Vanessa Byrne, partner and Co-Head of our Real Estate team, joined Bobby Kerr in-studio as part of the Industry Review panel on Newstalk’s Down to Business. Each week the panel focuses on a different career or profession, and this week, solicitors were in the spotlight.

Vanessa and fellow panellists - family law solicitor Keith Walsh and Michael Smyth of FG Phelan & Company - discussed everything from their route to practice, life as a trainee lawyer and how the profession has changed in recent years.

Vanessa said: “The kind of work I was doing 25 years ago is so different to what I’m doing now - the profession has changed so much. But also the nature of your progression through a law firm...it’s never dull. A lot of what I’m doing is leading teams and project managing big transactions and problem solving, which are probably very transferrable skills.”

Vanessa also commented on the experience of training in a large law firm, saying: “There’s a huge social benefit, you really make friends for life.”

Listen back to the full panel discussion via the Newstalk website.

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