Future Trainee Series: Heidi Daryanani

Heidi Daryanani, Future Trainee Solicitor at RPC — On Paralegal Experience, Training Contracts and Standing Out in Applications

In this episode, Heidi shares her journey from growing up between India, Ireland and the UK to securing a training contract at RPC, offering practical advice for aspiring lawyers navigating the increasingly competitive route into commercial law.

Heidi reflects on discovering commercial law through years of study and practical experience rather than following a predetermined plan. She explains why spending time inside law firms, working alongside lawyers and reflecting on what genuinely interests you is often the best way to determine whether a legal career is the right fit.

The conversation explores Heidi's experiences working as a paralegal at both a leading US law firm and a specialist human rights practice. She discusses working on the UK COVID-19 Inquiry, helping prepare witness questions and submissions, before moving into high-value international arbitration and complex commercial litigation at a US firm.

Heidi explains why paralegal experience can provide far more than legal knowledge. From drafting documents and managing clients to understanding billing, communication and the commercial realities of legal practice, she highlights how these experiences build confidence long before starting a training contract.

A major focus of the episode is the competitive paralegal job market. Heidi shares the challenges of applying after graduation, the importance of persistence and how working with recruitment agencies, remaining open-minded and being willing to start in document review helped launch her legal career.

The discussion also explores how candidates can use paralegal experience effectively during training contract applications. Heidi explains how she linked her practical experience to the firm's strengths, demonstrated genuine interest in litigation and arbitration, and used conversations with trainees and recent judgments to show commercial awareness and preparation.

The conversation offers valuable insights into how law firms assess candidates beyond academic performance. Heidi explains why understanding how firms operate as businesses, appreciating client relationships and recognising the commercial pressures faced by lawyers helped strengthen both her applications and interviews.

Throughout the episode, Heidi emphasises the importance of resilience during the application process. She discusses how rejection is an inevitable part of pursuing a training contract and why candidates should focus on objective self-improvement rather than assuming every rejection reflects their ability.

Finally, Heidi shares practical advice for aspiring lawyers: stay persistent, keep building experience wherever possible, remain open to unexpected opportunities and remember that it only takes one firm to recognise your potential.

00:00 Introduction  
00:20 Meet Heidi Daryanani  
01:00 Why Commercial Law?  
02:00 Working as a Paralegal  
03:00 The COVID-19 Inquiry Experience  
04:00 Human Rights vs US Law Firms  
05:00 Skills You Gain as a Paralegal  
06:00 Finding Your First Paralegal Role  
07:00 Recruitment Agencies & Document Review  
08:00 Standing Out in Applications  
09:00 Using Paralegal Experience in Interviews  
10:00 Litigation, Arbitration & Commercial Awareness  
11:00 Understanding Law Firms as Businesses  
12:00 Building Practical Legal Skills  
13:00 Dealing with Rejection & Staying Resilient  
14:00 Final Advice for Aspiring Lawyers  

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Hello and welcome back to Lawsy Originals. I'm here today with Heidi. Could you introduce yourself, please?

SPEAKER_01 0:13

Thank you for having me here. I'm Heidi. I'm a future trainee at RPC. I secured my training contract in August 2024, and since then I've worked as a paralegal. And I've also been doing my SQEs, and I'm currently doing my SQE plus at U Law. In terms of my background, I was born in India and I lived there until I was six years old and grew up between Ireland and the UK.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

Thank you. Now I have to ask everyone this question just to break the ice. I'm wondering what made you want to be a commercial lawyer.

SPEAKER_01 0:43

I think it was an interesting journey for sure. And I think one that probably looks like it's intentional, but that wasn't always the case for me. I guess, like most people, a decision about a career is an intersection between what you're good at and what you enjoy. And that was similar to for me, I guess. So I, you know, some people will know what the best option is. I didn't really, and I figured that out over the course of five years. So I was working as a paralegal, and then I also had my law degree. Um and I realized I enjoyed all of that. Um and I guess I knew I wanted to do something that challenged me and also aligned with my interests, and commercial law is doing all of that for me. Um, and I think for anybody listening, if you're trying to also work that out for yourself, it would be things like listening to podcasts like this one, or sometimes just putting yourself sitting in a law firm and working alongside lawyers and seeing how you feel, and then the best kind of evidence for you will be how you see yourself develop and grow in that sort of environment.

SPEAKER_00 1:45

No, a hundred percent. And one of those environments is one that you're very familiar with in terms of your role as a paralegal. So could you talk me through your kind of experience as a paralegal?

