What have you learned from your experiences at DLA Piper?

At DLA Piper, right from the start, I learnt on the one hand to conduct complex legal reasoning and to manage large cases while being supervised by a supportive team. In addition to the legal aspect, which remains very important, practising business law also requires you to develop your soft skills, particularly when dealing with clients or future clients. From my first year, DLA Piper enabled me to improve my soft skills by allowing me to have contacts with clients both for cases and to develop our team's client base, always under the guidance of more senior lawyers.

What pro bono or sustainability-related activities have you been involved in?

Ever since I joined the Bar, I've always made a point of being involved in DLA Piper's pro bono activities. I believe that this is an integral part of our profession. Two pro bono projects particularly stand out to me: the Legal Helpdesk and the Lawyers Victims assistance project. The aim of the Legal Helpdesk project is to give asylum seekers access to a lawyer to help them regularise their situation. In this project, carried out in collaboration with the Brussels Bar, we are responsible for welcoming asylum seekers and helping them to complete a set of information so that a lawyer specialising in this area can be appointed. It's been a rewarding experience, because it's given me an insight into a reality that I'd only previously seen in the news. The Lawyers Victims assistance project is a direct telephone and email helpline for victims of domestic or family violence. Each person in turn is on duty for the week and has to listen to the person and appoint a lawyer specialising in this field who will then take charge of these people exposed to very serious risks. 

Do you have any advice for students aspiring to pursue a career in law?

Firstly, be rigorous as soon as you start studying. At DLA Piper, we work on interesting cases that require a great degree of rigour. This approach is useful from getting to know the case through to presenting the final work to the client or, in the case of litigation, pleading.

Secondly, remain curious. Curiosity is important, because a case is never purely legal; it requires an understanding of the client's sector, business and objectives. It's this curiosity that goes beyond the legal elements that makes you stand out.