Category: LLM

Human Rights Day: How my UN work influences my teaching and helped shape careers

Posted on by University of Bristol Law School

In this Human Rights Day blog we spoke to Professor Sir Malcolm Evans about how his teaching has been influenced by over 10 years of leading the United Nations’ efforts to prevent torture around the world, how leaving your career planning a little to chance is not always a bad thing – and how choosing the LLM in Human Rights can open up a diverse array of career paths.

Malcolm Evans, Professor of Public International Law

When I started teaching law, human rights really wasn’t something that was very much studied or very much taught. So when I began teaching here at the University of Bristol in the early 1990s, we established an LLM in International Law.

I thought it would be good to offer a unit in international human rights law, which was rather rash of me, quite frankly, as I had never studied international human rights at that point but for one week on my undergraduate course a couple of years earlier. The rest, they say, is history.

In order to teach others well, I got involved in the field of torture prevention. A colleague, who was a criminologist, had just started advising a newly established international body called the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, which was about to start its work, going around, visiting prisons and discovering what protections there were for those who were in prison and other places of detention from ill treatment. We began talking about it. And then we began writing about it and researching about it. And one thing led to another.

My role in the UN really grew out of the work I was doing here as an academic over the course of time. We looked at the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and its work, and at that time moves were afoot within the United Nations to establish a similar international instrument, creating a similar body at the global level. So because of what we knew about the way this worked in Europe, we started talking to the people involved in this and became quite heavily involved in lobbying for the instrument and following the negotiation process until the international instrument was finally adopted in the middle of the 2000s.

I was inevitably drawn closer and closer to it in practice. And then, in 2009, I was offered the opportunity of standing for election to the Subcommittee itself. And so, for me, it’s been a fascinating journey because I started off looking at this area of torture prevention very much as an academic, moving on to viewing it very much as an advocate and then, finally, having to run the system. That’s quite a transition.

I’ve always been most interested in the way that one’s knowledge as a lawyer can be converted over into practical policy and have an impact through policy formation and development. So trying to influence public policy around international legal issues and human rights issues was the way to go. The idea of taking what we have learned through academic study and engagement and making that into practical policies that can be then implemented – completing the circle, studying and reflecting academically on the way human rights are implemented in practice.

I don’t know any more where the influence of my work within the UN in my teaching begins and ends, it has all become almost symbiotic. The one has over the years become the other. I teach what I do within what I have done within the UN. I seek to implement that which I’ve learned through my academic study, which is fantastic. From a personal point of view, rarely do you have that opportunity to be able to study as an academic to reflect with others on what you think should be done and then be in the position to try to really bring it about in the world, within the UN, within the UN Human Rights Treaty body system.

But it also means that back in teaching, what do I teach? I teach my experience within the UN. One becomes the other and students can draw on the practical experience of so many people that I have been working very closely with over so many years within the Human Rights Implementation Centre and international organisations within the development of human rights practice and policy – so many different levels. The insights that that can bring to the teaching is frankly a huge asset and very difficult to replicate elsewhere.

It really does enhance the prospects of students who want to go into practical work around human rights issues. One of the advantages our LLM in Human Rights Law is that it can open up a very broad range of career options. For many who’ve done the LLM, they may want to go into professional practice in the commercial or other law areas, and the human rights work they’ve done is something that they will carry with them. Increasingly, major commercial practices encourage those working for them to take part in pro bono work, and for many, that does take the form of human rights work. So having the LLM in Human Rights Law is a huge asset.

The LLM in Human Rights Law opens up a huge array of possibilities, not just in professional practice itself, but also in policy and other areas as well. Some of the students that we’ve had, have gone on to become legal academics in the area of human rights law themselves. Others have gone on to work within the United Nations, in the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees, working alongside the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights in Africa, in a multiplicity of settings within International organisations, for the International Committee of the Red Cross and so on.

What’s next for me. I’ve said on many occasions, I’m not a great advocate for career planning. Things come along and you take them. Your options present themselves. Having just finished ten years as chair of the United Nations Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture, at the moment I’m writing a book on it, but I’m still heavily involved in processes and thinking around the reform of the entire system of UN Human Rights Treaty Protection, and that will continue into the future. And I know that there are a variety of other UN opportunities and positions that may be coming up that I may be contemplating putting my name forward for in the future. But who knows? It’s good to take new challenges, but when one’s been working for as long as I have in the field, such as torture prevention, you can never really give it up.

It may sound trite, but genuinely it is seeing what so many of your students then go on to do – when you see what they say, read what they write, hear about what they may do in the organisations in which they work. And you think, I know why they think that because you remember talking to them about it. It is that sense that you have passed on something of what you have learned and you have thought, to others and see it influencing the way that they are going about their work and how they are influencing things around them that, to me, provides me with the greatest satisfaction.

