Graduate Recruitment
Meet our people
Zuber Mitchla - Solicitor
Life Sciences
Pharmacy, University of London
You didn’t always want to be a lawyer, did you?
I qualified as a pharmacist and worked initially in the NHS and then the pharmaceutical industry, spending a couple of years with a multinational. The work I was doing was predominantly regulatory and that got me involved with a lot of departments including the legal team.
The things that those guys were doing really interested me. I looked into how I could get involved and what benefit my career might have to the switch. I had a few friends who had become lawyers and never looked back; they told me that some firms were looking for people with a background such as mine. I took the leap and did my GDL and began my second career.
Why DLA Piper?
There aren’t that many law firms who have a real focus on regulatory pharmaceutical law or pharmaceutical IP law and still provide a full service legal training. DLA Piper was one of them and I had read they were looking to expand their life sciences offering. I was keen to get involved and found myself in the right place at the right time.
Were you worried about changing careers?
Having established myself in one career, it was something of a change to start again from the bottom of the ladder, so to speak. But you have to accept the situation and then start doing what you did previously to progress your career. I am looking forward to the challenges ahead.
Was it a problem being an 'older' trainee?
Not at all. DLA Piper certainly doesn’t differentiate between mature and younger trainees and the law doesn’t discriminate in terms of age. In my intake there are at least half a dozen of us who are around the thirty-year-old mark with established previous careers. If anything, that extra level of maturity can lead to even more early responsibility. For example, I was able to attend a client meeting on my own recently because I had experience in negotiating. I have also had opportunities to manage tasks and take on roles in a project which might otherwise have been undertaken by a junior solicitor.
What’s life like working in London?
So far there have been long hours and busy seats. It’s all part and parcel of working at a global law firm in London. It can be hard but it doesn’t happen all the time and it’s not the nightmare people make it out to be. Generally speaking, there’s give and take. When it’s quiet you don’t stay late. When it’s busy you do the work that needs to be done. What matters is that you’re never staying late just for the sake of it and that you're in it together as a team.
