Students entering the legal profession often feel uncertain about which direction to take. Should ambition be guided by prestige or by genuine interest? Is it wiser to specialise straight away or to keep options open? Does success depend purely on academic achievement, or do other experiences count just as much? Paula Kidd's seventeen-year path from music student to partner in energy law offers thoughtful answers to these questions.
Valuable Skills Often Come From Outside the Classroom
Paula decided at the age of fourteen that she wanted to become a lawyer, yet her route to that goal involved far more than studying law. During her school and university years, she held part-time jobs in hotels, supermarkets, and reception roles, all while committing herself seriously to music, performing with five separate ensembles at once.
Now a partner at CMS Cameron McKenna in Aberdeen, Paula believes her years as a musician shaped the very abilities that now underpin her career: managing her time across competing obligations, working effectively within a team, and learning that individual contribution only matters in service of the group.
The takeaway: Legal knowledge alone is not enough. Skills such as communication, cooperation, and perseverance frequently decide who succeeds in practice. Experiences gained outside a law library, whether through part-time work, sport, or creative pursuits, may be shaping exactly the abilities you will rely on later.
Doing Well Academically Does Not Determine Your Future Specialism
Paula performed strongly in Family Law, even receiving the University of Aberdeen's David Lessels Prize for outstanding overall achievement. Even so, she decided against pursuing it as a career, having realised that its emotional demands were not what she wanted from daily practice. By contrast, she found Commercial and Company Law far less appealing as a student, yet she has since built a successful career in the commercial energy field.
The takeaway: Excelling in one subject does not commit you to a related career, and finding another subject difficult at university does not rule out working in that field later. Practising law is a very different experience from studying it academically. Allow yourself to choose a path based on what continues to hold your interest, rather than simply what earned the highest marks.
Specialisms Often Develop Through Circumstance Rather Than Deliberate Planning
Paula did not begin university with a fixed intention of pursuing energy law. Her move into offshore oil and gas came about through practical decisions: her wish to remain in Aberdeen, her decision to apply to a wide range of local firms, and her upbringing in Shetland, where the energy industry formed part of everyday life.
What ultimately convinced her to stay in the sector was not a calculated career strategy, but her genuine enjoyment of its constant change and evolving challenges.
The takeaway: There is no need to have your entire career planned before you begin. Stay receptive to new opportunities, pursue whatever genuinely interests you, and trust that direction often becomes clear through experience rather than forward planning. As Paula puts it, learning through trial and error can be a genuinely effective way to find the right path.
Being a Partner Involves Far More Than Practising Law
Many students assume that legal work consists mainly of research, analysis, and drafting documents. In practice, the role is far more varied. Paula estimates that only around sixty per cent of her time as a partner is spent on traditional legal tasks. The remaining forty per cent is devoted to leading her team, developing new business, writing articles, attending industry conferences, and raising the profile of her firm.
Her legal work itself is divided between three connected strands: transactional work, such as drafting documentation for pipeline construction; regulatory matters, including securing approval from bodies such as the North Sea Transition Authority; and advisory work, in which she helps clients understand their obligations and the implications of their decisions.
The takeaway: Legal practice is, at its heart, a collaborative and commercially minded profession. Success depends on building relationships, understanding the business context in which clients operate, and explaining complicated ideas clearly. If you picture yourself working alone, it may be worth reconsidering whether traditional practice is right for you, or seeking a role better suited to that preference.
Prioritise Genuine Interest Over Salary
"Choose an area of law that genuinely interests you rather than one chosen purely for financial gain," Paula suggests. "Legal work can be demanding, and having real curiosity about the subject makes it far more rewarding."
This is not simply optimistic advice; it reflects real experience. The energy sector has gone through repeated periods of instability throughout Paula's seventeen years in the field. It was her authentic interest in the work, rather than financial incentive alone, that carried her through these downturns.
The takeaway: Every area of legal practice comes with its own pace, pressures, and rewards. A well-paid role in a field that fails to hold your attention will exhaust you more quickly than demanding work that you find genuinely engaging. Rather than guessing what you might enjoy, test it through real experience.
Your Personal Background Adds Value Rather Than Holding You Back
When applying for her training contract, Paula was not simply another law graduate. She brought with her experience of managing a reception desk, working directly with customers, performing professionally as a musician, and juggling several demanding responsibilities at once. These qualities set her apart and have continued to shape her effectiveness as a lawyer.
Still based in Aberdeen, she now works with clients internationally across Norway, the United States, and the Netherlands, expanding her expertise in decommissioning and cross-border projects, all built upon foundations laid long before she began her legal career.
The takeaway: The legal profession benefits from a wide range of backgrounds and life experiences. Whatever makes your background distinctive, whether that is hospitality work, musical training, caring responsibilities, or something else entirely, should be viewed as an asset rather than something to move past. It forms part of what makes you a valuable addition to the profession.
In Summary
Paula's career challenges several common assumptions about working in law: that your career path must follow a straight line, that academic results dictate your future direction, that legal work is a solitary pursuit, or that everything must be decided before you even begin.
Instead, her experience shows that a rewarding legal career often grows out of curiosity, adaptability, and a willingness to learn as you go. The abilities that matter most, including collaboration, communication, time management, and commercial understanding, can develop in places you might not expect. And the area of practice that keeps you engaged for decades might not be the one you studied hardest, or even one you knew existed when you started out.
For students at the start of this journey, the message is reassuring, though it also calls for effort: there is no single right path, but there is a path that is right for you. You can find it by exploring widely, following what genuinely interests you, developing a broad range of skills, and staying open to wherever your work leads.
Reflecting on what she wishes she had understood earlier, Paula notes that legal practice involves far more than time spent at a desk, and that lawyers have genuine opportunities to spot issues and help shape the law itself.