Follow us


The world and how we do things has changed for the foreseeable future and our alumni are finding innovative ways of making their services available despite the circumstances.  Louise Higgs, Joy Rhoades, Murray Rosen and Alice Clark-Platts have all shared their stories below.  If you know of any other alumni who would like to be included please get in touch - [email protected].

Louise Higgs - Virtual Art Therapy

During Lockdown, Louise Higgs a former Herbert Smith Freehills Conference Area Technician co-ran an online Art Therapy Group with Melanie Stevenson. They are both qualified Art Psychotherapists and registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). 

“We wanted to support individuals having a diagnosis of Autism at a time when they could not physically attend their regular weekly groups in person, due to Lockdown. They usually attend the North London Charity, Resources for Autism”. 

Every Thursday, we met online for 10 weeks via Zoom. Our sessions explored the theme of Identity and reflected upon the individual’s surroundings. This new way of working offered a way to minimise isolation, and gave stability during a time of uncertainty. It also provided a valuable space to create artwork enabling expression of their feelings, and gave a sense of the group actually ‘being together’. The group feedback was very positive and much appreciated.
 

Joy Rhoades - Virtual creative writing workshop

Herbert Smith Freehills alumna and award-winning fiction writer Joy Rhoades is helping writers keep writing, despite the challenges of social distancing. "Writing is innately solitary but for me, a vibrant writing community is critical to consistent writing. With lockdown, I found myself missing that creative partnership, so I looked to solve the gap online. And the response has been strong. We’re building a writing community online." 

In partnership with RBKC Libraries, she offers a monthly writing session (the Writing Hour), where participants gather online and commit to some quiet creative writing. Joy provides writing exercises as a prompt as well. Details on how to register available here. Joy also coordinates free creative writing workshops online in conjunction with Hammersmith & Fulham Libraries. Details here.  Joy’s creative writing podcast Start Write (another lockdown production) is available on spotify and soundcloud.
 

Murray Rosen QC - Podcasting

Alumnus Murray Rosen has recorded a podcast about ‘Art Disputes in Times of Pandemic’ and can be accessed here.

Murray is a deputy Judge, arbitrator and mediator who specialises in culture, media and sports dispute resolution and is one of the initial members of the Court of Arbitration for Art recently established in The Hague. He is currently also studying at the Courtauld Institute for a Master’s degree in History of Art.


Alice Clark-Platts - Online creative writing course

Since leaving Herbert Smith Freehills and moving to Singapore, I have reinvented myself as an author. I have written three published novels – my next one is out in early 2022 with Bloomsbury Raven. I have experience of teaching creative writing in schools, prisons and at La Salle College of the Arts, here in Singapore. During our lockdown here, I devised an online course called TELLING YOURSELF THE STORY.

The idea is for those of you who’ve always wanted to write that book, to sign up and learn some writing skills; meet a writing community; and be encouraged that the first draft of any book is just to ‘tell yourself the story.’ It doesn’t need to be flawless. But once you have those words on the page, then you’ve got something to hone and craft and turn into that perfect, page-turning novel!

The first round of the course was oversubscribed so I’ll be running it again in January. Further details are on my website at:
https://www.aliceclarkplatts.com/online-courses/