Claire Curtis
Having graduated from Newnham with a degree in modern languages (French and Spanish), I started my career in Public Relations advising clients on national and international media and crises strategies, internal communications, and stakeholder relations. I regularly used my languages: for example, I often dealt with “sister” PR agencies across Europe and for one client had to deal with both the World Health Organisation and the World Heart Federation, both of which are located in Geneva and so allowed me to make the most of my French.
Although my career started out in PR, I have always been interested in the law and ultimately that’s the path I decided to take. I am a Solicitor-Advocate and started my career in private practice in London, where I established a mixed commercial litigation practice advising clients in relation to professional liability disputes and high value commercial litigation. I have particular interest and experience in handling disputes involving fraud (including multi-jurisdiction claims), regulatory/governance matters, shareholder actions and partnership disputes, and disputes arising within the financial services, technology and sports sectors.
I worked at Charles Russell Speechlys and Clyde & Co, where I continued to use my languages - working in Geneva and Paris, on cases with international elements, including participating in a hearing in Paris.
I took a sabbatical at the end of 2018 and was lucky enough to travel for most of 2019, enjoying parts of Canada, the US, South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and many other places.
Returning from my travels, I undertook interim senior legal counsel positions, which involved short to mid-term in-house roles where specialist legal counsel was required, after which I joined Accenture as a Global Corporate Investigations Legal Counsel for EMEA.
Outside of my day job, a particular passion of mine is pro bono and since 2012 I have been involved with Together for Short Lives, a national charity which supports families of children with life-limiting medical conditions. I act as a volunteer support advocate drawing on my legal experience to help them with a range of issues involving care packages, housing and education. No two cases are the same and each has its own challenges, and I thoroughly enjoy it. An added bonus is that I still get to use my languages when helping many of the families.
As part of my volunteer work with TFSL, I helped set up a monthly legal clinic at Richard House Children's Hospice in East London supported by volunteer lawyers. Having proved to be very popular, the model has been rolled out across the UK by LawWorks so more families can benefit. I was very fortunate to receive the LawWorks' National Award for Best Contribution by an Individual 2016 for my pro bono work, and the clinic won a Gold Award at the Corporate Engagement Awards 2018.
I am also the vice-chair of the Governing Body at a London primary school for children with severe or profound learning difficulties.
I have remained involved with the University and was elected onto the Newnham Associates in 2017 to support the College and students, where I am joint President with Amna Boheim. I was elected to become an Associate Fellow of Newnham in early 2021.
I am very happy to chat generally about careers (including CV review, mock interview practice, transferable skills), and more specifically in relation to careers in law and pro bono / not for profit, and changing career paths. Please do get in touch and drop me a line.
It goes without saying that the avid traveller and linguist in me is still as active as ever and I spend as much of my free time as possible travelling, exploring new places and cultures around the globe and trying to expand my languages where possible.
Newnham 2001 - 2005, Modern and Medieval Languages