DAVID RYAN GRADUATE "You don’t need to go to a ‘Sandstone’ to get to the big end of town." Hi, I'm David Ryan and I'm a partner in the Corporate Group at Blake Dawson, one of Australia's largest law firms. Prior to commencing my studies at UWS, I had my own panel beating business. I've always been fascinated by entrepreneurs - people who had founded their own companies - and I decided to go to UWS to study commerce with a view to enhancing my business skills and taking my business in a different direction. It was at UWS that I first became interested in the law. I took to the study of law a bit like a duck to water. This was due in no small part to the way the lecturers at UWS taught the various subjects. There was a lot of interaction between the lecturers and students, and a great deal of the "practical" as well as the "theoretical". I enjoyed it so much that I decided I would like to practise corporate law for a living. Doing law at UWS enabled me to secure a role as a graduate at Blake Dawson Waldron (as the firm was then known) when I finished university. This dispelled any misconception that I may have had that blue chip law firms are only interested in students from the more "established" institutions. Believe me, I've worked with lawyers from many different backgrounds and from many different universities. UWS graduates are up there with the best and I'm living proof that you don't need to go to a ‘sandstone' university to get to the big end of town.