Can you describe your academic and professional background? What was your experience at Sciences Po Law School? 

I started Sciences Po after high school and went to Argentina during the third year abroad. There, I took classes of international private law, human rights, international relations and psychology and traveled a lot.

When I came back to Sciences Po, I decided to study law with the idea to become a criminal lawyer and to work at some point for a human rights organization to help people as much as possible through law.

The first year of my Master in Economic Law, I was part of a project with France terre d’asile, to help asylum seekers. As a lot of students at Sciences Po Law School, I took a gap year. I did my first internship at the High Council of the Judiciary as I thought about becoming a judge. I was intern in a criminal law firm where I was able to confirm I wanted to work in that field and become a lawyer. During this year, I was also part of the Sciences Po team which participated to an international arbitration moot court in Bogota.

During my second year of Master in Economic Law, Programme Global Governance Studies (GGS), I participated to the Sciences Po Law School Clinic and worked on a project about female sexual mutilation.

Studying at Sciences Po allowed me to take time to experience and chose what I wanted to do with my life. The same can be said of Sciences Po Law School, at least of the GGS Programme, as we are free to chose very different fields of studies.

After Sciences Po, I entered the lawyer school, the École de Formation des Barreaux (EFB). The formation is divided in three semesters: the first one, I had class and started a part-time internship for a criminal lawyer I loved to work with, Matthieu Hy; then, I had the luck to get an internship at Nomos, a labor and work law firm. I never worked in that field of law and they took a chance on me. I learned a lot with them and started to think that it would be great to work there after the lawyer school. So I was super happy when they offered me to continue to work with them as a lawyer! For the last semester of lawyer school, I am doing my internship in the criminal department of Seban & Associés, a public actors’ law firm where I am learning a lot with a great team.

What are the main characteristics or your job today? 

As a trainee in criminal law, I am involved in every aspects of the cases: I do research, write conclusions and legal opinions, meet clients (mostly by phone because of covid) and go to trial with the lawyers I work with. I have the luck to work with lawyers who trust me and let me do a lot of things while taking the time to explain to me what I still don’t know.

What are your next projects?

In July 2021, I’ll have to pass the Certificat d'Aptitude à la Profession d'Avocat (CAPA), which is the last examination to have the bar, and I’ll start to work for Nomos as a jurist at the same time. And once I’ll be a lawyer, I’ll stay there as a junior associate. The idea is to work in labor and work law as it is the area of expertise of the team I join but also in criminal law.

I also want to join an association fighting against violence against women as I am deeply convinced law can participate to change the society and to fight against sexism. I’m just waiting to pass the exam to have a bit more time!

Any advice for those who would like to join Sciences Po Law School?

I guess my advice is to be ready to read a lot! More seriously, I guess I would advise future students to make the most of Sciences Po Law School : to choose classes just because it is an unknown area, to try as many fields of law as they want, to not put pressure on themselves if they are unsure of what they want to do after law school.

I would also encourage everyone to take the gap year to get internships in the fields they like. I also think it is important to choose very different law firm structures for their internships if they want to be lawyers. I have some friends who decided not to become lawyers because they hated to work for the big firms, but the little firms are very different and offer great perspectives of career.

Finally, I would recall that no choice is definitive : you can take classes of international law and human rights and end up working in a labor and work law firm when you never really studied French labor law!

Marine Segura, Graduate of the Sciences Po Law School, Master in Economic Law, Programme Global Governance Studies (GGS), 2019