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‘A law degree can open doors’ – law graduate shares her post-LLM journey into corporate governance

Posted on by University of Bristol Law School

My name is Grâce Bogba and I completed my LLM in Banking and Finance Law from Bristol Law School in September 2019 and have been working at Nestor advisors, a London-based advisory firm focused exclusively on corporate governance, ever since. The firm advises European and emerging market financial institutions, States and corporates as well as charities, family-owned and private-equity-backed companies.

I initially joined Nestor advisors as an intern and have been working as a junior analyst since April 2020.

What does a corporate governance analyst do?

Before getting into the specifics of my role, I would like to first define corporate governance because if you are anything like me at the time I applied for the position, you probably do not know much about corporate governance.

According to the Chartered Governance Institute “Corporate Governance refers to the way in which companies are governed and to what purpose. It identifies who has power and accountability, and who makes decisions. It is, in essence, a toolkit that enables management and the board to deal more effectively with the challenges of running a company. Corporate governance ensures that businesses have appropriate decision-making processes and controls in place so that the interests of all stakeholders (shareholders, employees, suppliers, customers and the community) are balanced.”

As a corporate governance analyst, my role includes completing basic and advanced analytical governance research, conducting benchmarking and gap analysis exercises against national and international best practices and writing client-specific reports and documentation (i.e. internal terms of reference, regulations and charters). I am also involved in the preparation of business proposals, presentations and workshops as well as interviews of clients’ key personnel. Since joining the firm in September 2019, I have worked on a variety of projects ranging from the review of the performances of boards of financial institutions to the update and development of national corporate governance codes.

What skills are required to work as a corporate governance analyst?

There is a legal aspect to corporate governance, albeit a limited one, as many of the requirements regarding the formation and activities of companies are dictated by law or regulation. In that sense, my legal knowledge as well as the analytical and problem-solving skills acquired during my studies were of great help to me both during the recruitment process and afterwards. As a matter of fact,  the team at Nestor advisors is multidisciplinary with backgrounds in law, economics, finance, management, and social sciences, and interestingly enough the founding director himself is a lawyer.

Moreover, given the diversity of the firm’s clients, most of whom are based in Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East, fluency in one or more foreign languages is an asset.

More importantly, creativity, the will and the ability to learn quickly as well as a “can-do attitude” are, in my opinion, the main skills needed to evolve in this fast-paced environment. Consultancy work can be demanding at times and involves long hours so flexibility is a must.

“Since working in this field I have developed new skills and competencies – such as data collection and analysis skills – while also putting to use my legal skills.”

Getting started as a corporate governance analyst

As mentioned earlier I started working at Nestor Advisors right after completing my LLM program. At the time, I was not looking for a career beyond traditional law firms and was actually scrolling through the Careers Service website in search of a training contract opportunity when I stumbled across Nestor advisors’ 6-month internship offer.

Back then, I did not think I met the criteria since I had no knowledge of corporate governance but went ahead and booked an appointment with a careers support officer who gave me invaluable advice on how to tailor my resume and cover letter to that specific offer.

At intern level, the recruitment process itself comprised of 3 steps:

  • Review of the applicants’ resume and cover letter;
  • Short-listed applicants are sent a practical case to complete in a set timeframe; and
  • Successful applicants are invited to an interview with a senior analyst.

The whole process, especially the practical case, seemed quite daunting at the time but in retrospect, it was a good learning opportunity as conducting the necessary research allowed me to get an understanding of corporate governance as well as its implications and challenges, which obviously came in handy during the interview.

Key advice

My advice for law students researching a career is:

  • Make use of all the resources that Bristol Law School and the Careers service has to offer It is worth giving it a try whether you are looking for interview tips, help with your resume or simply would like feedback on your cover letter.
  • Don’t limit your job search. (Big) law firms are not your only options. A law degree can open doors in banking, consulting, lobbying etc so I strongly recommend keeping an open mind.
  • Be audacious. Apply to positions even when they are not exactly law-related or you don’t meet all the required qualifications.
  • Put an emphasis on transferable skills. By studying law, you acquire much more than just a degree, you develop strong analytical, problem-solving and time-management skills to name a few. Make sure to highlight them on your resume.
  • Make use of your social connections. I would suggest considering setting a LinkedIn profile. Longer than a resume and more representative of who you are, it can be a big help in finding a job.

Further information

For more information on exploring specific career options, current law students can access tailored careers advice through our regular Employability Bulletin and a wealth of resources on our Blackboard page here. See our full Careers and Employability webpages here.

If you are interested in studying one of our postgraduate law courses, such as the LLM in Banking and Finance, you can join our next virtual open event on 4 March 2021. Sign up to the event via our virtual events webpage.