There is nothing “vanilla” about the trust industry in Bermuda, said lawyer Keeka Simons.

“There is not a monotonous day-to-day routine,” the trust and corporate associate at Lombard Odier Trust told The Royal Gazette.

On any given day she could be dealing with tax issues or investments, corporate services or prenuptial agreements.

Yet, Ms Simons feels that when it comes to choosing careers in Bermuda, it is sometimes a forgotten industry.

“In law school, I did not hear much about it as a career possibility,” she said.

“I would have liked to have learnt about it a lot earlier. A bit more information would have opened my eyes to the many opportunities that the trust industry offers.”

She and other members from Step Bermuda, an organisation with more than 170 members in the trust industry, are trying to change that.

“A lot of people in the field don’t necessarily intend to be in trust, they just fall into it,” Ms Simons said.

Step Bermuda wants more people to intentionally choose it as a career path.

“We want to bring more young people in,” Ms Simons said. “We have a committee that is working with the Bermuda College to facilitate and promote courses offered via the Central Law Training Institute.”

On November 2, Step Bermuda will also be holding a student social at Deja View Restaurant and Bar at 17 Point Pleasant Road in Hamilton at 5pm.

“We think it is important to actually target some of the younger generation like high school students or young adults,” Ms Simons said. “We want to talk with people who are considering it as a career, or people who are looking to make a career change.”

She became interested in trusts when she worked as a consultant in the trust department of a local law firm.

“They had a lot of local trusts,” she said.

Because she loves family and matrimonial law, she was drawn to it. She took on her current role with Lombard Odier in 2020, a year after she qualified as a lawyer.

She said: “It has been a journey ever since then. It is definitely an extremely interesting industry.”

Ms Simons is the student liaison officer for Step Bermuda, working with current trust students.

“I support them in their journey navigating through the qualifying exams and facilitating workshops where if they have upcoming exams, then we can all have a round table and do some case studies. We can also bounce ideas off of each other. There are approximately eight to 12 students on that journey right now.”