Case studies

I spent the first 12 years of my career in private practice in Camden Town, becoming a partner soon after qualification and building up one of the largest specialist housing teams at the time. 

Karen Walden-Smith is currently the Designated Civil Judge (DCJ) for East Anglia and a Deputy High Court Judge (DHCJ). She practised as a barrister and sat as a Recorder before being appointed as a full-time Circuit Judge in 2010.

I am a barrister and was called to the Bar in 1998. I was born and brought up in West London and am the eldest of four siblings. I went to state schools throughout my education and did not have any connections to the law when I was growing up.

I grew up in Hertfordshire, where I attended St Albans High School on a full scholarship before reading law at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. After taking the solicitors’ final exams I joined Freshfields, a law firm in the City of London, as a trainee, qualifying as a solicitor in 1986 and becoming a partner in 1994.

Lesley Smith is a full time Judge of the Upper Tribunal, Immigration and Asylum Chamber. She was previously a fee-paid Lawyer Chairman of the Residential Property Tribunal, and a senior Government Lawyer with the Treasury Solicitor’s Department. Lesley is a former ILEX Fellow.

As a child, I had no aspirations to become a lawyer but a keen interest in the world around me, and a desire to contribute something useful in the public sector.

Looking for a change of direction when studying science and mathematics at A-level, I was drawn to the law.  This was because law seemed to combine precision in reasoning with an emphasis on effective communication and choice of words, and it also seemed to touch upon most, if not all, aspects of life.