Rory is one of the newest members of our Advisory team and a great addition. He shared his journey with us, from dropping out of high school to becoming an immigration lawyer.
After dropping out of high school (just like his parents had), Rory studied music for a year, and then went to Polytech. But as he fell out of love with music, he began searching for a new path.
“I did a bridging course when I was 19. I’d gone there to study Russian, actually, but I couldn’t [because the course had already begun for the year].
“I was – technically – a mature student when I was at university [studying law] because I was in my mid-twenties. And I didn’t really have any work experience. So, when I graduated, and I was 28 or so, people were looking at my CV and seeing I had never really worked before.
“I’d apply for hundreds of jobs and never hear anything back.”
Rory worked for his dad on a volunteer basis to get some work experience. But he began feeling increasingly stressed out by the concept of appearing in court.
“I had two trials coming up and was getting more and more nervous about appearing in court. It was getting worse day by day until I finally quit.
“I was doing a graduate diploma in immigration at the time and some of my classmates were talking about how they’d set up as self-employed practitioners. I ended up doing that.
“I went about it quite differently. A lot of people can’t work for themselves, normally, without working under another lawyer for several years.”
In the end, Rory has paved an unusual path to his career in immigration law. But he finds that the job suits him just fine.
“Even if you’re not a very good speaker, if you know the procedure and the rules, you’ll do well. My dad would explain that there’s two kinds of lawyers: the ones that go into court and have very persuasive arguments, and then there’s the ones who know the rules inside out and they win that way.”
Rory clarifies that persuasive lawyers know court rules, too – some are just better at that than others.
Rory also affirms that not all roles within law require going to court.
His advice for other Autistics interested in studying law: “Pick up the first-year law textbook and read it all the way through so you’re prepared. And don’t skip classes like I did!”