By way of background, I came from a low-income household where neither of my parents had been to university. I had no legal connections and at school dyslexia constantly hindered my performance in written exams.
My educational history included attending a state school in Canterbury, where I went to all the extracurricular events I could get involved with, participating in public speaking competitions and being constantly curious around new areas that I knew nothing about. I loved the idea of learning and arguing, so what better career to have than a career in law! I have to say I was absolutely astonished when I got into Kent Law School. Shortly after starting my journey there I knew that this was my passion all along.
Following my LLB at the University of Kent, I landed the position of Legal Services Co-ordinator at East Kent Hospitals where I had a high case load dealing with both Inquests and Clinical Negligence Claims. In this role I gained invaluable claims management experience, advocacy experience and I learned a huge amount about healthcare law. Whilst working at the hospital, I studied my LPC MSC at the University of Law in Bloomsbury at the weekends. It was a crazy time with a lot of late nights and for a while hardly any social life (subsequently restored!), but it was 100% worth it.
Working at the hospital enabled me to start building upon my legal connections; I also obtained a mentor (simply by asking the person while at court for a hearing – random I know!), which ultimately helped me on my journey to securing a Training Contract at Browne Jacobson LLP in London.
How did my experience in the Law Clinic help my career?
During my time at Kent Law School, I got involved in the Law Clinic and chose to do the Clinical Option module as part of my law degree. This enabled me to build upon my skillset and gave me a good understanding of the types of tasks undertaken by solicitors; this was a huge help as I was on the fence about whether I wanted to become a solicitor or a barrister. I was lucky enough to work on a couple of cases in the Law Clinic, an immigration case and an employment case. I gained experience of case management, interviewing and research; this was invaluable when starting my first legal position at the local hospital and then progressing into my training contract.
What am I doing now?
I’m currently in my second seat of my Training Contract at Browne Jacobson LLP in London. Since joining the firm, I’ve had the opportunity to explore Construction Litigation and am currently working in in Commercial Projects. To be honest I was not expecting to like this, as it is not litigation-focused, however to my surprise I’m slowly starting to fall in love with it! As well as being a trainee at the firm, I’m also the Chair of the London Young Lawyers Group which provides both networking and professional development events for both aspiring and qualified lawyers.
Any recommendations to help you in pursuing a career in law?
I hope these suggestions will assist you on your journey. Firstly, I cannot recommend enough attending open days at solicitors firms or barristers chambers (these are typically advertised through LinkedIn or on the particular firms’ websites). Not only will this give you an insight into the firm or chambers, but also an insight into different areas of law.
Next, it sounds a cliché, but being organised is going to be a huge help along your legal journey; you need to find out application cycles for internships, training contracts and/or pupillage, and note deadline dates for applications. I typically use planners to assist me with my day-to-day organisation (The Productivity Method is my current favourite).
Also, I suggest that you start building a professional portfolio as early as you can. This includes a magnitude of things such as: building your skillset, developing your network of legal contacts and growing your experiences. Becoming part of the Law Clinic will assist you in taking that first step, and certainly helped me along my journey. From small beginnings, the contacts you build will become very important as you start to pursue your legal career. Law students are able to attend events run by law societies (I wish I had known sooner!). I know that in Kent there is the Kent Law Society and Women in Law Kent who regularly run networking events (these can be located on Instagram or LinkedIn). In London, there is the London Young Lawyers Group as mentioned above; this holds professional development and networking events for both their members and non-members (this includes students such as yourselves).
If anyone has any queries about entering the legal profession or the application process, I’d be more than happy to be contacted through LinkedIn.
Lastly, I wish you all the best with your ambitions and career.
Annabel Taylor