Exclusive interview
“Now you see what I mean about being me?” sighs Sam Jewell, as he hands back yet another selfie-hunter’s mobile phone with a benign smile. “That’s the 12th one I’ve done today and it’s not even lunch-time.”
The scene is a stark contrast to Jewell’s life less than three years ago when he was just another undergraduate at Bristol University, known only to his circle of mates on his law course and the various sports teams he represented.
“Looking back I had an incredible freedom which I didn’t really appreciate at the time,” Jewell muses.
Certainly travel was far simpler. Train journeys these days are little more than an opportunity for Jewell’s legion of law student admirers to grab a few minutes with their idol. “It’s impossible to get any work done, to think, to just be…” says Jewell.
The fame can be not just annoying but possess a darker side. Earlier this autumn Jewell was caught up in a mob of admirers in Birmingham after an exclusive interview he gave to CliffordChanceConnect_Midlands sparked a stampede. Panicked, he fought off the crowd with a banner he was carrying from a recent Legal Cheek event, before losing control of the banner to the mob. “So as not to worry people I claimed I’d just left the banner on the train,” he says. “But in order to heal it’s important to share my truth.”
Looking ahead, Jewell is keen to avoid becoming another legal influencer statistic, mindful of the problems — from burnout to financial problems — that have befallen the likes of Eve Cornwell and Alice Stephenson.
“I’d just like to ask the media to respect my privacy and allow me to find my own path,” Jewell comments, as another autograph hunter approaches our table.