Meet our Trailblazers - Sophia Saffarian

By April Baniqued. Published 06 August 2026.

What inspired you to study an undergraduate law degree?

My journey into law began with a national singing competition in 2016. As competitors, we were provided with legal representation, so I’ve been able to appreciate first-hand the importance of this kind of protection, particularly in the entertainment industry.

Later in my career, I learned a lot more about the parts you don’t see: the music business, intellectual property rights, the logistics behind creating and releasing musical works. I found this extremely interesting (and confusing at the time) - there was so much I didn’t know but wanted to understand, so I took more of an interest in how all of that worked (publishing, royalties, copyright etc). 

Approaching a decade in and, as circumstances changed, I found myself pulling away from a career in music. I then had one perfectly timed bad experience with a label that made me take the leap, so I bit the bullet and applied to study Law, with the view of following in my own lawyer’s footsteps (she also used to be a singer).

Why study at The University of Law? 

I chose to study at The University of Law because I wanted to continue working and fulfilling my other obligations alongside studying - the University was one of the only providers offering the LLB Law online. The University has also developed a strong reputation for providing postgraduate vocational courses. My mother did her conversion course with The University of Law when it was the College of Law and so it felt really fitting.

How have your ambitions changed since you started University? 

I came to university wanting to be "an entertainment and music lawyer”. At some point, I refined this to "an entertainment and music barrister” and then soon realised that this was far too niche. I then set my sights on a career in Commercial Law at the Bar more broadly but as the course has progressed, I have unveiled a (somewhat surprising) interest in Equity and Trusts, and Wills and Succession. It would be great to be able to incorporate both the Commercial and Chancery aspects into my practice in the future. I’m just keeping an open mind and seeing where my journey takes me.    

Who has had the biggest impact on your experience at The University of Law? 

The Programme and Student Lead (PSL) and Disability and Inclusion Support (DIS) teams, hands down. The last three years have been turbulent for me and my health – I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) during my second year exams, after experiencing symptoms since a month after my course began. I genuinely cannot thank both PSL and DIS enough for their help and assistance in supporting me and accommodating any adjustments that were required, doing so with such grace and care. I genuinely felt heard and that I wasn’t alone, which is a difficult feat given that I am studying online. Their support has not wavered throughout the remainder of my course. I know that if I need them, they are there and that I can rely on them. Without pressuring me at all, they gave me the confidence to push on.  

I couldn’t have foreseen circumstances where I would need the level of support that I received. Every student can rest assured that, whether studying online or not, if you need support, it’s there and more importantly, it’s accessible and high-quality.  

Tell us about your recent accomplishments and what they mean to you.

My Students’ Union (SU) award. To be recognised for my resilience and academic achievement, despite the challenges I’ve faced, is the most rewarding feeling. I recently got my results for the first set of final year exams, and I'm proud to say I'm also maintaining my high-first average. This means a lot to me because I didn’t do as well as I should have in my A Levels and didn’t complete my first degree, so it was important to me to prove to myself (and others) that I'm capable of achieving highly academically.

I also like to celebrate the small wins in life, so the fact that I'm three months away from completing my LLB law degree and I'm still sane (at least I think), whilst also helping run the family business, keeping the music ticking over, maintaining my modelling career and keeping tabs on my career progress in terms of pupillage applications, is an accomplishment in itself.

How do you stay motivated to continue studying?

During the moments when studying felt overwhelming, my support system and my stubbornness kept me motivated.

My family and partner have had my back every step of the way. Sometimes you just need someone to tell you that you can do it and mean it. Hearing people I care about say they were proud of me and to just do my best really kept me going. I also didn’t want to let the MS win. I kept feeling like I wanted to do little me proud and I would imagine someone telling little me “by age 30 you will have done all of these things” and just being mesmerised. That alone was motivation.

There was also an element of wanting to prove myself to others too, as silly as that sounds. As a female creative tackling a rather unconventional change of career into something very academic, I’ve been underestimated by so many. What a way to prove them wrong. Watch me complete my law degree and do it all from a hospital bed.

What skills can you gain from studying that you can use in everyday life?

I have probably learned more skills in the last three years at The University of Law than I have in my entire life.

