How Liberal Arts got me to where I am: Najma's Story
Our Liberal Arts programme recently launched a new disciplinary route with Warwick’s School of Law, allowing our students to apply their interdisciplinary critical thinking skills to the study of legal systems. To demonstrate how Liberal Arts can contribute to a successful law career, we caught up with alumna Najma; who was part of our first student cohort when we launched Liberal Arts in 2016 and currently works in the London office of Kirkland & Ellis as a specialist corporate lawyer, with a focus on financial services regulation. She shares her story about why she first chose to study Liberal Arts at Warwick and how her degree continues to benefit her today.
Why I chose to study Liberal Arts at Warwick
Before coming to university, I was studying Chemistry, Biology and Physics at A-Level as at that time, I aspired to go to Medical School. However, upon discovering that I absolutely hated chemistry, I realised that becoming a doctor was not in the cards for me and therefore, was going to have to find another course to study!
As I have always been quite interested in history, I initially started researching undergraduate history and other similar degrees, which is where I stumbled across Liberal Arts. Upon further reading, I was immediately drawn to Liberal Arts’ openness and how it allowed me to pursue my own unique interests rather than sticking to a strict curriculum – especially as I no longer had any idea what I wanted to do career-wise!
Initially, Warwick was my second-choice university (as I wanted to be by the beach in Exeter!). However, after attending a Principles of Liberal Arts Education Overview at one of their open days, I was impressed by the passion and knowledge displayed by the academic team that I quickly changed my first choice to Warwick!
The structure of the Liberal Arts degree at Warwick allowed me to take modules from multiple departments across the university, which is how I ultimately discovered my interest in law and decided to pursue it as a career. In my final year of study, I completed an internship at a corporate law firm, after which they offered me a 2-year training contract and a 1-year law conversion course—that they fully paid for—to help me train to become a solicitor.
Four years after graduating Warwick, I was fully qualified as a solicitor and now work as an associate in financial services regulatory; aiding large financial institutions to navigate regulatory requirements within the UK and across Europe.
The skills and experiences from Liberal Arts that contributed to my success
The freeform research skills I developed during my Liberal Arts education have been invaluable to my legal career. As a solicitor, you are often required to conduct large quantities of research for cases, and Liberal Arts gave me the confidence to investigate subject areas that I had no prior knowledge or familiarity with. This has been particularly useful for the overseas pro-bono work I have completed with women and LGBTQ people facing persecution or death row in their home countries.
As someone who did not know what they wanted to do for the rest of their life at 17, I feel eternally grateful for my Liberal Arts degree. The interdisciplinary structure of the course allowed me to explore multiple different subject areas, which enabled me to get a feel for many different careers until I discovered what I was most passionate about.
What I would tell parents whose children wish to study Liberal Arts
When I told my parents that I would no longer be pursuing medicine and instead studying Liberal Arts, their reaction wasn’t great. As the eldest child in an immigrant family and first person from my family to attend university, they had always aspired for me to become a doctor, and as the Liberal Arts programme had just been launched at Warwick, they were worried that it would lead to me later struggling to find a job.
For parents currently in a similar mindset to what mine were, I would like to reassure them that degrees like Liberal Arts are structured to develop employability skills that are transferable to the working world, and that employers care about this more than the degree title. Warwick also works closely with employers to provide internships and work experience that are available to students across the university; no matter what course they are studying.
Most of the lawyers I meet and work with never studied law as an undergraduate degree, and I have even seen statistics suggesting that around 50% of all lawyers actually take law conversion courses to switch to a legal career. This further demonstrates that having a Liberal Arts degree does not disadvantage you if you later wish to pursue a traditional, professional career.
What I would tell potential students thinking of studying Liberal Arts
If you are someone who doesn’t want to be confined by one discipline or a rigid structure, then the Liberal Arts programme at Warwick is a great course. However, as it is more open and interdisciplinary, you need to be prepared to be a lot more proactive in your learning and if you are someone who does not enjoy flexibility, it probably won’t be the course for you. I would also advise you to take advantage of the many work experience opportunities the school and Warwick offers whilst you are studying, as it will help improve your employability prospects and make it easier to transition to a career that you enjoy.