planned and organised all of the campaign events (e.g. school assemblies), created merchandise and managed all social media platforms throughout the campaigning period and post elections. This experience allowed me to further develop my leadership and public speaking skills which I believe will be of significant help during my training contract.
Through my university's pro-bono society, I had volunteered to assist with Denton's PopLaw clinic where I was responsible for registering clients upon arrival which involved checking whether they have previously using the clinic's service and if so, locating existing files or creating new client files for first time clients and providing an overview of the clinic’s services.
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