Pierre Pecheux studied the Graduate Diploma in Law programme at The City Law School graduating in 2013.
What is your current role or position?
Member of the Legal Service of the Council of the European Union. My role involves two main responsibilities: first, I advise on the drafting of EU laws, checking the compatibility of legislative proposals with the EU Treaties and with other areas of EU law, second, I represent the Council of the EU in litigation before the Court of Justice of the EU.
Which organisation do you work for?
The Council of the EU is an institution made up of the government ministers of EU countries. It examines and passes laws along with the European Parliament, functioning as an upper legislative chamber, a bit like the UK House of Lords. It also defines EU policy, particularly foreign policy.
What motivated you to pursue the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL)?
When I began the GDL, I had just finished a degree in Law & History from a Scottish university, and my intention was to move down to London to finish my studies and become a barrister.
I was drawn to City University’s programme because it had a reputation as offering an excellent training for the Bar.
Oral advocacy was what most interested me in the work of a lawyer, and I liked that City offered many opportunities to participate in mooting competitions at the international level, that many of the teaching staff had experience at the Bar, and that it organised frequent events with barristers’ chambers.
What were you doing before studying the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL)?
I am French, but also grew up in Ireland, and decided to come to the UK after finishing secondary school. Before moving to London to study the GDL, I was studying Law & History at the University of Edinburgh.
As the Scottish legal system differs from the English one in several respects, I needed to complete the GDL in order to be allowed to practise law in England.
With hindsight, perhaps this should have been a bigger factor in my choice of undergraduate university. At Edinburgh, I participated in mooting competitions. Doing so, I found that I really enjoyed oral advocacy and the application of legal knowledge to the practical problems of (fictional) clients, as well as the back and forth with judges and opposing counsel that the UK’s legal tradition encourages.
What are you doing now? How did The City Law School prepare you for your current role?
After finishing the GDL, I studied for an LLM in Commercial Law, before completing the Barrister Professional Training Course (as it then was) and being called to the Bar.
I then moved to Brussels, where I spent three years as an associate at a U.S. firm before joining the European Commission’s Directorate General for Competition and finally the legal service of the EU Council. The GDL and The City Law School have opened a lot of opportunities for me.
The chance to meet barristers at chambers’ evenings helped me to arrange mini-pupillages, which then resulted in other career opportunities.
Even though I never practised at the Bar, the barristers specialising in EU and competition law which I met during my studies were crucial in introducing me to the practise of EU law in Brussels.
Finally, the chance to participate in the European Law Mooting Competition introduced me to a multinational EU law community of practitioners, academics and other students, which I later went on to join.
What knowledge and skills did the GDL help you develop? What has been the most useful since you graduated?
The professional training I received on the GDL and later on the Barrister Professional Training Course has been extremely valuable in my work, in particular when it comes to drafting and oral advocacy.
As an agent working for the legal service of one of the EU institutions, I often have to draft written pleadings in litigation before the European Court of Justice and, although less frequently, to engage in oral advocacy before the Court.
I also regularly intervene in legislative debates to explain points of law to representatives of the EU’s member states, and participate in negotiations with the other EU institutions as part of the law-making process.
How challenging was the GDL after your degree in a different discipline?
As I had already studied law as an undergraduate in Scotland, I did not find the GDL to be overly challenging.
Nonetheless, the GDL involved a heavy courseload, extensive reading, numerous lectures and small-group teaching sessions, which had to be balanced alongside many extra-curricular activities, such as mooting, chambers’ events, and mini-pupillages.
Moreover, the other students on the course set a very high bar for participation in class. In wanting to keep up with my fellow students, I found the GDL to be challenging in a positive sense of pushing me to be more rigorous in my analysis, to question my assumptions, and to express myself more concisely and more clearly.
What one piece of advice would you give to someone considering studying the GDL?
I would advise anyone aiming to study a law conversion course to keep an open mind about the different career paths open to them and to participate in as many extra-curricular activities as possible. It was participating in activities such as mooting and chambers’ evenings which pointed me in the direction of my current profession as a lawyer for the EU institutions.
There are many professional legal paths beyond the traditional ones of barrister and solicitor in London which involve interesting work at the international level and the opportunity for engaging in oral and written advocacy, but finding these can take some sniffing around.
The GDL at City is very focused on helping students towards the Bar, and that is both a strength and a weakness, but involvement with many of the activities organised by City can also lead to other places.
How would you describe The City Law School community of students and staff? Were you part of a society, or took part in extracurricular activities while you were studying on the GDL?
When I started the GDL, I was amazed at how lively the small-group teaching sessions were. This was largely due to how invested the other students were in the course and to how intellectually able they were. The teaching staff, themselves very impressive, did a lot to encourage this atmosphere, and I almost always found the sessions to be exciting and interesting.
Even though at this point I had already studied law for four years as an undergraduate, learning alongside such able students who were new to the topic really pushed me forward. I took part in the European Law Mooting Competition that year, representing City in a team with three other students.
We spent several weeks preparing a lengthy written submission and travelled to Sweden for the regional finals. We didn’t get much further unfortunately, though City did win the finals a few years later under the coaching of one of my team-mates.
Participating in this competition gave me a new appreciation for EU law, and introduced me to a broader community of students across the continent with similar interests.