(English and European Law LLB, 2003)
What left an impression on me was what an influence a good academic can have, what a difference they can make to your learning experience at university. When I could see that I was making a difference to students’ learning experience, it made me want to invest more into that, and my ability to deliver the teaching.
Can you tell me about your current role? What does it look like on a day-to-day basis?
I’m a senior lecturer, teaching core modules, contract law and tort law. In term time that involves tutorials, supporting students in their learning, and of course the usual responsibilities of marking and preparation.
I’m also the deputy director of education for student experience, so outside of term time, I’m involved in a lot of student experience projects, particularly about how to maintain and improve the student experience in the current pandemic. I also sit on various committees, like the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) committee, the Anti-Racist Law School committee, amongst others. The third part of my role is about scholarship. So I write about English legal systems, legal skills and tort law. At the moment, I have a new edition of my legal skills book due out by the end of the year - if I finish it! I’m currently updating the other books as well. In addition to the textbooks, scholarship involves researching matters to do with student experience and student life generally within the law school, and more widely within the university.
I am currently researching the use of ebooks and use of online reading lists and how that could improve the student experience. In particular, for students who may need to study online or part-online and part-in person, and how an online reading list could potentially help improve that experience for students when they can’t get to the physical library. That then raises questions of how the library needs to change or amend to reflect the current way that students learn.
I have a chapter going in the legal skills book specifically about the online student experience. This book is really aimed at helping students transition into studying Law at university. To help develop their legal skills, particularly all the peripheral things you might not know before law school, rather than substantive areas of law.
Can you describe your career journey since graduation?
I graduated from Queen Mary with an LLB with European Law, which was a four year degree. I spent a year abroad, and then after I had come back, finished my studies and graduated, I went to the Inns of Court School of Law to take the Bar exams, and qualified as a Barrister. Thereafter, I worked at the Council of the European Union in Brussels as part of my legal training for six months, and then I came back to London and worked in a law firm whilst I was looking to complete the rest of my training.
The Erasmus year was the best thing, hands down. I would recommend to all students to do it. It’s really painful to say that in Covid, but if you get the chance, do it! An extra year in your degree that offers you something extra, is really worth it.
It was at this point that I was contacted by an old lecturer, to see if I would want to work at a university. I did, so found myself working part-time in the law firm, and part-time in the law school. A job was advertised at Queen Mary, which I applied for and got. At that point, I decided I wanted to go into academia rather than practice. Around 2009, after three years of working here on fixed term contracts, I got a permanent job at City University, and then I left in 2019 when Queen Mary advertised my current role.
What made you decide to go into academia rather than practice?
What left an impression on me was what an influence a good academic can have, what a difference they can make to your learning experience at university. When I could see that I was making a difference to students’ learning experience, it made me want to invest more into that, and my ability to deliver the teaching. In that moment as well, there were also lots of difficulties with the Bar. So this felt like a path that could deliver many parallels with being a barrister, because you have the advocacy, the public speaking, the preparation, the time management skills, all the delivery that goes with working at the Bar. Not only were there parallels in many of the areas I enjoyed, but I also get to choose my own projects for work and research.
Most academics are on teaching and research contracts, as I was at my previous institution. I was researching on state aid and the environment and how the two can marry together to achieve a better environmental result. But I was also keen to start my family, so when I went back to work after my second child, I decided to move onto the teaching and scholarship route to take away the demands of the research, so when I was ready I could take on the demands of scholarship, and write in the areas I want to write in.
Why did you choose to study Law? Why at Queen Mary?
My parents are first generation immigrants to this country so they were very keen for us to have a solid education as far as they could provide that. We were told that you go to university, you do these type of degrees. When I was researching courses, Law gave me the options of having huge transferable skills, including the big one of public speaking, and being able to write succinctly and clearly. Having all those skills and being able to develop those over the course of the law degree and having lots of options once I had graduated. I had the option at Queen Mary to do the four year degree, to spend a year in Europe, learning law in a different context and environment, and what that experience would bring into my development.
I am an east ender, born in Stratford, grew up around East London and wanted to stay in London. I commuted from home, knowing I had a year abroad so I was able to commute easily. At one level, it could have been another London university, but Queen Mary just seemed like the right fit.
