Jewish students gather in succah to hear from legal eagles

Over 60 students turned out on Tuesday evening for the second annual Succah in the City event at a top City law firm.

Suited and booted, the Jewish students listened attentively to a panel of experts including Lord Pannick, Eve Salomon, Anthony Julius from Mishcon de Raya, Harold Paisner from Berwin Leighton Paisner, the grounds of whose Thames-side offices played host to the event.

In an impressive succah with the City of London, the Shard and Tower Bridge as backdrop, the panel answered questions from the floor. The event was chaired by Union of Jewish Students president Joe Tarsh (pictured below, with Eve Salomon and Lord Pannick).

Interestingly, when asked whether they had always wanted to be lawyers, three out of four of the panelists said No!

Eve Salomon, who chairs RICS and acts as legal advisor to the Council of Europe, confessed that she had wanted to be a theatre director whilst studying sociology at the University of Bath.

Anthony Julius, the deputy chairman of major law firm Mishcon de Raya, spoke wistfully of wanting to become a full-time scholar of English Literature, but told of how he didn’t achieve the grades whilst at Cambridge. Only Lord David Pannick said he had always wanted to pursue a career in law.

Questions from the audience covered a variety of topics, from the severity of punishments for anti-Semitic football chanting, to the wearing of Islamic veils in court.

Crucially, the four top lawyers were asked to share their ‘top tip’ with the audience of law hopefuls.

BLP Senior Partner Harold Paisner told the assembled masses to listen to their superiors and peers and take on board their suggestions. Lord Pannick told them to ‘do their homework properly’ and research as many details of every case that they can. Eve Salomon advised never to ‘feel stuck’ and to find a job they enjoy, whilst always being open to saying ‘yes’ to new opportunities.

Concluding proceedings, Anthony Julius said it was ‘more possible to get away with being a lawyer than you think!’

From the Jewish News team, a huge Well Done to UJS for putting on another successful event! In the committee’s first month, they’ve set the bar (pardon the poor pun) high.