Salma Sawalmah

What motivated you to pursue the LLB Law?

I was fascinated in the legal affairs of different jurisdictions specifically the UK as it is based on a common law system and an adversarial one at that, which is different from the civil jurisdiction in the UAE.

But my interests in studying Law transpired through many other factors such as the depths of corporate governance, as well as other forms of disputes resolutions such as ADR rather than proceeding with litigation. Moreover, laws are always changing and developing.

What especially inspired me in my LLB was Company Law (taught by Simon Golding) and Commercial Sales Laws (taught by Steven Trauxall) and the fact that lawyers question points in the law to understand the principles that are being implemented.

Were you involved in activities such as mooting, pro bono work or took part in a vacation scheme?

I was involved in some moot activities specifically as it was part of the English Legal System course. I was Senior Claimant meaning that I was the first person to speak to the “judge”.

I am usually good at public speaking but this activity was different as this was based more on the way in which you articulate your arguments and think about the potential counter-arguments.

However, you also need to remember that you as counsel need to take the judge onto a journey - an active journey. You need to ensure that the judge is following your thought process and to do so you draw the judge’s attention to your basic argument, your bundle, and of course the holy grail of it all the CPR (Civil Procedure Rules) White Book.

How did you find studying in the UK or in London?

My student experience was not what I expected to be frank. I expected myself to be from 9-9 at the library, reading 24/7, learning and basically being pushed to my limits all the time.

In reality, I would schedule my week to be more lenient and go with the work I would have as well as spending time with my friends or have some me-time.

My favourite things to do when I was alone, could be either walking to the gym to get some exercise or even just walking in general. I found this to be the best medicine for my mental health as majority of the time I would be overthinking my next steps in my studies.

What are you doing now?

I am currently working and studying for my SQE at the same time. I know this sounds insane as many people would ask me “where do you find the time?” or “won’t you tire yourself out?” and to those questions I have a simple answer which is: determination. I am determined to grow my knowledge as well as becoming a qualified solicitor.

The City Law School prepared me for this by helping me push myself. I will always remember when we had our Tort Law final exam and a day before the exam I had memorised the Caparo v Dickman test in order to answer the exam questions and our professor emailed us stating that the rule has been amended to Robinson v West Yorkshire Police meaning that I would need to memorise the principle in 24 hours!!

I will never forget that night as my friends and I started doing exam questions as per the Robinson principle.

What one piece of advice would you give to someone considering studying the LLB?

During my time at City, I met many of my closest friends. We would all go to the library or Joe and the Juice to work and test one another as we wanted to help each other grow.

The best moments were the times we shared while studying as well as those having fun. It has been around 4 years now since I graduated and I still thank my luck for going to City and meeting my friends.

Basically, my advice about studying Law at City is that even though the courses are tough and the truth is that you have to work really hard and put in hours to learn and READ, you also need to manage your time in order to not tire yourself out.