As an international arbitration lawyer at a top law firm, Samaa travels the world and thrives in a highly demanding work environment. She has done cross-examination before the United Nations while 8-months pregnant and won! She shares lessons she has learned about hard work, client care, and not comparing yourself to others.
Advice:
- Be yourself
- Don't spend too much time drawing comparisons with others
- Keep your head down and work hard towards your goals
Key notes:
- Samaa is a partner at the law firm Hogan Lovells where she practices international arbitration.
- International arbitration is a method of settling disputes, mostly commercial in nature, outside of the courts of any given country.
- Samaa’s job involves a lot of travel, which sometimes creates friction at home.
- When Samaa was young she wanted to be a journalist, but she changed her mind when the Sorbonne University opened a law school in Egypt.
- Her most proud moment was completing a cross-examination before the U.N that won the case, all when 8 months pregnant!
- Samaa was made partner shortly after returning from leave after her second child.
- She attributes her success in law to having the “human factor” and genuine care for her clients, which can’t be fabricated.
- Samaa knows that mentoring is a very powerful tool and says that she wouldn’t be where she is today without her mentor.
- It doesn’t matter what gender your mentor is, just so long as they have your best interests at heart.
- Samaa felt quite different as a woman in law when she started her career, but can now feel a shift in the industry towards more female partners and clients.
- Samaa has various strategies to make her life more manageable, these include; being flexible with her work hours, delegating more in work and at home and using apps like TaskRabbit for help
Quotes:
There's always a way to look at everything positively
It's better to focus on giving it your best and trusting that if you do that that you will succeed.
