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Centre for Commercial Law Studies

CCLS Alumna Career Journey in the Financial Market

Ralitza Shiderova, shares her experiences working in an alternative legal service provider for the financial market.

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Ralitza Shiderova

Ralitza Shiderova (LLM in International Business Law, 2008) graduated from Queen Mary with Distinction. This is what Ralitza says about her experience at CCLS: "achieving a Distinction in my postgraduate degree showed me that if I work hard and give 100%, my efforts will be noticed, appreciated, and recognized so I decided to apply this in my career as well. 

Shortly after I graduated, I started working for DRS, an alternative legal service provider for the financial market. The firm assists large banks, asset managers and other financial institutions with the negotiation of derivatives and other commercial contracts. We build knowledge guides which help internal legal teams train their staff to negotiate certain type of agreements, such as Non-Disclosure Agreements, Prime Brokerage Agreements, Account Control Agreements, Global Master Repurchase Agreements and many others. We also work on projects designed to ensure our clients’ compliance with new laws and regulations. We are currently developing an AI based document repository which is an exciting growth area for us but also for the legal sector as a whole. 

The DRS’ Senior Leadership Team have built their careers working in management positions within financial sector legal departments, so they have created a business that meets those legal departments’ needs. As a Client Director, my role is to ensure that we deliver high quality work to our clients, saving them time, money and stress whilst supporting our teams who are hardworking, dedicated and solutions focused.  Our offices are based in London and Newcastle, and we always welcome law school graduates interested in this field who are driven and motivated to join our team. 

Throughout my career I have worked for a variety of clients, some of them being the largest investment banks in the world. However big or small the companies are, I have found that if you care enough to find out how the legal team works, what they need and how best to solve the problems that they have, what you have to offer as a legal professional will be invaluable to them. 

DRS sponsored me so that I can get my qualification through CILEX, trained and supported me throughout my career to reach the level that I am at and more recently, I became a British citizen. I feel blessed to have been able to accomplish this on my journey whilst raising 3 beautiful kids.

From a personal perspective, my husband and I like to challenge ourselves every year whilst raising money for different children’s charities. Most recently we walked 100km from London to Brighton within 24 hrs. Next on the agenda are the 3 Peak Challenge and the Great North Run. 

If you are interested in any such opportunities, please reach out to me directly on Rallie Shiderova | LinkedIn or go to the DRS Careers page to find out more Careers - Jobs, Training Contracts & Internships" 

 

 

 

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