Aged nine, I was diagnosed as being on the autistic spectrum. But I was never raised to believe that this was something not to be discussed, or that made me less than anyone else. Whilst it would of course bring challenges, being autistic should not hold me back from achieving what I set out to achieve.

It was in that vein that, when it came for me to consider my future career whilst at university, and I began applying to law firm events and open days, I also applied to open days specifically for applicants with disabilities (the term ‘neurodiversity’ not yet being widespread). Here, attendees were able to discuss adjustments and support on offer at law firms, and to hear directly from lawyers with disabilities themselves.

Ten years ago it was somewhat difficult to find lawyers open about autism at these events. That just demonstrates the positive change that has been made over the last decade alone, as I now know of several within just my own firm, including at partner level. This also motivated me to volunteer with a disability consultancy to share my experience of autism with firms and to discuss adjustments firms could make to support autistic applicants.

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Around the same time, I was introduced to Reed Smith through another open day, and was able to learn both about the firm’s practice areas – including its entertainment and media practice, which I was, from the beginning, very interested in working in – and its work, since founding its Disability Task Force in 2012, to overhaul its recruitment process and remove potential barriers.

In time, I secured a vacation scheme interview with the firm, and their handling of this made clear their commitment to inclusion. As I had mentioned that uncertainty and nervousness in new situations was a common autistic trait, they allowed me to visit their office prior to the interview and to meet members of the graduate recruitment team in advance.

This allowed me to acclimatise to the environment in which the interview would be taking place, so that when it came around I could focus on answering the questions rather than having to worry about the new surroundings. This barrier having been removed, I ended up achieving one of the highest interview scores that year, securing the vacation scheme and, ultimately, a training contract offer. That led to a successful training contract, culminating in me qualifying in 2019 into my department of choice despite strong competition.

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Over the four and a half years since, I have developed a specialism in media litigation, been on several secondments, both to firm clients and to overseas offices, been promoted in recognition of my talents, and been supported by my practice group to take advocacy exams and qualify as a solicitor-advocate.

It is very much a personal choice for individuals as to whether or not they disclose their disabilities or neurodivergence, but I made the choice to be open as early as my first applications to law firms,. I do not regret this at all.

When it came to applications, being open about autism meant I was able to take ownership of framing this and explain how it affected me — including the skills it gives me, from a strong focus and determination to learn as much as possible about a subject (a very useful skill in law, and particularly litigation) to loyalty, and to being able to approach topics from different angles and add diversity of thought to discussions. This ultimately helped me put my best foot forward and to reach where I am today, as well as demonstrated by example why hiring neurodivergent people is not just a nice thing to do, but also makes sound business sense.

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I’ve also found that a policy of openness has really helped with building relationships, both internally and with clients, and in the advice and support I have been able to offer to clients. For example, my first client secondment, in the first year of my training contract, was to Bauer Media, who also happened to be looking at how they could expand their diversity offering at the time.

From the beginning, I was open with the team not just about being autistic, but also about the work I was involved in to promote disability and neurodiversity inclusion and acceptance within the workplace – supported by Reed Smith’s policy of counting 50 hours of diversity work each year towards billable hours targets.

As the team were aware of my lived experience and expertise in this area, I was asked to advise on how Bauer might best look to expand its diversity offering, and was ultimately asked to serve as an external member of its DEI Forum. I remain a member of forum to this day.

Clients have also reached out to me from time to time on autism and neurodiversity matters such as to discuss my experiences in light of their family members, or even themselves, being diagnosed. It is very rewarding to be able to use my experiences to assist them in this way.

Ten years on from when I first started applying to law firm events and four and a half years on from qualification, it is clear to me that the visibility of neurodiversity in the legal profession has very much increased.

This is of course from a low base, and there is always more to be done, but on a personal level I know that openness was the right decision to take, and I would very much hope that the progress made demonstrates to neurodivergent people considering a career in law that this should not be a barrier.