The Faculty of Law organised a career guidance session for fourth-year students. Lawyers, notaries, lecturers and alumni took part in the session and explained how they practise their professions and how they have acquired their knowledge of law.
The first person to speak at the round table discussion was an alumna at UIC Barcelona and a lawyer specialising in public law at Saba, Inés de Olartua. She explained how she made the leap from university to professional life and what was involved in doing a master’s degree to specialise and define her career path “Don’t limit yourselves to one point of view. Whether you go for a law firm or a company… don’t be scared”, she told the students.
The second person to speak was Jesús Benavides, who studied his law degree at UIC Barcelona and now works as a notary in Barcelona. Benavides explained his experience preparing for the official competitive examinations, a time when he remembers sacrificing his free time, holidays and friends to study. When reflecting on his time at university, as advice he said “if I could turn back time, I wish I had taken the work placements more seriously at the time”
Lawyer at Cuatrecasas law firm and lecturer at UIC Barcelona, Íñigo de Ros, explained his experience trying to juggle his work in a busy law firm with completing a PhD. “The most important thing is to be organised and to know how to go without things”, he claimed.
EY HR Business Partner, Mónica Palau, talked from the perspective of a Big Four company where she insisted that “all types of profiles are welcome, from lawyers to engineers, psychologists and even nurses. Everyone is accepted in consultancy”.
The final speaker, Víctor Quesada, State lawyer and head of legal services at Naturgy, acknowledged the importance of career guidance sessions to allow students to hear about and analyse different types of profiles. “You have to think about what you want to do in the future”, he stressed. He also went over his professional career, working both in Spain and abroad, and recommended students analyse the “legal philosophy of a company” before deciding to become corporate lawyers to see if they are really a good fit.
