Alex Cisneros

Barrister, No5 Chambers

After I graduated in 2012, I moved to India to work in a human rights NGO. I then moved back to the UK and working in the House of Lords while completing the BPTC part-time. I commenced pupillage at No5 Chambers in 2016 and now practise as a tenant in Public Law.

It sounds cliche (and it is), but I genuinely wanted to help people. I saw the law as a tool to achieving that and the Bar specifically as a way of making a difference in people's lives. The flexibility of the Bar was what initially drew me to it. It is a profession where you dictate where your career will take you, some colleagues have ambitions to become judges, others want to be politicians or activists. The thing I enjoy most though is the variety. I love the fact that I could be in court one day representing an asylum seeker and sat at home the next writing advice in my PJs.

I studied law at the Cornwall Campus and graduated in 2012. My favourite part of the Cornwall Campus was the mix of students. Exeter University shares the campus with Falmouth University and so most of my friends now are in the creative industries having studied film or fine art. Getting that diversity of perspective really set the Cornwall Campus apart from any other university. It made the experience of studying quite a dry subject like law quite interesting. Plus... I lived 15 minutes walk away from two beaches, what's not to love?

Exeter is a great university and I've benefitted from its reputation while searching for jobs. What drew me to the University especially was the mix of research disciplines that the lecturers specialised in. They sounded like interesting people and I wanted the opportunity to learn from them.