Natasha Rai
Natasha Rai
Before I joined I was nervous. Will I fit in? Do people like me even work at firms like this? Turns out that's not what it's like at all. When I got started at Clifford Chance, I realised there was a reason I was here too
Natasha joined us as a Trainee in 2022, qualifying in 2024 and is currently an Associate in our Litigation Group.
While at university, she had two very different ideas for her future career: becoming a teacher or becoming a lawyer She initially chose teaching because she wanted to work with young people and develop her confidence. But after two and a half years in the classroom, she realised she was ready for a new challenge and decided to reawaken her dream of becoming a lawyer "I thought I was suited to law because I've always enjoyed reading, analysing texts and debating and, honestly, I thought my life would be life a TV show"
Natasha chose Clifford Chance because she wanted to work at one of the best law firms in the world. She knew it would give her access to complex, high-profile work for major clients. Having made the leap from teaching into law, she was looking for an environment that would continue to stretch her and accelerate her development "I knew retraining would be difficult, but I wanted to challenge myself and see what I was capable of. If I was going to make such a big career change, I wanted to be somewhere that would push me, help me keep learning and show me what I could achieve"
Even though law had long been a career aspiration, Natasha was worried she wouldn’t fit in. As the first in her family to go to university and the first to work in a professional office environment, she didn't see herself as the stereotypical trainee or lawyer. But meeting so many approachable and diverse people from Clifford Chance made her realise "I could see myself working here".
And, though being a lawyer doesn’t quite look like it does in the TV shows, her experience has been rewarding and exciting. She’s rotated between different teams through her training contract, spent 6 months in our Paris office and has worked on multiple, complex deals as a trainee and large-scale, high-profile disputes as an Associate. And her fears of not fitting in melted away "I realised there was a reason I was here too. Coming from a background in teaching gave me strong communication skills, resilience and confidence, all of which I am able to bring to my work at Clifford Chance. There isn't one mould for success here because everyone brings something different, and that's recognised and valued."