A high-powered lawyer decides to leave career to teach and inspire students in low-income area

A school teacher in England, Mouhssin Ismail, has left his six-figure salary as a high-powered lawyer in order to help children in his old inner city neighborhood of Newham. 

Mr. Ismail is now the headmaster of Newham Collegiate Sixth Form in East London. After his first year, 190 of his students (out of 200) are moving on to some of the best universities in the country, including Oxford and Cambridge.

He left his previous career as a high-powered lawyer at Norton Rose Fullbright because he was unfulfilled and tired of impersonal financing. He wanted to give back to society and help students achieve success.

“After a couple of years, I felt unfulfilled,” he said. “I didn’t think, ‘that’s great, I have just done another £50 million deal,’ I thought, ‘am I making a contribution to society?’”

“I believe in the transformational nature of education and I want to give the most able students of Newham the very best chance of going to the most competitive universities in the country and abroad.”