Lucy Vannet
Lucy's interview
You can find out more about Lucy by watching her interview, or by reading the transcript below, in which she discusses her career journey so far, her area of expertise, and advice she has for individuals coming through the ranks at the moment who want to make Partner.
Take us through your career journey so far.
So, I left university and I spent a year living and working in New York and interning for an executive head hunting firm. Then I came back and I worked in a Government department as a Policy Advisor for two years and that's what really led me down the career into law. I then did my law conversion course and I started as a Trainee at Devonshires in 2013. Living in New York was fantastic, it's a great city to live in and gave me plenty of opportunities. Also, working as a policy advisor was really interesting, it gave me the opportunity to see how laws are made and the Government decisions behind those.
Please could you outline your area of expertise and what attracted you to it?
I specialise in residential development, so I buy section 186 affordable units for our registered provider clients, and I also work in buying sites for development opportunities, so pre planning, and I also work on regeneration projects. I was attracted to this area of law because of the sheer variety of the work that I do. We could be working on development agreements, option agreements, transfers, we are also looking at plans for development. It's also quite a political issue because of how the Government's policy on housing informs the work that we do. We have a sheer variety of clients whether they're private developers, for profit, RP's, charitable RP's, and there's also just a range of illegal issues; it could be very technical point or it could be just a practical commercial point. So each day is different and that's what attracted me to this area of law.
What advice do you have for those individuals who are coming through the ranks at the moment and want to make Partner?
I think it's great to have ambition and to have that goal of becoming a Partner but I think for me, what was most helpful, was just concentrating on the work that I had to do in hand, doing it well, forming strong relationships with clients, and from that the Partners recognise your hard work and where you want to get to. I think it's also really important that you find a niche area that you're really interested in, that you can focus on and that separates you from everyone else as having that specialism, because that's something that contributes towards partnership.
What would you say to yourself as an NQ now that you’ve made Partner?
I would say that it's not as daunting as you think and that all your colleagues want you to succeed and to achieve what you want from your career. So just go for it and enjoy what you're doing.
What networking advice do you have for people? Do you stay in touch with colleagues who used to work at the firm who now work in-house?
Networking advice that I have for people is that it's not as daunting as you think. Nobody dislikes receiving an email or a call from you, inviting them to something or talking to them about something. Everyone is delighted to be contacted so once you get those first few introductory conversations off the bat, then it becomes less daunting. I do keep in touch with colleagues who have gone in-house, we have a very popular InLaws programme where we regularly meet with our in-house opposites.
What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
My hobbies at the moment mostly involve Play-Doh, going to the parks, and spotting tractors. I have two young children at the moment so time for hobbies is limited, but before children I really enjoyed walks and one particular highlight was doing the West Highland Way, so I'm hoping when my children are older we can do some more walks together.
Who is the person at the firm that you most regularly refer work to?
Probably Asif Patel in our Construction team. Partly because of the nature of the role that I work in, but also just because Asif is incredibly reliable and I know that whatever we refer to him; the clients are going to be happy with the end result.
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