What Does a Career as a Lawyer Look Like?

Habibunnisha Patel (Class of 1997) was the latest pupil to return to Bolton School to deliver a Women of Work talk virtually to Year 10 Forms in the Girls’ Division.

Habibunnisha told how she has been practising law for 22 years and is General Counsel - the most senior lawyer - and Company Secretary of Cancer Research UK. She told the GCSE pupils that she has been in her current role for 18 months and manages a team of 45 individuals doing a broad range of jobs helping to make sure that the charity runs smoothly and safely, including putting to best use in the ambition to beat cancer together the supporters’ donations and managing areas such as legal, risk, governance, sustainability and EDI.

Reflecting on her earlier career, she said it had been a tale of two halves. She revealed how she had studied Law at Cambridge before gaining a training contract at Slaughter and May in London as she sought to become a qualified lawyer. Habibunnisha told how she developed into a lawyer working in corporate, mergers and acquisitions and lived in London, Singapore, India and Dubai during that time. Looking back, she said she loved the firm, the people and the broad international experience that she gained. However, she said, she had a desire to link her work closer to purpose and impact and in 2012 started looking for a role that would provide that. She started by volunteering for Islamic Relief Worldwide and managed to grab some time with one of its founders Dr Hany El-Banna. She sought his advice on whether she should move back to the corporate sector or whether she should join the aid sector. He asked her whether she wanted to be "a branch or the roots of a tree" and his advice was to set down strong roots if you want to make an impact in the world.

Habibunnisha told how she joined the not-for-profit sector and how she feels she has consequently had a purpose-filled career that has been motivated by trying to make the world a fairer and more equitable place for everyone. She said she has now spent 10 years in the international aid and development work sector, which included three years as General Counsel (the most senior lawyer) at Save the Children UK and also time at Plan International and Islamic Relief as well as becoming a Board Trustee of Muslim Aid and, more recently, for the World Humanitarian Action Forum. She has since gone on to her current role as General Counsel at Cancer Research UK. Named in the Lawyers’ 2024 Hot 100, she is also  a regular contributor to Radio 2’s religion slot on Pause for Thought. Turning her mind back to a time when she was the girls’ age, Habibunnisha said she had wanted to travel and was always motivated by equity and justice and the belief in the importance of education being available to girls as well as boys. These interests, she said, are what have driven her career.

The audience asked a wide range of questions, including what A levels did you do, what has been your most interesting case, what is your average working day, where did you start with Islamic Relief, do you have any advice on how to get into Cambridge, if you had your time again would you still do Law at university and what is the starting salary for a lawyer?

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