A qualifying
Journey
Joining the revered ranks
of the Law Society is one of
my major life achievements.
My practising certificate
is now proudly framed
and hung up on my wall
above my desk, much
to the amusement of my
more experienced and
nonchalant colleagues
who laugh at my delight
about such little things as a
framed certificate or a new
business card.
But qualifying as a solicitor is much more
than that – it is the result of many years
of studying, numerous jobs and general
hard work, and the ultimate goal that
I have been striving for in my working life.
In the current climate, it is an
increasingly difficult profession to enter
into. Despite the surge in law degrees
and post-graduate study places, the
number of training contracts and newlyqualified jobs has reduced dramatically.
Training contracts are hard to get and
competition is fierce. It took me many
additional years to qualify than I had
originally expected, and I had to work
my way up through the firm to get to
the point where I could start my training
contract.
In my late teens I obtained work
experience in several law firms, which
confirmed my desire to become a
solicitor. I took a gap year to travel,
teaching English in Malaysia and
exploring South East Asia. I then
studied law at Cardiff University, a great
university in a lively and fun city. A law
degree is hard work, and although I
belonged to many clubs and cocktail
societies, a huge amount of time was
spent in the law library and trying to type
long essays through the night when my
friends were out partying.
After moving back to Brighton, I started
my legal practice course, the postgraduate training. I was working full time
and going up to in London to study two
32
evenings a week. I travelled up to college
on the train, and although the course
was interesting, I also had to resist the
temptation to get off the train early to go
to Ikea instead! It was great to learn a
more practical side of the law after the
academics of university, and to study
with people who were in retraining or in
full time jobs, as opposed to students.
Having finished the last part of my
studying, I tried to find a training contract
in a firm in Sussex. Unfortunately
the recession had hit and there were
few firms that could take on trainees.
Whilst I was offered some interviews,
unfortunately there was a lot of
competition and none were successful
for me. I was however offered a job
to go and work in the Caribbean in a
restaurant. As tempting as it was to go
jetting off to the Caribbean, I was still
looking for legal training. Eventually I
left it up to chance – if I got a training
contract I would stay, if I didn’t then I
would head out to the tropics. As no
training contracts were forthcoming,
I flew out and had the time of my life,
sailing, diving and working on a tiny
island in the middle of a bay, and
delivering a boat down through the
islands to Trinidad. I met a handsome
diving instructor, who later became
my husband. Living in other countries,
exploring new places and experiencing
new things has given me the life
experience that I could not have got any
other way.