DLA Piper
0 opportunities
Australia
Madina Eira
Solicitor
Everyone at DLA Piper has the opportunity to make an impact and shape their career by exploring their unique interests, whilst being meaningfully supported and challenged along the way.
What was your journey to DLA Piper?
After I left high school, I took a gap year to start my own small business providing ethically sourced clothing. The experience was incredibly rewarding! I had the opportunity to design clothes, build relationships with fabric providers in Africa and South Asia and I had the freedom to work independently. Once I began my Bachelor of Laws degree, I realised that while I enjoyed being part the fashion world, a career in commercial law was more appealing. In commercial law, I would have the chance to continue to work independently, work with large clients (think blue chip companies) and the matters would be varied and engaging.
DLA Piper stood out to me because in all my interactions with the firm, the people were genuine and made an effort to get to know me. During the interview process, my interviewing partner was interested in learning about my background and appreciated the fact that I had an unconventional journey to law.
I clerked in the Litigation and Regulatory team in 2020 and was invited back as a paralegal in 2021. Eventually I was invited to join the firm as a Graduate in 2022
What’s the coolest thing about your job?
The variety of transactions and clients I get to work with! The firm encourages people to speak up if they have an interest in a particular area of law or a team, I expressed my interest in doing front end work and renewable energy work. As a result, I’ve rotated in Corporate (M&A), Projects (with a focus on renewable energy works) and am currently in Finance.
Our transactions often involve foreign jurisdictions. As a Graduate I regularly engage directly with our clients or counterparties. I particularly enjoy front-end work as our clients and counterparties have the same goal, so we all work collaboratively or (try to) negotiate a middle ground.
During my Graduate rotations I’ve been exposed to a wide range of matters. In my first rotation in the Corporate (M&A) team I was involved in a transaction where a small Australian medical technology company was acquired by a multinational pharmaceutical and biotech company. For that transaction, I was involved in drafting contracts, drafting shareholder documents and regularly attended meetings with all parties (although the timing was a bit tricky given the different time zones). In my second rotation in Projects, I was heavily involved in renewable energy work. This may be surprising to hear given that WA is known for its mining sector! The most memorable experience was when we advised a multinational consumer goods company on the construction and management of a refinery plant which will enable the company to reduce its use of palm oil.
Halima Ansari
Solicitor
What was your journey to DLA Piper?
I studied a Bachelor of Civil Engineering and a Bachelor of Laws and started my career in the engineering space while I was studying. In my first role, I worked for the state government and was involved in land use planning and development and traffic and transport engineering. After two years, I moved to an engineering consultancy where I had the opportunity to work across both a structural engineering team and the legal team. Whilst I did love the spreadsheets, site visits and hard-hats, I developed a stronger interest in a legal career in the projects and infrastructure space as I enjoyed the intersectionality it provided between engineering and law.
In 2020, I started as a summer clerk at DLA Piper in the Finance, Projects and Restructuring team. Whilst my rotation was technically on the finance side, my engineering background, interest in projects and the team’s support for my development naturally lead to me being looped into project work and I was involved in some pretty exciting major infrastructure projects (both in Australia and internationally!). Not long after, I participated in the graduate program, and am now back as a solicitor in the Projects team.
What’s the coolest thing about your job?
Being able to be meaningfully involved in a variety of work which I am genuinely passionate about.
During my first graduate rotation in the Insurance and Litigation (Insurance) team, I was involved in all sorts of matters in areas from cyber and technology to construction, professional indemnity and personal injury, but my favourite was the work I undertook in the ESG space. I’ve prepared client presentations on the importance of ESG and how we can guide our clients through the green transition, as well as summaries of the environmental liability and litigation framework in Australia. I was also heavily involved in the preparation of a multi-jurisdictional climate change litigation strategy which involved me attending and actively contributing to meetings with colleagues from other offices and senior executives of international organisations whilst I was still a graduate. In my current team, I still use this knowledge to contribute in other ways, for example by helping with pitches for sustainable projects.
DLA Piper’s D&I networks also are another platform where I’ve had the opportunity to make an impact. Outside of work, I volunteer as a Portfolio Manager for Diverse Women in Law (DWL), a relatively young not-for-profit organisation with the aim of supporting diverse women in law. Through my involvement with DLA Piper’s gender-balance network (LAW), and the amazing support of the LAW committee, DLA Piper is now a silver sponsor of DWL. It has been so rewarding being able to see the impact of the sponsorship first-hand when planning DWL’s 2023 events, but also to see how this has led to conversations regarding an Australian chapter of Mosaic, DLA Piper’s network for racial, cultural, ethnic and religious diversity, which have been extremely interesting conversations to be a part of!