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.