Profile: Peter Tarn, corporate lawyer, Herbert Smith

I am an associate in the corporate division of Herbert Smith LLP, a large international law firm, where I specialise in energy and projects. The work in this area is very wide-ranging and can relate to power stations, wind farms, carbon trading, defence, transport, and many other matters.

During my final year reading Music at King's, I applied for a few internships with law firms in the City. I particularly enjoyed my summer placement at Herbert Smith LLP and successfully interviewed for a training contract. I then completed a year's post-graduate study at the Royal Academy of Music before spending two years at BPP Law School. As a non-law graduate, one's first year is spent completing a conversion course - the GDL (Graduate Diploma in Law). The second year brings law and non-law graduates together to complete the Legal Practice Course (the LPC - you'll get used to a lot of three-letter acronyms if you work in the City).

On completion of my studies, I started my two-year training contract. This involved four 6-month seats, each in a different department within the firm, and one can choose which departments to sit in. My path involved 6 months in each of: our energy and media litigation department (which meant lots of time at court); the corporate energy and projects group (where I now work); the project finance practice; and a secondment to the energy group in our Hong Kong office, which meant living and working in Hong Kong for 6 months, with one's accommodation, visa issues, luggage transportation etc. all provided for by the firm. A great plus to working at a large international company.

While growing up, I never knew what I wanted to do for a living. I loved music, but preferred to keep it as a hobby and it's still a wonderful distraction. However, I never intended to be a musician. During my second year at King's I decided that I would need to have a better look at alternative careers, so I spent some time talking with friends studying other subjects and with the careers service. After looking into a number of options, law seemed to be an interesting area with a structured career path, opportunities to live and work abroad and, obviously, good pay.

I was drawn to the energy sector because of its topical nature, the fact that energy issues are only going to increase in relevance in the coming years, and because it is not a strictly "academic" area of law.

On the plus side, working in a large international firm provides access to a wide range of industry sectors within which to work and many of the deals one works on will be covered by the media. I also get the opportunity to work with people from varied backgrounds and a whole host of different nationalities. The rewards are excellent (i.e. salary, benefits, annual leave) and, as I mentioned previously, the secondment opportunities to both our international offices and our clients' in-house legal teams are fantastic opportunities.

The negatives are that it can be a very demanding and high pressure environment and, as a result, one needs to be able to deal with such pressure and any stress that may occur. It's also no secret that when things are busy, the hours can be very long. However, after a particularly busy period, one will be able to enjoy a quieter period.

The Music degree at King's was useful to me because of the skills it provided. The skills I developed on the Advanced Analysis and Advanced Performance Studies courses are particularly valuable. As a lawyer, one has to analyse a lot of complicated information in a similar manner to the way one analyses music and one also has to be able to speak confidently to senior lawyers, clients and at presentations - something that requires very similar techniques to performing.

My three main tips:

• If you don't know what you want to do for a living (as I didn't), ask everyone you can for ideas. People may mention jobs that you may never have thought of or even heard of. The more ideas you can look into, the more likely you are to find something that interests you.
• Do your research. If you're attempting to get a job in a competitive industry (eg. as a City lawyer or professional musician), you have to make sure you know who you're talking to and what the job is about when you apply.
• Finally, be comfortable taking an educated risk and don't worry about getting it wrong first time. You can always change your job! Most of my fellow 2004 graduates have changed career at least once since their undergraduate days.