Alumni profile: Fleur Knowsley, Senior Counsel, Google Inc.
Fleur Knowsley is a Senior Counsel at Google Inc. in San Francisco. She graduated from Victoria University of Wellington in 2003 with an LLB and a BCA in Economics.
Fleur was recently back in Wellington and spoke at the Faculty of Law as part of our “Lives in the Law” alumni speaker series in December.
Who helped open a door for you as a young lawyer? I was lucky enough to have many supporters early on in my career, all of whom have been incredibly influential. The two who provided the biggest (and scariest!) open door are Allen Parker and Tim Cameron who recruited me to the New York Law firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore during a trip to New Zealand. Everything else has followed from that critical meeting where I actually asked them “So, I’m probably going to London, why should I come to New York and work for you?” in hindsight, a bold and naïve move!
What’s a stand-out memory from your time at Law School? Being randomly called on to answer tough questions during Professor David McLauchlan’s contracts classes! Do the reading! Fantastic preparation for everything the US has thrown at me.
What are three career highlights? One from each location:
- In Wellington, while at Kensington Swan, being given the opportunity to write numerous articles for publication and present papers during key conferences.
- While in New York, having to work with US law enforcement on an insider trading case.
- At Google in the Bay Area, being on a team that has been instrumental in advocating to improve access to high speed broadband.
Why is supporting current and future Victoria Law students important to you? My law and economics degrees from Victoria are the foundation of my entire career and I’m proud to have such practical, useful and well-respected qualifications. The ability to pay that forward and support the next generation of young Kiwi lawyers is something I’m really excited about!
What piece of advice would you give a law graduate today? Relationships are everything. Form them, be active in maintaining them, treat them with care and love. Treat every interaction as a future job interview—you never know where you’ll be or how the connections will work out. Kiwis can do anything!
In 2017, Fleur established the Fleur Knowsley Law Scholarship to provide financial support to New Zealand’s brightest young law students experiencing disadvantage. The scholarship provides financial support to a 200- or 300-level LLB or LLB(Hons) student who meets the criteria, to ensure they are able to continue their law degree at Victoria University of Wellington.