Who is Mayowa?
You may know him as Legal Bezel on social media. Mayowa is a 24-year-old corporate lawyer specialising in Banking & Finance.
We spoke to him about the experiences that shaped his journey into commercial law, from volunteering at Citizens Advice to building a personal brand online, and the lessons students can take into their own careers.
How Can Volunteering Prepare You for a Career in Law?
During his first year at university, Mayowa volunteered at his local Citizens Advice with the intention of developing the skills he believed trainee solicitors use every day. Without a first-year insight scheme or vacation scheme, Citizens Advice became the place where he developed those skills instead.
He chose to volunteer because it gave him practical experience in skills that he would later take into his legal career, including:
- Being the first point of contact for clients.
- Triaging a client’s issue and identifying the key problem.
- Organising and balancing multiple cases at once.
- Explaining complex issues in clear, accessible language so clients understood their next steps.
Although the legal matters he now advises on are very different, those same core skills remain central to his work as a corporate lawyer.
How Can You Develop a Personal Brand on Social Media?
Outside of law, Mayowa also developed a passion for watches and began creating content on TikTok. Initially, his content was much more “Bezel” than “Legal”. However, after posting a video discussing working hours in commercial law, people became just as interested in his legal journey as they were in his watch content.
At that point, Mayowa had three choices:
- Completely pivot into law content.
- Stick with watch content.
- Integrate the two.
He chose the third option because he believed the strongest personal brands are built around your own unique experiences.
For example, while working as a watch consultant during university, Mayowa learnt that most customers weren’t simply buying a watch they were buying an experience. Success depended on understanding the client sitting in front of him, communicating effectively and tailoring his approach to each individual, skills that have continued to serve him throughout his legal career.
Magic Circle vs International Firms – What’s the Difference?
Many students hear terms such as Magic Circle and international firm but often struggle to understand what those differences actually mean in practice.
One of the most useful explanations Mayowa gave me wasn’t about the firms themselves—it was about the different types of clients they typically advise.
Mayowa asked me to imagine a tier list ranging from S to F, with S representing the largest and most demanding clients. Using this analogy, he explained that Magic Circle firms often have access to S, A and B-tier clients, with a significant proportion of their work coming from A-tier clients. Large international firms, meanwhile, may have access to A, B and C-tier clients, with much of their work coming from B-tier clients.
To bring the analogy to life, Mayowa asked me to imagine a hypothetical banking and finance transaction that needed to be signed on a Friday evening. Just before completion, the notary becomes unavailable.
For a client at the very top end of the market, where timing is commercially critical and expectations are exceptionally high, the legal team may be expected to find a creative solution so the deal can still be completed that evening. Another client, however, may be perfectly comfortable delaying completion until Monday if the commercial consequences are minimal.
Why Banking & Finance?
Although Banking & Finance may seem like a narrow area of law, there are actually many different sub-specialisms, from Growth Markets to Infrastructure Finance.
Because Mayowa completed multiple finance seats during his training contract, he was exposed to a broad range of work and was constantly learning something new. By the time he came to qualify, he had developed both the experience and confidence to know it was the right practice area for him.
For Mayowa, choosing Banking & Finance meant maintaining optionality while working in an area where he felt challenged and continued to learn.
What Advice Would You Give Students Trying to Get Their Foot in the Door?
Before we finished, I asked Mayowa what advice he would give students and recent graduates hoping to break into commercial law.
1. Rejection is part of the process.
In such a competitive profession, rejection is inevitable. Rather than dwelling on setbacks, reflect on why an application wasn’t successful and use that insight to improve the next one. Job hunting is an iterative process.
2. Show employers why they should invest in you.
Being a strong candidate isn’t always enough. You should understand the firm’s practice areas, offices and culture while being able to explain why you’re specifically a good fit for that organisation.
3. Learn to get into the weeds.
Following on from the second point, lawyers spend a lot of time understanding the finer details, and Mayowa believes students should approach job applications in the same way.
Rather than simply reading a firm’s homepage, Mayowa recommends exploring its website in depth and making notes on everything the firm is trying to tell you about itself—from its practice areas and offices to the industries it advises and the services it offers. Building a mental (or even physical) map of that information can help you spot connections that other candidates might miss.
Mayowa explained that this approach proved invaluable during one of his assessment centres. Faced with a scenario-based question, he was asked which office would be best placed to handle the matter. Because he had spent time exploring the firm’s website beforehand, he remembered that the firm’s São Paulo office specialised in that area and was able to answer with confidence.
Final Thoughts
Mayowa’s journey shows that there isn’t one route into commercial law. From volunteering at Citizens Advice and working as a watch consultant to building Legal Bezel, each experience helped him develop skills that he still relies on today.
For students hoping to break into the profession, his story is a reminder that the value of an experience isn’t always found in its title, but in the skills you take away from it.