"It was never my intention to become a solicitor. If you would have told me at 16 that I was going to be a real estate partner at an international law firm, I probably would not have understood what you meant.

"I had my heart set on becoming a journalist. I was reading English language and English literature at a college in London and loving it, I was certain that was the direction my career was headed in.

"That is, however, until a family incident thrust me into the world of law and set me on a very different path. Both of my parents were teachers and as such had state pensions. Sadly my mother was mis-sold a private pension by the family accountant and she therefore lost her state pension entitlement. This was devastating for my parents and especially for my mother who had worked so hard only to lose what was rightfully hers.

"My parents were not sure what, if anything, could be done. It affected me enormously and with no legal experience whatsoever, I took it upon myself to instigate private proceedings against the family accountant on my mother's behalf. I analysed tirelessly the case law around this subject, got to grips with the necessary legislation and eventually, we reached an acceptable out-of-court settlement.

"This whirlwind few months gave me a buzz which I had never experienced previously. It made me realise just how important it is to know your rights but also how the law is there not only to protect people like my mother, but to hold society together and provide common guidance to those who need it. That was it – the turning point which sparked my legal career.

"I secured a place at the University of Bristol to read law and subsequently also completed my Legal Practice Course there. I had decided though that I wanted to be a criminal barrister as the experience with my mother made me realise that I enjoyed representing people and standing up for their rights.

"However, despite a 2.1 and 80 pupillage applications in the southwest of England, I was unable to secure a place at a barristers' chambers. Determined not to let it affect my goal of a career in the law, I applied for training contracts in Bristol and eventually was awarded one by a reputable Bristol-based firm. It was here that I first fell in love with property and the tangible magic of seeing bricks and mortar transform a hole in the ground to a skyscraper eighty or ninety storeys high.

"My career in law had a rather inauspicious start and was not a comfortable experience by any means, (we often run into the family accountant at social functions which remains challenging), but I look back at it now very favourably. I would never have imagined at age 16 that I would go on to become a real estate partner. But I did just that."

Deepa Deb is a commercial real estate partner at Berwin Leighton Paisner. This article was commissioned for the Turning Points hub, an online career development resource from Legal Week in association with Berwin Leighton Paisner.