Why one City partner swapped M&A deals for teaching maths
After two decades in City law, including at Slaughters and as Barclays’ head of M&A legal, Khasruz Zaman became a maths teacher.
Contents
Khasruz Zaman came remarkably close to turning down his training contract offer at Slaughter and May. Growing up modestly, he attended state school and received free school meals, and he wasn't sure he would fit in at one of London's most prestigious law firms.
He was also considering a career as a university lecturer and had already started writing a letter declining the offer - these things were handled by post then - when one of his lecturers at King’s College London intervened.
The lecturer, who coincidentally also came from an Asian background, encouraged him to reconsider. She said that firms like Slaughter and May were looking for talented people, regardless of their backgrounds, and that Zaman could always pursue academia later.
Zaman joined Slaughters in 1996 and went on to spend more than two decades in the City, moving in-house to Barclays where he became global head of M&A legal, and then joining Simmons & Simmons as a partner.
Today, his working life looks a little different. For the past seven years, he has been teaching maths at a state secondary school, helping pupils get the grades and opportunities that could change their futures.
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A City career
Growing up, Zaman thought he would pursue a career in medicine or the sciences. Maths was one of his strongest subjects, but his interest in the wider world gradually drew him towards law.
He switched direction after his A-levels, choosing to study law, partly influenced by Nelson Mandela and Gandhi, both of whom trained as lawyers.
His initial doubts about joining Slaughters proved unfounded. Once inside, he found that the partners and senior lawyers he worked with were primarily interested in whether he could do the job well. As he demonstrated his abilities, more opportunities followed.
Once you have a seat at the table, you can contribute in whatever way you like...
He also discovered that his mathematical background came in handy. The logical reasoning and analytical thinking required in maths translated well into corporate law, especially when advising businesses on acquisitions and understanding the financial considerations behind deals.
As his career developed, Zaman wanted more involvement in the commercial decisions behind the deals he was advising on, which eventually led him to Barclays, one of his clients at the time.
He joined the bank's in-house legal team, which brought him closer to the people making strategic decisions about the business. In addition to advising on legal risks and executing transactions, he became involved in discussions about which markets the bank should enter and which businesses it should acquire.
“Once you have a seat at the table, you can contribute in whatever way you like, provided you are adding value and your views are helpful,” he said.
A different ambition
Despite enjoying his legal career, Zaman became increasingly aware of how few people around him came from backgrounds similar to his own, both ethnically and socioeconomically.
He began mentoring young graduates and helping promote opportunities in the legal profession, and over time, he came to believe that reaching students at university was often too late to make the greatest difference. By then, their experiences at school and academic results had already influenced many of the opportunities available to them.
He started visiting schools, giving talks and mentoring pupils. Gradually, he found himself becoming more enthusiastic about those activities than corporate transactions.
Before leaving law altogether, however, there was one thing he still wanted to experience: partnership.
After Barclays, he joined Simmons & Simmons as a partner, making clear from the outset that he wanted to contribute not only as an M&A practitioner but also to the firm's work on social mobility and broadening access to the profession.
He was also upfront that he might eventually leave to pursue those interests full-time.
After three years, he decided the time had come. Although he had enjoyed being a partner, the excitement he once felt about completing another deal was no longer quite the same. By contrast, spending time with young people in schools gave him a renewed sense of purpose.
He doesn't regret spending more than 20 years in the City, however, and says he would probably make the same decision again.
Back to school
The catalyst for his move into teaching was Now Teach, a charity co-founded by former Financial Times journalist Lucy Kellaway in 2017 to encourage experienced professionals to retrain as teachers.
Zaman initially approached the charity to offer his support, but attending an event at the Bank of England alongside around 50 professionals preparing to leave City careers for teaching helped convince him to make the move himself.
“That's the point at which the penny really dropped,” he recalls. After taking a year to consider the decision with his family, he joined the next cohort and retrained as a maths teacher.
He has now spent seven years at the same boys' secondary school, where almost half the pupils receive free school meals and a large proportion come from ethnic minority backgrounds.
