Margaret Cole (1979)
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Law
Margaret Cole
1979 - 1982
Law
Director of Enforcement, Financial Services Authority (FSA)
After graduating in 1982 with a BA in Law, Margaret completed a year at law school and then joined a City of London law firm to complete her training as a Solicitor. She stayed with that firm when she qualified in 1985, specialising in commercial litigation and became a Partner in 1990.
In 1995 she moved to a major international law firm as a Partner and Head of Dispute Resolution, tasked with setting up and developing a new department. In 2005 she moved to her current prestigious position as Director of Enforcement at the Financial Services Authority. In 2010 Margaret was appointed to the regulatory board of the FSA, as managing director for enforcement and financial crime.
Margaret is a member of Newhall.net - our online careers mentoring and networking scheme that allows Murray Edwards College students exclusive access to alumnae working in a wide variety of organisations and positions. Through Newhall.net students can get a unique insight into a wide range of careers and ask alumnae like Margaret for advice about achieving their dream job.
Katherine Apps
2001 - 2004
Law
Barrister, Littleton Chambers
Katherine studied law at Murray Edwards (then New Hall) for three years, graduating 4th in her year in 2004. She became the first student to be awarded the newly formed Baker McKenzie Cambridge Harvard Exchange Scholarship, which funded her LLM at Harvard Law School the following year. This, Katherine says, "opened so many doors, intellectually, professionally and socially - it seems odd now, but I needed quite a bit of persuading/pestering from New Hall's Law Fellows and my College friends before putting in my application. I am forever in their debt." After returning from Harvard, Katherine completed a stage at the European Court of Justice with the Cabinet of the UK's Judge Schiemann and then trained as a barrister in London.
Katherine is now a practising barrister at Littleton Chambers in the Temple. Her cases are mainly in the employment, disciplinary and regulatory, judicial review and commercial fields often with a European dimension. A keen rower and dancer while at Cambridge, Katherine is pleased that she has developed the occasional foray into sports law, having represented sprinter Dwain Chambers in his legal challenge to rules preventing him from running for team GB in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Katherine describes her work as: "Great fun and hard work, no day is ever the same. I really enjoy the constant challenge of getting stuck in to cases with tricky law, complex facts and, above all which give a glimpse into different worlds with such a wide range of interesting people."
Wendy Joseph
1971-1974
English for Part I, Law for Part II
Circuit Judge
Wendy is a member of Newhall.net - our online careers mentoring and networking scheme that allows Murray Edwards College students exclusive access to alumnae working in a wide variety of organisations and positions.
"I went to a girl's grammar school, had a year in Pasadena (courtesy of the American Field Service) and came up to Cambridge in 1971 to read English. In my last year I changed to law. I didn't really see myself as a lawyer - but then I didn't really see myself as anything much. I qualified as a 'barrister' because it rolled off the tongue better than 'solicitor'. I hit lucky. Advocacy was seriously 'my thing'. A love of language, persuasion by argument, dressing-up - it all worked for me.
"I was at the Bar for 33 years, the last 10 of them 'in silk'. It was fascinating, rewarding, and often harrowing. By and large barristers are a nice bunch and it's a bit like belonging to a club. There are down sides, too. It's been a very demanding job - I chose not to have children in order to concentrate on the career. There are hard decisions to be made in every life. By 2008 I felt I'd done the Bar. Much as I loved it, it was time to move on. Preferably to something with a pension attached. And where does a QC move on to after the Bar? The Bench. And I'm loving that as well. So go for it girls - there's room up here for you too."
Mishal Husain
1992-1995
Law
TV Reporter and Journalist
Mishal Husain presents BBC1's News at Ten on Sunday evenings, and is a familiar face to viewers around the world as a key presenter on BBC World News. Her wide ranging talents have also been seen on programmes as diverse as BBC1's Breakfast, BBC2's The Culture Show, and Radio 4's You and Yours.
Mishal forged her international reputation as the first Washington-based presenter for the BBC, fronting news programmes around the time of the Iraq war and developing a keen following among US viewers. She is also known for presenting live on location for the BBC, including coverage of Benazir Bhutto's assassination in 2007 and the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
Mishal's three-part documentary series for BBC2 on the life of Mahatma Gandhi aired in October 2009. Her other ventures outside news and current affairs have included being the questioner on BBC2's The Cram in 2004 and BBC1's Hardspell and Starspell in 2005.
Mishal was born in the UK in 1973 but grew up in the Middle East. After Cambridge she gained an LLM at the European University Institute in Florence.
Her interest in human rights and the law remains in place and she has both judged and hosted the Amnesty International Media Awards. She was also the Chair of the judging panel for the 2009 Orange Prize for New Writers, and was named by the Times in March 2009 as one of the five most influential Muslim women in Britain.
