Law Society to host careers fair on campus

It’s almost the end of the academic year. Have you thought about what you are doing in the future? Knowing which career to pursue can be daunting for many students, but did you know that graduating with a STEM or business degree sets you up for a wide range of careers beyond scientific research or finance?

The Imperial College Law Society is proud to present a careers event on 21st May, open to all students at College. The event is designed to answer all those burning questions you’ve been thinking about as you consider your future career and employment. It has been planned as an interactive panel discussion, in which three leading legal professionals will talk about the routes they took to get into the profession, discuss what life is like as a lawyer or patent attorney at a big pharmaceutical company or law firms, and answer any questions that you might have.

We are being joined by Dawn Goff, a patent attorney at GlaxoSmithKline, Funke Abimbola, an in-house lawyer at Roche, and Saufung Ma, a lawyer at UK law firm Taylor Wessing. These three lawyers represent three major forms of legal expertise in science and industry.

Saufung is a senior associate in Taylor Wessing’s Intellectual Property department. He works on both contentious and non-contentious intellectual property matters, including patent litigation and trade mark prosecutions. Saufung spent six months in Taylor Wessing’s Cambridge office where he assisted with a number of venture capital, inward investment and acquisition projects, particularly in relation to technology-rich businesses. Saufung has a degree in Biochemistry from Oxford University, a PhD in Molecular Biology and Medicine from Imperial College and was awarded a distinction from BPP Law School. Saufung is a member of Taylor Wessing’s pro bono committee. He speaks fluent Cantonese.

Dawn Goff is a patent attorney at GlaxoSmithKline, working in highly interesting areas such as anti-counterfeiting. All patent attorneys need a scientific or technical background, making STEM students at Imperial College very suitable candidates. A patent attorney must have the ability to acquire, and enjoy exercising, legal skills of drafting, analysis and logical thought, and, particularly the skill to use the English language aptly and accurately, in written work. Patent attorneys act at an exciting interface between disciplines of law, language and science.

Funke Amimbola is Managing Counsel (UK & Ireland) for Roche, leading the legal team that supports Roche’s pharmaceutical operations in the UK, Ireland, Malta and Gibraltar. A recognised legal expert working within the life sciences sector, Funke is also a notable diversity champion within the UK legal industry and has received multiple awards and other recognition for both her legal work and her diversity work. She speaks regularly at legal and diversity conferences both in the UK and abroad. As a working mother, Funke juggles the demands of her career with home life and regularly supports working mothers on how best to achieve the elusive work/life balance. She is passionate about the law, diversity, education and the healthcare sector. In addition, she is an expert mentor and regular fundraiser for charities including Cancer Research UK.

This event gives Imperial students a useful opportunity to speak to someone with a similar background to theirs and who was once in the same position as they are now. The discussion itself is intended to explore the intersections between the legal industry and other industries such as finance or biotechnology. Students interested in a career in business, law or science will have the opportunity to gain extremely useful information, including how to develop their commercial awareness. The panel interview has been designed to answer whatever questions the audience may have, whether relating to science, industry or commerce, which means that you do not need to be interested in a career in law to be interested in this event!

If you’re interested in attending the event,all you needto do is email lawsoc@imperial.ac.uk with your name and course.

The talk is to be held in G34 (SAF building), and will start at 13:00.