Law Firm | Trainee First Year | Trainee Second Year | Newly Qualified (NQ) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Addleshaw Goddard | £52,000 | £56,000 | £100,000 |
| Akin | £60,000 | £65,000 | £174,418 |
| A&O Shearman | £56,000 | £61,000 | £150,000 |
| Ashurst Perkins Coie | £60,000 | £65,000 | £145,000 |
| Baker McKenzie | £56,000 | £61,000 | £150,000 |
| BCLP | £56,000 | £61,000 | £135,000 |
| Bird & Bird | £50,000 | £55,000 | £102,000 |
| Bristows | £48,000 | £52,000 | £95,000 |
| Burges Salmon | £49,500 | £51,500 | £76,000 |
| Charles Russell Speechlys | £52,000 | £55,000 | £93,000 |
| Cleary Gottlieb | £62,500 | £67,500 | £172,500 |
| Clifford Chance | £56,000 | £61,000 | £150,000 |
| Clyde & Co | £48,500 | £51,000 | £90,000 |
| CMS | £50,000 | £55,000 | £120,000 |
| Cooley | £55,000 | £60,000 | £157,000 |
| Davis Polk | £65,000 | £70,000 | £180,000 |
| Debevoise | £55,000 | £60,000 | £173,000 |
| Dechert | £55,000 | £61,000 | £165,000 |
| Dentons | £54,000 | £59,000 | £112,500 |
| DLA Piper | £55,000 | £60,000 | £140,000 |
| Eversheds Sutherland | £50,000 | £55,000 | £120,000 |
| Farrer & Co | £50,000 | £52,000 | £92,000 |
| Fieldfisher | £51,000 | £55,000 | £102,000 |
| Freshfields | £56,000 | £61,000 | £150,000 |
| Fried Frank | £55,000 | £60,000 | £175,000 |
| Gibson Dunn | £65,000 | £70,000 | £180,000 |
| Goodwin Procter | £55,000 | £60,000 | £175,000 |
| Gowling WLG | £48,500 | £53,500 | £108,000 |
| Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer | £56,000 | £61,000 | £145,000 |
| HFW | £52,000 | £56,000 | £103,500 |
| Hill Dickinson | £44,000 | £45,000 | £80,000 |
| Hogan Lovells | £56,000 | £61,000 | £145,000 |
| Irwin Mitchell | £43,500 | £45,500 | £78,000 |
| Jones Day | £60,000 | £68,000 | £170,000 |
| K&L Gates | £55,000 | £60,000 | £125,000 |
| Kennedys | £43,000 | £46,000 | £85,000 |
| King & Spalding | £62,000 | £67,000 | £175,000 |
| Kirkland & Ellis | £70,000 | £75,000 | £174,418 |
| Latham & Watkins | £60,000 | £65,000 | £174,418 |
| Linklaters | £56,000 | £61,000 | £150,000 |
| Macfarlanes | £60,000 | £65,000 | £150,000 |
| Mayer Brown | £55,000 | £60,000 | £150,000 |
| McDermott Will & Schulte | £70,000 | £75,000 | £174,418 |
| Milbank | £70,000 | £75,000 | £174,418 |
| Mills & Reeve | £46,800 | £47,000 | £84,000 |
| Mishcon de Reya | £52,500 | £57,500 | £110,000 |
| Morgan Lewis | £57,500 | £62,500 | £173,000 |
| Norton Rose Fulbright | £56,000 | £61,000 | £140,000 |
| Orrick | £60,000 | £65,000 | £170,000 |
| Osborne Clarke | £57,000 | £59,000 | £100,000 |
| Paul Hastings | £60,000 | £68,000 | £173,000 |
| Paul Weiss | £60,000 | £65,000 | £180,000 |
| Penningtons Manches Cooper | £48,000 | £50,000 | £83,000 |
| Pinsent Masons | £54,000 | £59,000 | £109,000 |
| Quinn Emanuel | n/a | n/a | £189,000 |
| Reed Smith | £55,000 | £60,000 | £135,000 |
| Ropes & Gray | £62,000 | £67,000 | £170,000 |
| RPC | £48,000 | £52,000 | £95,000 |
| Shoosmiths | £45,000 | £47,000 | £105,000 |
| Sidley Austin | £60,000 | £65,000 | £175,000 |
| Simmons & Simmons | £56,000 | £61,000 | £130,000 |
| Simpson Thacher | £65,000 | £70,000 | £178,000 |
| Skadden | £58,000 | £63,000 | £177,000 |
| Slaughter and May | £56,000 | £61,000 | £150,000 |
| Squire Patton Boggs | £50,000 | £55,000 | £110,000 |
