Winter
2013
12
13
Brian
Naumann
Brian Naumann
(1991-
1998) is a solicitor-advocate
at West End law firm
Magrath. He spent several
years as an immigration
specialist, eventually
becoming the youngest
director in the country
at legal aid firmDuncan
Lewis. He now advises
private individuals on all
matters, especially their
family and business needs
settled on a career as a lawyer early
on I think. I remember choosing History
GCSE to begin learning the skills of
evaluating evidence. Not wanting to
give up any languages though, I took
French, Latin and Greek toA-Level
which was the perfect way to begin
learning drafting and advocacy skills.
I read law at University College,
Durham. At that time the Human
RightsAct was passed, and I found
myself very interested in this, as well as
constitutional law, British sovereignty,
and the supremacy of European
Law. Outside of the law, having been
involved in theatre at Merchant Taylors’
I was very interested in acting, and this
was something I continued at Durham. I
also directed a play (
Les Mains Sales
) in
my final year, probably having got a feel
for it after winning the House Drama
competition for Mulcaster. Looking
for a way to continue with something
theatrical and continue with the law, I
decided that becoming a barrister was
the way forward.
I was always interested in justice and the
idea of right and wrong; I suppose I decided
that I wanted to make a difference too, but
without really knowing how. I studied for
the Bar at the College of Law in London
and joined the Inner Temple. Becoming a
barrister is notoriously difficult since there
is such fierce competition for pupillage.
Several interviews later I was within arm’s
reach when the Chambers concerned split
into two sets, and the rug was pulled out
fromunder me.
I took a job as a ‘caseworker,’ what
they labelled a non-practising barrister
at the time, with a legal aid firm called
Duncan Lewis. I joined the Immigration
Department and began to work on asylum
and immigration law. As a fresh-faced law
school graduate, to call it a baptism of fire
would be an understatement. My work
for the next several years would involve
not just attending asylum interviews
for refugees, but assisting them to draft
statements of their account of persecution
through an interpreter, assisting themwith
drafting their detailed appeal statements
(rebuttals against the reasons for refusing
their applications), and the drafting of legal
arguments for their court hearings, andmy
favourite part – attending court to advocate
on their behalf. I represented refugees,
foreign spouses, students, workers, and
criminals facing deportation.
I decided to cross-qualify and become
a solicitor so I took the Qualified Lawyers
Transfer Test, which involved going back
to law school to learn about what solicitors
do, and to learn about the Solicitors
Accounts Rules. I joined the Law Society
and continued to work at Duncan Lewis, this
time joining the Criminal Law department.
Keen to continue to be involved in
advocacy I worked as a criminal trial lawyer,
representing clients in the magistrates’
courts. The firmpromotedme to supervisor,
and then to head of department, and
eventually, I was asked to become a director
so that I became the youngest director of
the largest legal aid law firm in the country.
I obtainedmy higher rights of audience so
that I could appear in the Court of Appeal.
At the peak of my career at Duncan
Lewis I was running a court team of eight
advocates, supervising their work and
mentoring them to be the best that they
could be, and this was incredibly satisfying.
At the same time I was runningmy own
appeals, taking two cases to the Court
of Appeal to change the law. One of the
decisions provided guidance on the very
test for permission to appeal, amending
constitutional law.
After ten years of working in legal aid,
with cuts in funding on the horizon, and in
the knowledge that I would not be able to
progress my career any further at Duncan
Lewis, I decided to move on and obtained
a job at PwC Legal. Going straight from
legal aid to the city was a shock to the
system and I foundmyself going from
representing those who had no money at all
to representingmillionaires. Ultimately, the
change in environment was not for me, and
I decide to move on. I found a great niche
firm in theWest End calledMagrath and
I could not be happier. I amnow advising
foreign investors and entrepreneurs who
wish to set up a business in the UK or invest
in UK publicly listed companies, but I also
assist themwith their private immigration
needs and with citizenship advice.
There is a great deal of job satisfaction
as a lawyer, and there are many feel-good
moments: that moment when your client
finds out that they have been granted
refugee status; that moment when your
client is granted bail and his loved ones in
the back of the court room jump for joy and
you get assaulted by hugs; that moment
when a judge allows an appeal so that a
family can be reunited and the client from
Africa says: ‘Jesus bless you’; that moment
when you find the perfect legal argument
or that provision which solves a client’s
problem; the enjoyment and satisfaction
of drafting that legal provision you found
into a concise argument; that moment
when you can see how far your teamhave
come and that their skills have improved;
the enjoyment of attending lectures to stay
updated on the law. There is so much scope
for what you can do as a lawyer. If you enjoy
writing, you can put your skills into drafting.
If you enjoy composing (moving) speeches,
you can do advocacy. You can be a barrister
or a solicitor; with direct access or higher
rights of audience. No two lawyers are the
same and the profession is vast and exciting.
I amproud to have been ‘called’ to the
Bar and admitted to the roll. It hasn’t always
been easy, and it involves a lot of hard work,
but I couldn’t do anything else.
I
Law