SPEAKER_01 1:56

I worked as a paralegal at a few different firms, but I'll focus on two for the moment. I worked at a US law firm and their complex litigation team, and then also worked in a human rights firm. Um, and obviously two very different experiences. I think I'll keep it brief and I'll focus on two sort of anecdotes or experiences that I had to illustrate what it was like. Um, I guess in the human rights firm, I was working on the COVID inquiry, and the most exciting thing for me was um for one of the modules, we had a period of 10-week hearings. So these were the substantive hearings. Um, and so, you know, we'd every week we'd have to. So part of my role was to come up with questions to put to the witnesses on behalf of our clients. So um, and then I'd be excited to see which questions were selected. Um, but behind the scenes, that looked like reviewing loads of witness statements every single day and then liaising with counsel because then they would be the ones asking the questions, but also really understanding in depth what our clients' issues are because you're asking on their behalf at the end of the day. Um, and then other things I did on the COVID inquiry were learning how to draft the opening and closing submissions and um and also doing lots of billing work. Um, and I think I learned that from that experience that litigation is about kind of draft um creating new areas of law as well. And I guess in public interest work, you'll often bring an individual client's case, but it's not just that because what you're doing is actually, you know, together um with lots of different cases, you're exposing systemic issues, and so that's really valuable. Um, and then I guess moving on to my experience at the US law firm, um, one of the things I did was uh a case that was a private equity shareholder dispute um in front of the London Court of International Arbitration, another really rewarding experience, and I think for this one I remember just because it was a really small team as US firms tend to be, um, I was working directly with the partner and discussing points of law with council. Um, and then I yeah, we had a few memorable late nights in the office that turned into mornings in the office, um, just to get all the filings done on time. And I think again, really rewarding experience working with brilliant people overall. So for me, what I learned is that paralegal experience can be really rewarding because especially if you're working in a small firm, you get the opportunity to be stuck in from day one and you learn really valuable client-facing skills, um, or you learn soft skills, including um fee management or client management or communication with the court. And then when you start your training contract, these are really useful because you're already going to be thinking about other things like secondment opportunities or qualification feedback, um, seat selection. So if you've got these skills um already, then it will obviously aid you. Um, so that's that's been my make my experience being a paralegal.

SPEAKER_00 4:55

I think paralegaling is something that a lot of training contract applicants actually forget is an option for them because a lot of people graduate from law school without a training contract, but they might not necessarily feel ready to self-fund the SQE, obviously taking on the financial risk of debt that might be involved or just, you know, jumping into the SQE, it's quite an intense examination period. But it's quite simplistic advice to say, oh, well, you should become a paralegal because the paralegal job market is also incredibly competitive. So, do you have any tips or advice for law graduates who are looking into the paralegal route?

SPEAKER_01 5:32

Absolutely. So, um, as you were saying, that it is really competitive. And I remember when I was applying, I would spend, I think for the first three or four months, I had I heard no response after I graduated. Um, and I remember being in Costa Coffee every single day. And I also worked there, so I was really making the most of it. Um, and I would send applications to, you know, for both paralegal roles and for training contracts, just hoping for one positive response. So it is really competitive. Um, I guess I was really fortunate because um eventually there was one uh recruitment agency that kind of phoned me and they asked me what I'm interested in, and then I ended up with a document review role. And I think these are quite common, especially if you're someone like me and have had no legal experience, and that's kind of where you'd begin. Um, and I guess in terms of the advice, I would say to be open-minded because you may end up um, especially with your first few paralegal experiences, you may want to focus on just building your confidence in a law firm environment and kind of focusing on that first meaningful legal experience. Um, another piece of advice would be, I guess, thinking about um being persistent because you know, again, you have to send out as many applications and reach out and um submit your profile to lots of different agencies, and then one of them will connect with you. Um I would say the second step would be to think about so some law firms who are looking to hire will be interested in a cover letter, and so they'd appreciate if you could kind of draft that in advance and so start thinking about why you want to join a particular practice area, and you may want to draw on your university experiences or any other work that you're doing. So for me, I was doing ad hoc court clerking, so I use that in my application. Um, so I think overall it's a combination of um reaching out to agencies in direct applications and then, you know, perfecting your CV and cover letter in the meantime.