| Stephenson Harwood | £50,000 | £55,000 | £105,000 |
| Sullivan & Cromwell | £70,000 | £75,000 | £181,000 |
| TLT | £44,000 | £47,500 | £85,000 |
| Travers Smith | £55,000 | £60,000 | £130,000 |
| Trowers & Hamlins | £50,000 | £54,000 | £90,000 |
| Vinson & Elkins | £60,000 | £65,000 | £173,077 |
| Watson Farley & Williams | £51,500 | £56,000 | £107,000 |
| Weightmans | £36,000 | £38,000 | £70,000 |
| Weil | £60,000 | £65,000 | £170,000 |
| White & Case | £62,000 | £67,000 | £175,000 |
| Willkie Farr & Gallagher | £60,000 | £65,000 | £180,000 |
| Winston Taylor | £56,000 | £61,000 | £125,000 |
| Withers | £47,000 | £52,000 | £95,000 |
| Womble Bond Dickinson | £45,000 | £47,000 | £85,000 |
Rank | Law Firm | Revenue | Profit per Equity Partner (PEP) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DLA Piper* | £3,130,000,000 | £2,500,000 |
| 2 | A&O Shearman | £2,900,000,000 | £2,000,000 |
| 3 | Clifford Chance | £2,400,000,000 | £2,100,000 |
| 4 | Hogan Lovells | £2,320,000,000 | £2,400,000 |
| 5 | Linklaters | £2,320,000,000 | £2,200,000 |
| 6 | Freshfields | £2,250,000,000 | Not disclosed |
| 7 | CMS** | £1,800,000,000 | Not disclosed |
| 8 | Norton Rose Fulbright* | £1,800,000,000 | Not disclosed |
| 9 | HSF Kramer | £1,360,000,000 | £1,400,000 |
| 10 | Ashurst | £1,030,000,000 | £1,390,000 |
| 11 | Clyde & Co | £854,000,000 | Not disclosed |
| 12 | Eversheds Sutherland | £769,000,000 | £1,400,000 |
| 13 | Pinsent Masons | £680,000,000 | £790,000 |
| 14 | Slaughter and May*** | £650,000,000 | Not disclosed |
| 15 | BCLP* | £640,000,000 | £790,000 |
| 16 | Simmons & Simmons | £615,000,000 | £1,120,000 |
| 17 | Bird & Bird** | £580,000,000 | £720,000 |
| 18 | Addleshaw Goddard | £550,000,000 | £1,000,000 |
| 19 | Taylor Wessing | £526,000,000 | £1,100,000 |
| 20 | Osborne Clarke** | £476,000,000 | £800,000 |
| 21 | DWF | £466,000,000 | Not disclosed |
| 22 | Womble Bond Dickinson | £450,000,000 | Not disclosed |
| 23 | Kennedys | £428,000,000 | Not disclosed |
| 24 | Fieldfisher | £385,000,000 | £1,000,000 |
| 25 | Macfarlanes | £371,000,000 | £3,100,000 |
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Opening doors
Alongside teaching maths, he has taken on responsibilities for careers and personal development, organising visits to law firms, banks and other employers, arranging work experience and helping pupils navigate university applications and apprenticeships.
He has also helped develop a programme to support academically talented pupils, recognising that even strong progress at school doesn't always translate into the grades needed for leading universities and competitive careers.
During his time at the school, pupils have gone on to Oxford and Cambridge, as well as into medicine, achievements he hopes to build on.
It's about opening up as many doorways and pathways as possible.
He has also maintained his links with the legal profession. About three years ago, he became a trustee of Primed for Law, previously known as PRIME, an alliance of law firms working to improve access to the profession for young people from less advantaged backgrounds.
Zaman is keen to emphasise that his ambition isn't simply to encourage more pupils to become lawyers or bankers, but to help them understand the range of careers available to them.
