Bindmans is committed to equality and diversity and welcomes applications from all sections of the community.
What is the highlight from your time working at Bindmans so far?
Our people’s response to the pandemic. In a long and varied career this is my first global pandemic. This is the biggest external change I’ve faced as a CEO. Change hits people in different ways. The bigger the change the wider the range of responses and we’ve had a wide range of responses. However, as we all faced this huge external challenge, all our people have determinedly and professionally pushed on. They have ensured superior support for our clients and each other day by day. This then has ensured the firm’s resilience for the future.
Everyone has a context at home and at work. Everyone faces challenges under the pandemic, some greater than others. Everyone at Bindmans has persevered. Not just a highlight of my short time with the firm but a career highlight, working with a band of such people.
What are you looking forward to at Bindmans in the next few months?
Diminishing pandemic disruption and less distraction from running the firm. Across the management team, every decision, every action has required an element of double think. ‘What’s the right thing to do here?’, ‘Is it different under the pandemic?’ I guess for all of us, the day job without a pandemic is going to look a bit simpler than how we used to see it.
Performing a complex task that you have done before is rewarding but not so much of a challenge. Facing a complex task for the first time when you don’t know how to do it, or even if it is possible – much more interesting.
What aspect of your work do you enjoy the most?
The uncertainty. Stuff that makes me a bit uncomfortable. I work a fair bit with numbers but numbers are pretty much straight forward. They do what you tell them to do, you know how they will behave under different conditions. They are predictable.
People? Less so, especially lawyers. Persuading people in a changing environment to do things they find uncomfortable is much more interesting.
Performing a complex task that you have done before is rewarding but not so much of a challenge. Facing a complex task for the first time when you don’t know how to do it, or even if it is possible – much more interesting.
Why did you choose Bindmans?
I’m still pretty new to Bindmans, just two years in, most of which was spent at home. My previous career has been in a conventional commercial environment where people are well meaning but less committed to making a social impact, where business is broadly benevolent but less focussed on ESG (environmental, social and governance). The opportunity to do what I do (suggestions on a postcard please) in a business environment more focused on ESG, alongside people committed to making a social impact was an easy choice.
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Yagmur Ekici | Partner
Partner, Clinical Negligence and Personal Injury
T +44 20 7833 4433
E yagmur.ekici@bindmans.com
What is your specialist area of law?
Clinical Negligence and Personal Injury.
Who makes up the majority of your client base?
I act exclusively for claimants, so my client base is made up entirely of ordinary (and often very extraordinary) people.
Anyone can be injured in an accident and lots of people can, unfortunately, suffer serious harm in hospitals as a result of negligence.
I have stayed on at Bindmans for nearly 11 years because of the people I work with and the cases I get to work on.
Not that many but we have looked into new enquiries for lots of people across the firm. We act and have acted for clients who are friends or family of people around the firm.
What aspect of your work do you enjoy the most?
I love quantifying cases. It is the part of the case that brings everything together. I obviously love meeting and speaking to my clients. It’s the part of the job that puts everything into context.
Why did you choose Bindmans?
I chose Bindmans because they offered me a job. I have stayed on at Bindmans for nearly 11 years because of the people I work with and the cases I get to work on. The culture of my department is something that is very special. The type of work I do will always have its challenges and law can grind you down, but working with kind and generous people is a big draw.
Will Whitaker | Associate
T +44 20 7833 4433
E will.whitaker@bindmans.com
What is your specialist area of law?
I work in the Court of Protection, inquests (mainly mental health or other healthcare issues), human rights claims, community care challenges, and housing.
What aspect of your work do you enjoy the most?
The best part of the job is working with and getting to know the clients. I’ve missed seeing my clients during the pandemic and can’t wait to get back to seeing the people I am working for again!
Hannah Marshall | Associate
T +44 20 7833 4433
E hannah.marshall@bindmans.com
What is your specialist area of law?
My practice areas are family and matrimonial (divorce and finances upon separation), child arrangements disputes (between parents) and cross-border children disputes (parental child abduction and wardship proceedings). I am also interested in adoption with an international element, surrogacy and alternative pathways to parenthood.
What aspect of your work do you enjoy the most?
My favourite aspect is seeing clients who are delighted to achieve a positive outcome on their cases, for example, parents being reunited with their children having not been able to spend time with them for long periods of time, or securing a financial settlement which will set a client up for retirement when previously they feared being left destitute.
It is a pleasure to work alongside such bright, kind and compassionate colleagues – the people really do make this firm and I feel very lucky to work in such a supportive environment!
Why did you choose Bindmans?
I chose Bindmans because of its commendable ethos to protect the rights and freedoms of the individual, regardless of their means or circumstances. It is a pleasure to work alongside such bright, kind and compassionate colleagues – the people really do make this firm and I feel very lucky to work in such a supportive environment!
Bartosz Kruk | Solicitor
T +44 20 7833 4433
E bartosz.kruk@bindmans.com
What inspired you to go into law?
Law didn’t occur to me as a career until I was already at university. I befriended a group of future lawyers in first year and, being a very earnest 18 year old, tagged along to some of their lectures. I quickly realised that their public law and human rights course was far more interesting than anything in my economics lectures. I knew I was going to go into law from then on.
What specialist area of law do you hope to go into?
I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to learn about defamation, privacy and data protection law immensely. This is the work of the Media and Information team I’m currently training in. Equally, I’ve always been interested in public law and how judicial review allows individuals and organisations to steer government in the right direction when things go wrong.
It is a privilege in this job that you get to hear about sometimes extraordinary episodes in people’s lives, and get to help them tell those stories as part of a case.
What was the step like going from paralegal to trainee solicitor?
There’s a steady learning curve and I’ve been doing more and more complicated work as time goes on. But overall it’s been a smooth progression.
What aspect of your work do you enjoy the most?
I like speaking to clients and witnesses and going through evidence. It is a privilege in this job that you get to hear about sometimes extraordinary episodes in people’s lives and to help them tell those stories as part of a case. I’ve also enjoyed the chances I’ve had to get stuck into documents and to start recreating a narrative about a case out of the mass of paper you start with.
Why did you choose Bindmans?
Bindmans is a leading human rights firm which takes fascinating cases, often at the cutting edge of the law, where every day you make a real difference to clients’ lives, and where even at a junior level you’re trusted with plenty of responsibility. There just is not another place like Bindmans.
+44 20 7833 4433
RECRUITMENT@BINDMANS.COM
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