SPEAKER_00 7:36

And I think it's such a good point you made about beginning in document review. So when I was still applying for training contracts, my favorite pastime was going on LinkedIn and looking at people who were at the firm that I really wanted to secure a role with. And I remember seeing a senior partner who started off as a claims handler and she worked as a claims handler for five years, then she worked as a paralegal for two years, and then she got a training contract, and now she's a senior partner. Whereas I think a lot of university students, particularly university students who do attend top Russell Group Universities or Oxbridge, they feel a pressure to secure a training contract in their second year of university and fly out the gates. But to be honest, that's not how it happens for 95% of people. So it's really interesting and refreshing to hear your views on it as well, because I completely agree. And I'm wondering, after your experiences working as a paralegal, when you were interviewing four training contracts, how did you talk about your paralegal experiences effectively in those interviews?

SPEAKER_01 8:40

For me, it was um a case of using my experiences to justify my interest in specific practice areas, and for me that would be litigation. Uh, so I, as I said, I had experience in both claimant-sided and defendant-sided litigation. Um, and then I I've ended up by a firm that has strengths in both. Um, another thing is that I drew on my experience on the case before the London Court of International Arbitration because the firm I I was applying to, they just before my application, they were bolstering their arbitration practice and they just hired, well, not just, but not too long before my application had hired a partner to strengthen that to strengthen their team. Um, another thing I did was I spoke to trainees in litigation and you know, drew on their um advice or stories, um, and also just reason reading judgments because the team that I was focusing on, they were really strong and they actually had kind of um headlines in the lawyer. And so I went away and read the judgment, the relevant judgment, and mentioned that in in my interview. And I really do believe that any sort of work experience and paralegal experience in particular will strengthen your application because there are so many questions that it would cover. So the firm would probably ask you what practice areas are you interested in, and then you can draw on your experience, or they might ask you situational questions and you may have ex um encountered those again in work. Um, another thing is understanding how law firms work as a business. You probably will have a better understanding. So, in my case, it was because I was doing a lot of billing work, and then the senior associate I was working under, she'd just spun off to create her own team. And so conversations with her really helped me understand what the business demands are, and um, and that was obviously valuable. And then I guess things like skills, what skills do trainees need, that's almost guaranteed as some sort of question of whether in an interviewer application. Um, and you will probably begin to understand those quite well when you work. So I would mention specific documents I learned to drafts, like statements of cases, or learning how to navigate the e-filing system, or um potentially um when I first joined, I didn't really understand client communication as well in the sense of um I I just wouldn't be the one drafting it. I would just watch the emails fly by. Yeah, of course. Um but then I got to a point where I was the one who who was in charge of drafting for certain um work streams. I think that that's the sort of progression to understand and and you can mention and bring value to your application in that way.

SPEAKER_00 11:14

So just to close up, I'm wondering if there is one thing that you wish you knew before you ever submitted a VAC scheme or a training contract application.

SPEAKER_01 11:23

So I think um I guess the law firm process can be a bit opaque. And what I wish I knew was, I guess, the idea that you will never really know what made your application not go through. Um, so there's no definitive answer, and it could be that, you know, there's a multitude of reasons, and instead of focusing on those, I guess you can be a bit more objective and try to be reasonable and in identifying how you can improve rather than kind of creating self-doubt or um feeling like you have to go back to the drawing board and start all over because you did you've done something wrong. Um so I think yeah, it's tricky because you know everybody in this process will go through rejections and setbacks at various stages first. So that yeah, I think what I I wish I knew was um the importance of being objective and reasonable in identifying areas of improvement myself because feedback isn't often readily available. Um and I would say it is it is true that you know all it takes is one firm to choose you and the right firm is out there. So continue to put yourself in front of firms, make yourself visible and participate in as many things as you can.

SPEAKER_00 12:32

I think it's so true what you said about the application process being quite opaque and you won't always know why you've been rejected. And it also does not always mean something because I was still receiving rejections from firms that I had applied to when I had three VAC scheme offers in hand. So if I had internalized those rejections as thinking that I was a bad applicant, that wouldn't have made any sense. And I think it's important for candidates to remember that and just keep their chin up and keep persisting on because it is a very difficult process, but it's not impossible at all. So I've really, really enjoyed your insights today and your perspective on things. It's been such a great conversation. I can't thank you enough for coming on.

SPEAKER_01 13:13

Oh, thank you.

SPEAKER_00 13:13

And best of luck with your training contract.

SPEAKER_01 13:15

Thanks very much. It's been really nice being here. And for anyone listening, if you do want to reach out for any further chats or anything I've discussed, be more than happy to help. Um, thank you. Thank you.