“It's about opening up as many doorways and pathways as possible,” he says.
| Firm | London office since | Known for in London |
|---|---|---|
| Akin | 1997 | Restructuring, funds |
| Baker McKenzie | 1961 | Finance, capital markets, TMT |
| Davis Polk | 1972 | Leveraged finance, corporate/M&A |
| Gibson Dunn | 1979 | Private equity, arbitration, energy, resources and infrastructure |
| Goodwin | 2008 | Private equity, funds, life sciences |
| Kirkland & Ellis | 1994 | Private equity, funds, restructuring |
| Latham & Watkins | 1990 | Finance, private equity, capital markets |
| McDermott Will & Schulte | 1998 | Finance, funds, healthcare |
| Milbank | 1979 | Finance, capital markets, energy, resources and infrastructure |
| Paul Hastings | 1997 | Leveraged finance, structured finance, infrastructure |
| Paul Weiss | 2001 | Private equity, leveraged finance |
| Quinn Emanuel | 2008 | Litigation |
| Sidley Austin | 1974 | Leveraged finance, capital markets, corporate/M&A |
| Simpson Thacher | 1978 | Leveraged finance, private equity, funds |
| Skadden | 1988 | Finance, corporate/M&A, arbitration |
| Sullivan & Cromwell | 1972 | Corporate/M&A, restructuring, capital markets |
| Weil | 1996 | Restructuring, private equity, leverage finance |
| White & Case | 1971 | Capital markets, arbitration, energy, resources and infrastructure |
| Law firm | Type | First-year salary |
|---|---|---|
| White & Case | US firm | £32,000 |
| Stephenson Harwood | International | £30,000 |
| A&O Shearman | Magic Circle | £28,000 |
| Charles Russell Speechlys | International | £28,000 |
| Freshfields | Magic Circle | £28,000 |
| Herbert Smith Freehills | Silver Circle | £28,000 |
| Hogan Lovells | International | £28,000 |
| Linklaters | Magic Circle | £28,000 |
| Mishcon de Reya | International | £28,000 |
| Norton Rose Fulbright | International | £28,000 |
Law Firm | Trainee First Year | Trainee Second Year | Newly Qualified (NQ) |
|---|---|---|---|
| A&O Shearman | £56,000 | £61,000 | £150,000 |
| Clifford Chance | £56,000 | £61,000 | £150,000 |
| Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer | £56,000 | £61,000 | £150,000 |
| Linklaters | £56,000 | £61,000 | £150,000 |
| Slaughter and May | £56,000 | £61,000 | £150,000 |
Law Firm | Trainee First Year | Trainee Second Year | Newly Qualified (NQ) |
|---|---|---|---|
| A&O Shearman | £56,000 | £61,000 | £150,000 |
| Clifford Chance | £56,000 | £61,000 | £150,000 |
| Freshfields | £56,000 | £61,000 | £150,000 |
| Linklaters | £56,000 | £61,000 | £150,000 |
| Slaughter and May | £56,000 | £61,000 | £150,000 |
Law Firm | Trainee First Year | Trainee Second Year | Newly Qualified (NQ) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ashurst | £60,000 | £65,000 | £145,000 |
| Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner | £53,000 | £58,000 | £135,000 |
| Herbert Smith Freehills | £56,000 | £61,000 | £145,000 |
| Macfarlanes | £60,000 | £65,000 | £150,000 |
| Travers Smith | £55,000 | £60,000 | £130,000 |
| Firm | Merger year | Known for in London |
|---|---|---|
| BCLP | 2018 | Real estate, corporate/M&A, litigation |
| DLA Piper | 2005 | Corporate/M&A, real estate, energy, resources and infrastructure |
| Eversheds Sutherland | 2017 | Corporate/M&A, finance |
| Hogan Lovells | 2011 | Litigation, regulation, finance |
| Mayer Brown | 2002 | Finance, capital markets, real estate |
| Norton Rose Fulbright | 2013 | Energy, resources and infrastructure, insurance, finance |
| Reed Smith | 2007 | Shipping, finance, TMT |
| Squire Patton Boggs | 2011 | Corporate/M&A, pensions, TMT |
Law Firm | Trainee First Year | Trainee Second Year | Newly Qualified (NQ) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ashurst | £60,000 | £65,000 | £145,000 |
| BCLP | £53,000 | £58,000 | £135,000 |
| Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer | £56,000 | £61,000 | £145,000 |
| Macfarlanes | £60,000 | £65,000 | £150,000 |
| Travers Smith | £55,000 | £60,000 | £130,000 |
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