If I am honest it wasn’t that I put tonnes of thought into the decision to become a lawyer when I was 18. I was strong across a range of different subjects at school. I did Biology, Chemistry, History and German at A Level and could have gone in several different directions. I felt the study of law at university fit my skills – History developed my skills in creating arguments, written skills and taking on a lot of information.
Science was good for learning concepts and applying them. I initially thought I would go down the advocacy route because I had a lot of acting experience and having a bit of dramatic flair can help in court. It was one of my professors at Cambridge, who was also a barrister, who said: “If there is anything you can think of doing other than the Bar then go and do it”. I also shadowed a black barrister by completing a mini-pupillage after my A levels and it was clear that it was a tough role. At Cambridge we get courted early on by big law firms; the package they offer is all very attractive and it becomes an easy decision to go down that route.
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I started my career at Shearman & Sterling and then moved to DLA Piper as an NQ. I was at DLA Piper for almost four years before moving in-house. At DLA Piper I was in the Energy And Infrastructure finance team – 80 per cent of our deals were in Africa or had a heavy African slant. This interested me because I have a Ghanaian background. The issues of inadequate energy generation in Africa are clear to see and this work appeals to me. I felt I could contribute to help develop African nations through the work I did.
When I was in private practice, I gravitated toward a Greek partner who was a real champion for me and grew my practice, skills and knowledge. The limitations were a bit wider than what I could get from him as a sponsor; I was enthusiastic about Africa, but I wasn’t met with the same optimism from the department as a whole. I thought If I want to focus on Africa I should move to the continent itself. The impetus for leaving private practice came in 2015 when I had my first role in directly advising an African country. I advised the Government of Rwanda on Energy and Infrastructure projects from a legal and transactional point of view.
I am now inhouse at Globeleq – we are one of the leading power developers and operators in sub-Saharan African. Essentially, we are the ones keeping the lights on in a little village.
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My in-house life has been much more fruitful for me as a person – I am supported and listened to and am able to contribute to the organisation. It suits my personality in a better way – I am able to create relationships at work that help me and our work. In law firms it was all so combative and adversarial, I did not feel I had a chance to shine or develop.
Looking back, I would have done things very differently in my private practice career. I now have the benefit of hindsight, which I can use to help young black lawyers coming up behind me. This is why I founded the “Creating Pathways Programme” with a fellow lawyer – we actively give advice and support to talented BAME lawyers by pairing them with senior lawyers for mentoring. We run the programme with the help of the Black Solicitors Network.
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More needs to be done by law firms to recognise good talent and develop diverse talent. A lot of Black associates are underdeveloped and are side-lined whereas their white counterparts get more exposure to great work and informal mentoring and sponsorship.
Since Africa has become such a shiny tool for the City, a lot of firms want to have diverse talent to be able to win that work. In addition, the Black Lives Matter movement has caused a lot in introspection for many organisations. Clients are also demanding diversity statistics as part of their selection criteria for firms.
