Natasha Read

LLB Law, 2006

I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the University of Warwick. I grew up in a small village in the countryside where I didn’t have the opportunity to meet people from different cultures, backgrounds, or other countries. Warwick has a strong international student base and I learnt a lot from meeting people from all walks of life and seeing the world outside of my sleepy Gloucestershire village!

The University also regularly arranged careers fairs and visits from firms of different sizes, which helped in identifying potential employers and the type of firms I would like to work for.

Studying Law and Medicine helped me decide that clinical negligence was the area that was best for me. I was fortunate to secure a training contract which started immediately after my LPC. The firm was over 70 miles from where I lived and I spent a big proportion of my working day commuting, however, it was my first training contract so it was definitely worth it.

After qualifying I moved closer to home. I was looking to move firms again and received a chance telephone call from the Head of Shoosmiths’ Personal Advisory Division. He was looking for a Junior Solicitor and had been given my name by my Training Principal. This chance call resulted in me getting my dream job at Shoosmiths and taught me a very important lesson; always leave a firm on good terms and maintain your business contacts. If my Training Principal hadn’t mentioned my name then I may never have got to where I am now.

My current role as a Principal Associate at Shoosmiths is great, every day is different. Given that we are now combining home and office working. I try (and often fail) to do some exercise in the morning to clear my head. After this the day is usually a flurry of emails, dictation, preparing documents, time recording, speaking to clients/Counsel/other solicitors and internal meetings.

Before the pandemic we often travelled to court, to clients’ homes, to Counsel’s chambers, hospitals and to other offices. This has now been replaced, very effectively, with virtual meetings. Although this has helped to reduce our carbon footprint, I hope to meet clients in person again soon.

If there is any advice I could give, it would be to always work hard, be honest, be confident but above all - be yourself.