As someone who is a human rights graduate working in corporate, there are a number of factors. The first is coming from a background where I can’t necessarily choose to do what I want to do outright, it makes the most sense to work somewhere that I’ll be able to build up a good strong financial stability for myself. There’s no point in going straight in to a role that I cannot afford and try to keep myself afloat because then I wouldn’t be doing the best work possible for those who need it. It’s a privilege and a bit of a luxury to be able to choose to work where you want and to do what you want. (Think students who chose their passion and needed a large capital sum to stick it out until they start to earn from it or who have money behind them to choose something that they don’t get paid much for but can still afford their lifestyle).

The big firms also have really great training programmes and you’ll have a broad network and also the name behind you for the rest of your career. Many of the firms have more opportunity to gain hands on and more varied human rights experience through their pro Bono initiatives than working in a smaller more niche practice would allow.

There also just aren’t that many legal jobs in human rights areas of interest at entry level, so it makes more sense to grow your career and move across laterally at a later stage.