What drew you back to work at Queen Mary?
After graduating and having that stint of work with the fixed term contracts, and knowing everyone here so well, I knew it would be comfortable. But also, being a Russell Group, the emphasis Queen Mary provides on research, and on development of its staff is so clear. The opportunity I think was there for me to develop. I also felt I had reached a glass ceiling at where I was working previously, I was ready for a change, and I don’t regret making the move at all, even though it meant I was on a fixed term contract (I am now permanent) when Covid hit!
Queen Mary delivers a really robust law degree, one that I am really proud to teach on and even more proud to develop with my colleagues. Queen Mary and the law school give you the opportunity to contribute to that development, and that academic freedom that the institution offers, I think was a really big draw for me. So I knew what I could develop, and what I could achieve, whereas I don’t think I could do that in the previous institution. I think here there is a lot more ability to recognise that. The other thing that drew me was, at the time, they were working on huge student experience projects, and I had gained lots of experience in this area in my previous institution. I knew I had more of value to offer here. It’s a nice environment to walk into knowing you can deliver something and develop it.
What’s the best thing about working at Queen Mary?
That’s an easy one - by far for me, it’s my colleagues. My colleagues and the collegiate culture!
Do you have any particularly fond memories of your time as a Queen Mary student?
The Erasmus year was the best thing, hands down. I would recommend to all students to do it. It’s really painful to say that in Covid, but if you get the chance, do it! An extra year in your degree that offers you something extra, is really worth it. A year in your life, when you’re so young is nothing. That is my favourite memory, and also my final year, when everyone was that much older, that much more mature, and we felt much more comfortable in what we were doing.
In my Erasmus year, I had to go to an English-speaking place, so it was between Brussels and the Netherlands. So I went to the Leiden University, in the Netherlands. I will say that I learnt a lot.
What advice would you give a current student or recent graduate considering their career options?
It’s probably the same advice I give my tutees – really think about your own strengths and where that would be valued. If you’re really clear on what you want to do, great. If you’re struggling a bit more with what to do with the degree, think about what the law degree has offered you and what transferable skills you have achieved and developed, and where they could be used? What are you interested in, and how can we map that across with what skills you’ve developed?
If you don’t know what you want, but know you want a graduate-level job, have a look at graduate schemes, because if you feel like you need structure, perhaps are feeling a bit lost, those jobs can offer that structure, until you work out what direction you want to go in.
What motivates you in life?
In work, to see the sense of student achievement – not grades, but being able to see on a student’s face that look of achievement when they know they have developed from one stage to the next. That motivates me every day.
In life, what motivates me is to try and set a good example to my children and my family. As the first generation that went to university, and a female from a non-traditional background, to let them know that opportunities are available to them.
How does your background influence your approach at work?
It can be really hard, not knowing how you will be received. I have often felt that I have to work harder than others, even when I was going into the Bar, I felt that culturally I lacked the capital that others had. So it is only now that I see that I have achieved things and have got somewhere, having worked through it all. I worked through where I needed to be, not knowing so many things that others did. It’s really nice to be able to talk to students who have a similar apprehension, or are having to manage cultural issues as well as their education issues, and their wants and desires. I feel like, now that I’m much more comfortable in my own skin, what I want and how I’m going to get there, but I wasn’t at that time. I always think that’s really important to me.
This goes back to the why I chose Queen Mary – I knew I’d be comfortable here, because of the diversity. I think it’s really important for me to recognise that. I didn’t always feel like I could catch up with all my counterparts in my class, and they knew things I didn’t. Trying to get somewhere with trying to develop all of that, not having had those conversations over the dinner table, and wondering “what does that mean, what was that about?” I feel like if I can give some advice to students who might be struggling with the same things, being a role model for that experience, is really important.
For me it’s always a learning experience, everything is a learning experience, everything is always changing and I take that on board in my job. When you asked what motivates me, it’s that there’s always opportunities to learn and develop.
If you would like to get in touch with Sanmeet or engage them in your work, please contact the Alumni Engagement team at alumni@qmul.ac.uk.