Antonia Church

Edinburgh gave Antonia the flexibility to study Philosophy and Theology, she was able to foster a genuine interest these areas

New College is a special place

New College is pretty spectacular. It’s almost romantic studying in such a historical and special place. It made me fall in love with my subject, being surrounded by a piece of history. The New College library is a great place to work.

Unfortunately, my 4th year was plagued by COVID-19. It was a difficult time but the pastoral support from New College was amazing. I felt like I could ask the team anything – they were so helpful, kind and really they just wanted the best for me.

Don’t sweat the small stuff – make the most of your university experience

Don’t sweat the small stuff - you have this really unique opportunity in your first two years to find out what you are genuinely interested in. Make the most of the courses available to you. It’s such a privilege to have this kind of education at your fingertips.

I remember not really connecting with one of my modules so I spoke with my tutor and they advised me to change it. So, I did. And this set me off in the direction I took for my Theology degree. No one expects you to come to university a specialist - that's why you're doing the degree!

I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to study abroad – year abroad programmes are life changing

In my second semester of my third year, I was able to go on the New College-Dartmouth College exchange programme. This was a scholarship programme with 2 spaces available – I am still best friends with the person I went to Dartmouth with. The year abroad and exchange programmes are just fantastic, and completely life-changing.

I was there for 10 weeks then the pandemic hit. However, I still had a fantastic experience. I met so many new people and the teaching was amazing. I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity. One of the Professors I met at Dartmouth was the inspiration for my dissertation.

This experience has been incredibly valuable in my post-University journey. Having this international experience shows I can interact with different people. It was so enriching – both educationally and personally. I really put myself out there.

Graduation…where next?

I left university thinking what am I going to do next? I really didn't have a clue and it wasn't like I went to Edinburgh to do a Theology degree with the idea that that my job was going to be related to Theology. I wanted to do Theology because I really enjoyed the subject.

I think this gave me time to give deep consideration into what I really wanted to do and not rush into a decision. We were coming out of the pandemic so it was still a bit of a difficult time for the job market. I decided to apply for the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) and fell in love with Law. I was so excited because I had the opportunity to study something vocational and so different to my degree, but I could apply all the skills I developed at New College.

From Philosophy and Theology to Law – Antonia’s journey to becoming a qualified solicitor

I am fortunate to have residency in Singapore as I was born there, so I applied for jobs in Singapore and got a job at a small litigation firm as an intern. I worked there for 2 months and was able to rotate to different seats, and experience different areas of law. I loved the family law seat – I found this interesting and realised I love working with people. There were some complexities around qualifying in Singapore so I was put in touch with my now boss, at Expatriate Law in London, who offered me a paralegal role until I secured my training contract. I’ve recently qualified as a solicitor in the Family Law team – we focus on international family law and matrimonial matters. Qualifying is definitely one my career highlights!

Every day at my job is really different but it’s mainly about having a close relationship with my clients, helping them find solutions, offering advice and drafting documents. It’s a really rewarding job. I work with some very talented lawyers, and the clients are pretty special.

Antonia was able to develop a range of skills at New College – and these still help her today 

My mentor was my Islamic Studies tutor in my 4th year, Dr Shadaab Rahemtulla. He really inspired me to think outside the box and to have a voice. His seminars were so engaging – he encouraged us all to contribute and to help us form our own opinions, without critique. It can be difficult to confidently share your opinion with others and he really helped me develop this skill.

Developing critical thinking, structuring an argument in an essay, and developing my writing style, are all skills I developed through my degree and they still help me today, where I critically review documents and develop counter arguments. There’s a lot of thinking on your feet in my job – Dr Rahemtulla prepared me for this, to have confidence in my opinion and communicate with clients, advising them on really big life decisions. I learnt all this at university.

Also, at Edinburgh I gained a deep understanding of Islam and this has really helped me in my current role, with many clients being based in the UAE. Theology teaches you not only about religion but about the world. Marriage is originally a religious concept and so my degree really prepared me to understand marriage within different cultures and religions. This really helps me to connect with my clients – religion is huge part of someone’s identity.

Antonia’s favourite book?

One of my favourite books is ‘The Children Act’ by Ian McEwan. It is an amazing novel about the interaction between strongly held religious beliefs and the law. I think perhaps, given my degree and the job that I do now, this might actually be the best book that marries (pun is not intended!) everything together.