Thank you
@George Maxwell for tagging me! I hope I can be of help
@Lauren.
This is indeed a tricky question and I wonder whether it is really a motivational question in disguise. For example, I received questions similar to this but more targeted, such as 'You have completed work experience in government/foreign policy and you are in the process of obtaining a master's degree in piano performance - are there other career paths that you are considering for 5 or 10 years down the line?' It was abundantly clear where the interviewers were going with this question...am I committed to commercial law?
This is a valid concern for law firm partners, especially at the types of firms I was interviewing with (US firms with small trainee intakes) because the hope was for every trainee to qualify at the firm and really contribute to the organic growth of the firm in London. It is a huge investment for a firm to sponsor candidates' legal studies and train them for two years, only for them to realise that the exit opportunities for a qualified solicitor are pretty great and decide to head off and work in-house or in industry or government etc.
I think that the more general question about where you see yourself in ten years is tricky, because as
@George Maxwell said, you have to be authentic in order to give a great answer. At the same time, I would not be authentic to the point of saying you just want to qualify as a solicitor and then head off to do something else (and if this is your real goal then I would re-consider the purpose of qualifying as a solicitor in the first place)!
For me, I could not say with confidence that in ten years I saw myself on the partnership track with the firm in question. That would also be a silly answer because of the massive range of variables outside of my control which could have prevented me from getting there... including whether I even got the TC offer in the first place! That said, I found that it was possible to offer a strong indication of my commitment to commercial law by emphasising the
versatility of a legal career.
In fact, I found that since I studied in the US for my undergraduate degree, one of the most compelling reasons I was able to give for pursuing a legal career in the UK was the diversity of a training contract. Frankly, I have no idea where I ultimately want to end up qualifying (and I was open about this in interviews) but I am extremely enthusiastic to try a whole range of practice areas! I would love to gain exposure to the exciting world of international deal-making, but I also had some personal experience with litigation in the past that has made this another area of great interest to me. My work experience and education in international policy has made me want to complete a seat in international arbitration in addition to a seat in regulatory areas such as antitrust, plus I would be very enthusiastic to pursue an international secondment.
In this way, I was able to explain how my international policy experience informed my interest in commercial law going forward by basically saying that there were enough areas I was excited about that I was looking forward to my legal career regardless of where I end up. In fact, there were almost more opportunities within commercial law for someone with my international policy interest than there were outside of it! On the other hand, piano performance would have been such a different career choice that I explained how I had spent a long time considering it before deciding that music would bring me more joy throughout my life as an outlet from my work life rather than the means upon which I rely for my income.
So, to get back to the question of where you see yourself in ten years - don't feel pressure to specify a certain practice area, but do show a commitment to staying in commercial law. If you do have particular experience that relates to a certain practice area then by all means use this as evidence of your commitment to working within that field going forward (if that is authentic) but otherwise elaborate on the opportunities that you want to have regardless of practice area. For me, this would include working in the City, frequently completing cross-border work, engaging with international clients on a regular basis and having time to keep up my hobbies outside of work (I am under no illusion about the hours involved in corporate law but I want to make sure that I keep playing piano even if it is sometimes just for a few hours on weekends)!
If you have a sincere passion for innovation/tech, then feel free to express that you would love this to feature in the work you do. I want my work to somehow have a policy component to it and I also want to ensure I have the opportunity to complete pro bono work that I am passionate about. As
@George Maxwell said, though, you don't need to be too specific! As long as you are not giving off the impression that you will be at the firm for a couple of years maximum should you receive an offer, then I think that any answer is fair game!
I hope that this is useful
@Lauren 