Firstly, critical thinking. Sounds crazy but I realised how little I was thinking for myself and forming my own opinions on things. It’s so much easier to reduce things/people/situations to being simply black and white but life is so much more rewarding and interesting if you consider the nuances. It plays a part in so many different aspects of life too, politics, relationships, self-development etc.

Secondly, self-management (hello Graduate and Employability Skills module). Understanding myself better and my learning style has been life changing. I really do believe that half the battle when doing a degree is organising your time and your work in the most effective way possible. It takes a massive amount of pressure off, so that you can focus on the content itself without wasting time.

Finally, confidence in communication. I have always been good with words but my ability to communicate confidently under pressure, especially coming from a self-employed creative background, is something that has come on leaps and bounds since starting the LLB at The University of Law. I’ve developed an ability to assert myself and navigate more challenging conversations in a more effective and less stressful manner. I find that this kind of confidence has allowed me to remain calm and problem-solve in situations when I may have panicked before. 

My driving instructor used to say to me, “I’m teaching you to drive, not to pass your test”. That’s what I feel the University does for its students - it gives us all the tools to prepare us for the legal world, not just to pass our degree. 

How can students balance studying with work, family and other commitments?  

This is something I’ve had to learn, especially with the health issues I’ve been experiencing. A law degree is notoriously intense. It involves a high volume of work, but you don’t have to work yourself into the ground to do well – in fact, you shouldn’t.

Working ‘smart’ and avoiding burnout is a skill. I think being forced to understand the importance of this is probably the hardest and most valuable lesson I’ve learned throughout this course, one that I will carry with me throughout life now. At first, I felt like spending time organising myself and my workload/time was eating into my study time, not realising that that was a highly productive use of my time and would dramatically reduce my study time by making my set-up far more efficient.

I think it’s also important to be able to communicate when you’re overwhelmed or taking on too much at once and what assistance you need. People often respect you for it and are willing to assist, provided it is reasonable.

What’s your advice for overcoming difficult circumstances and creating your own opportunities?

It’s okay to take a little longer to figure out what you really want. It might even serve you better. And even when you do figure it out, your path to getting there might not be straight-forward, but that shouldn’t stop you. Never underestimate yourself or be disheartened by one, or many, “setback(s)”, because they often aren’t that for very long, and everything is almost always less dramatic in hindsight.

I think it's important to share the fact that my journey has been by no means linear, predictable or conventional. I’ve “made my own luck” just by being persistent and learning from situations I find myself making what I can out of it. My A-Levels didn’t go well or reflect my ability - I had no idea what I wanted to do and realised I’d picked the wrong subjects further down the line. By the time I did decide on something, it was too late to change.

I then ended up getting onto my first degree via Clearing. I only completed a year and a half of it due to leaving to pursue my music career (which was daunting at the time but 100% the right decision, by the way). So, all in all, I went from wanting to study psychology, to wanting to be a vet and partially studying bio-veterinary science, to being a professional singer and model, to studying law (and doing well at it). It turns out that the A Level results I wasn’t proud of and those first-year credits from the partial degree are what got me onto the LLB. Could I have predicted any of that? No. Do I regret any of it? Absolutely not.

Every part of my journey served its purpose, but I wouldn’t have known that at the time and there were times I felt disheartened. It’s about how you use the tools and experiences you have, there’s always something you can do with it, be resourceful and don’t be afraid to try. I don’t believe in ‘failure’ in that sense, just lessons.

Ultimately and most importantly, don’t be afraid to advocate for yourself where necessary.

What is it really like to return to studying and overcome challenges along the way?  

I wanted to say something about the “mature student” stigma…it shouldn’t exist. This degree is the best thing I could have done with my life at this point in time. I am so glad I didn’t let being a “mature student” deter me. In fact, especially for the LLB, my life experience has served me so well, and the fact that I am studying now because I have chosen to (as opposed to feeling compelled to fresh out of school) just means that I got so much more out of it and ultimately performed to my best ability.

When you picture your future, what do you see?  

I want to get back into songwriting more and see what comes out, seen as so much has changed in my life over the past three years. Career-wise though, the Bar is next and then hopefully pupillage to follow (wish me luck). To be honest, I’ve learnt not to get too caught up on trying to figure out what the future looks like, because it almost never looks how you plan it to. All I know is that I will find my way just as I have thus far, hopefully to a career at the Bar specialising in commercial and/or chancery law. Watch this space.

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