In the court districts of many major cities there will be a pub or gathering place called ‘The Wig and Pen’ — a testament to the long-standing and close relationship between the members of the legal profession and the men and women of the press.Many journalists spend more time in court covering cases of all kinds, and deciphering the judgments afterwards, than any other sector. And there are many journalists whose career paths have taken them from the newsroom into a chambers or legal office.Lilla Zuill joined the ranks of legal figures such as former journalists John Barritt, Warren Cabral and Paula Cox when she was Called to the Bar two weeks ago.And during her call to the bar, she thanked those who “ ... have helped me to make the leap from the fourth pillar of democracy to a profession that operates between the first and third pillars.”Ms Zuill’s journalism career began in Bermuda at the Bermuda Sun and then The Royal Gazette’s business desk before she joined Reuters in New York. It was there she covered the legal hearings concerning American International Group and the insurer’s multibillion dollar legal battle with Starr International Co. “The judge was US District Judge Jed Rakoff in the Southern District Court in Manhattan, and he has been the judge on a number of very high profile commercial matters,” she said. The experience impressed her to such a degree that it made her determined to begin the process of becoming a lawyer.And Ms Zuill was Called to the Bar two weeks ago, after a rigorous path which included studying while still a journalist with a demanding career at the leading news agency, then through pregnancy and the early babyhood of her daughter Guinevere, all while continuing to raise her eldest daughter Isabella.“I think one of the things that drives us at this stage of life is being an example to our children — I hope my older daughter sees if you set your mind on something, you can do it,” she said. “And being a mother and having a second career, it makes you more focused — I was able to get through everything very quickly.”The journey took Ms Zuill her husband Gareth Finighan, a senior journalist at The Royal Gazette, and Isabella from Bermuda to New York to London, and with baby Guinevere on the final leg — back to Bermuda.“I’m very happy to have come back home,” she said.Concluding her speech on her Call to the Bar, she said to her husband: “ ... thank you for following me to New York and then letting me drag you to London and back to Bermuda. You have been a good sport and a constant source of support. I do not know what I would be without you and the girls. It means everything to me that you and Isabella and Guinevere can be here with me today.“I love you all with all my heart.”Starting the qualifying process in January 2010 while she and her family were still living in New York, she undertook the Graduate Diploma in Law remotely — and on an accelerated basis. “I went to England to sit the exams,” she said.“I immediately started my vocational training, the Legal Practice Course, after that — even though I didn’t know what my results were at that stage. If I hadn’t have done well I would have had to do resits and wait another year — but I was able to get right on with it,” she said.In fact, Ms Zuill achieved a distinction in the Legal Practice Course and a commendation for her Graduate Diploma in Law.Now, she is a barrister and attorney — and an associate in the litigation department at Cox Hallett Wilkinson (CHW), where she was also a pupil.“I think it was a good decision to join a medium sized firm. In a firm of this size you get to work with the partners. I don’t think you would have these same opportunities at a big firm. In the United Kingdom, during a lot of the training contracts, you are a general dogsbody.“Here, I’m working on weighty commercial litigation matters and contentious trust matters.”In making the decision to become a lawyer, she said: “ I did want to build on what I had done — it’s very important to me, that the experience I had as a journalist would be an asset.” The new barrister and attorney said there are six important benefits of having been a financial reporter which translate into a legal career — commercial awareness, the ability to communicate well and interact with clients, to write well, to undertake research, to fact-manage and work to deadlines. There are also some real differences. “With the law, there are a lot of formalities — court protocol, for example, but journalism does give you a very good foundation.”The process, she said: “Has gone a lot more smoothly than you might expect.“I really, really enjoyed the academic side of it. It was all of the things I loved about being a journalist — the research, digging into and uncovering of information. Like journalism, the law is about people, and getting to the bottom of things.”During Ms Zuill’s Call to the Bar, she said the Chief Justice, Ian Kawaley, encouraged her to ‘stop leaning, and actually cross the line into litigation’ as her area of specialisation. And of the many areas of the law that are available — “The skills you have as a journalist are closely aligned with the skills that are required of litigation,” she said. “You are applying the law to situations where the facts are already established, albeit the facts are often in dispute, as opposed to corporate law where you are involved in transactions as they are happening.”In putting her journalism career behind her, she said: “I didn’t have any aspirations to be an editor or move into an editing role — so, as much as I loved being a journalist, I always felt I would leave journalism.“And I have no regrets about this change.”Disclosure: Lilla Zuill is related to Business reporter Rebecca Zuill and she is the wife of The Royal Gazette senior reporter Gareth Finighan.