Faiza M

Profile:

I am Senior Legal Counsel for Monzo.

It was not until I did a placement at a law firm during university that I decided I wanted to practice the law. Shortly after, I was certain I wanted to train in-house rather than at a traditional city or regional firm. At the time it was a bold move; training contracts inhouse was, at best, scarce and I was told to “make it happen” for myself without really knowing what or how to achieve it.

I worked hard in developing my core legal skills through work experience and my soft skills by maintaining regular non-legal internships. A key focus for me was transferrable skills; it didn’t matter to me if I was working in sales at a high street retailer as long as the skills I was gaining were useful in my career.

Continuing my desire for training and qualifying in-house, I self-funded my LPC and secured a paralegal position at Travelex. Six months into my role, I was formally offered a training contract and qualified in March 2018.

During my time at Travelex, I have gained a tremendous amount of experience that far exceeds my PQE. I have worked on a range of customer and supply contracts with cross-border elements as well as large strategic, cross-functional global projects. I had opportunities to be seconded to a silver circle law firm in London and to our New York office.

In terms of diversity, I identify as a muslim black woman and it saddens me not to see so many others like me represented in legal practice or at senior/ExCo levels in organisations. I helped set-up, and I am an active member of, Travelex’s first Global Diversity and Inclusion Committee.

I feel extremely excited and privileged to be able to help you achieve your goals and aspirations. Please get in touch!