Rebecca Reid

As a law student in Maynooth University, Rebecca Reid typed ‘Fashion Lawyers’ into Google’s search engine out of curiosity. Little did she know that it wouldn’t be long before she would feature prominently in that same Google search.  

 

Now a fashion lawyer in London for IMG, a global leader in fashion, sports, events, and media, Rebecca works on contracts for fashion shows, photoshoots, brand endorsements, advertising campaigns and even helps to ensure smooth movement of models in and out of countries for bookings.  

 

From Kilcock, Co Kildare, she says the course content at Maynooth University was so diverse that she could have chosen any number of different legal roles.  

 

“I had just finished my second-year law exams when I asked myself what kind of lawyer I wanted to be,” she says. “At this point I had studied EU, constitutional, criminal, and land law. While I enjoyed these studies, I couldn’t see myself working in any of those areas for the rest of my life and momentarily thought about dropping out.  

 

“I failed to realise that lawyers actually work within all industry sectors. So I googled ‘Fashion Lawyers’ and to my surprise, they existed. Little did I know that I would soon be on that google search page.”  

 

The Kildare woman ‘shaped’ the remainder of her degree towards a strong focus on intellectual property - the law on creations, inventions, literary and artistic works, designs, and symbols.  

 

“It was paramount that I had a strong understanding of Intellectual Property law if I was to step into the fashion world,” she says. “I also shaped my solicitor training so I gained the commercial and practical knowledge needed by a fashion lawyer.” 

 

During her time at Maynooth, she was a Judicial Intern for Supreme Court Judge, and interned with a leading commercial law firm. Also she was editor for the Irish Law Journal, and a legal advisor for FLAC (Free Legal Advice Centre).  

 

“Not only did MU allow me to shape my degree to an area I was fascinated by, but the Law Department had also established links within the legal profession which presented opportunities for students to get their foot in the apparently closed legal door.”