Meet The Trainees

I began my training contract with Wilson Browne in May 2023 after a couple of years as a Paralegal in the childcare team. I am currently in my second seat and am due to qualify in May 2025.

I completed my LLB Law and Criminal Justice degree at DMU University in Leicester. I graduated with First Class Honours in 2018 and went on to complete the LPC in 2019. I then spent some time as a trainee conveyancer before making the move to family law in 2020.

Starting a new role in the middle of a pandemic wasn’t without its challenges. The whole world was having to adapt, including lawyers. Hearings were being conducted online and we were no longer seeing clients.

However, I learned so many skills within my first couple of months which I will use throughout my career (perhaps more than I would have if we hadn’t been in a pandemic!). That being said, I’m glad things are slowly getting back to normal.

I moved to Wilson Browne in October 2021 and applied for a training contract in January 2022. From the moment I started, I felt like I was part of a community. I could see how important career progression and well-being was to the firm and instantly knew I would love to complete my training here. I felt supported from the moment I stepped through the door.

I completed my first seat in the childcare team, a team I had been with for nearly 2 years prior. I was already managing my own caseload of low-level files but in the very first week of my training contract, I was given a care case to run.

This meant I was in charge of the whole file, including hearings. I think having my first seat with childcare made the first 6 months of my training contract so much easier, I was able to take on so much responsibility.

I am now in my second seat with the Court of Protection team. Whilst it was weird being the ‘new girl’ again and knowing practically nothing, I have picked up so many new skills already.

I have also been able to use many skills I have already developed on the way. I have a real passion for helping those most vulnerable, especially at such difficult times in their lives so I am very grateful to be able to spend some time here.

I cannot believe I am already in my second seat, time is flying by. I can’t wait to see what the future holds here for me at Wilson Browne, University me would be pinching herself!

I am currently halfway through my second seat of my training contract. I am due to qualify in November 2024.

I studied my Law degree at the University of Lincoln, graduating in 2019 and completed my LPC while working at Wilson Browne as a Paralegal, over 2 years from 2021 to 2023. Studying part time and working full time, was a challenge but taught me so much about time management and working under pressure.

Working as a Paralegal for 18 months before completing the LPC taught me a lot of relevant skills that assisted me when studying. It helped my confidence and meant I was able to grow as a lawyer while taking the next step towards qualifying.

I was offered a Training Contract in March 2021 to start in November 2023. A complete dream and showed me the confidence and faith Wilson Browne had in me, at such an early stage in my career. Throughout my entire time at Wilson Browne, I have never doubted the faith they have had in me, at all levels. I have felt respected as a lawyer by all my fellow colleagues, regardless of their experience or job title.

My first seat was in the Court of Protection team, I had worked in the team for just over 3 years before becoming a Trainee Solicitor and was given a high level of responsibility and my own case load to manage during my time here. I got to spend a lot of time with clients, and it was a very personal area of law where you really get to know your client. It is also very rewarding as you really get to help those that need it most every day.

My second seat is in Commercial Litigation, I have been here for nearly 3 months now and it is a complete contrast to the Court of Protection team. Now, most of my clients are commercial clients and I spend a lot more of my time researching and drafting. The work can be fast paced but it is important to remember to take it one step at a time. I get to work very closely with Partners within the Litigation team and learn directly from them. In just 3 months, I have been able to develop my legal analysis skills and understand the importance of having your own voice.

I am excited to see what challenges I am yet to encounter and what other areas of law I get to experience during my Training Contract.

My name is Hannah, and I am currently in the second seat of my training contract with Wilson Browne Solicitors and am due to qualify in November 2024.

I completed my LLB Law Degree in 2020. In 2018-2019, during my third year at university, I decided to undertake a placement year to gain some invaluable legal knowledge which I knew would help greatly with my future career. Whilst all of my university friends were asking me “Why would you not just want to finish uni next year?” and “I couldn’t think of anything worse than getting a full-time job and postponing final year”, I knew that gaining as much legal experience as possible would be beneficial in every way and far outweighed simply wanting to finish my degree as soon as possible (with probably no job to walk in to).

I applied for a Paralegal role at Wilson Browne Solicitors for my sandwich year and was lucky enough to secure the role in the Clinical Negligence team and take over from the existing Trainee Solicitor there at just 20 years old! I gained such a variety of skills, even the simplest things (such as drafting letters and communication) were tricky at first and these skills helped me immensely during my final year of university and beyond. I was exposed to such a wide variety of challenges during this role including attending the Royal Courts of Justice, Parliament and Round Table Meetings. To this day, the best thing I ever did was undertaking a placement year.

After finishing university in 2020, I went straight on to complete my LLM LPC full-time whilst working part-time. This was a very challenging time (not helped by having to do it all from home during the Pandemic) yet somehow managed to stay motivated and remained focus on the end goal as I knew the hard work would eventually pay off. After I completed the LLM LPC in the summer of 2021, I noticed that there were vacancies again at Wilson Browne. Having re-applied to Wilson Browne, I was then offered a paralegal role within the well-recognised (by the Legal 500) Commercial Litigation team shortly after. I worked closely and alongside the Head of Team and Partner of the firm and was afforded a high level of responsibility from the beginning. I was exposed to such a variety of cases, skills and knowledge every day which I will never forget.

I was offered a training contract in January 2022, to start in November 2022 just a few months later and it really was such an amazing day, which was of course followed by celebrations at the weekend. I truly felt that my hard work had been recognised and felt like a very valuable member of the team and had been rewarded for that.

During my time at Wilson Browne, I have been provided with a solid foundation of the law and a variety of skills, in a variety of areas which I truly believe will make me the best solicitor that I can be in the future. This has also helped me to tick every box on which area of law to go into, whether that be contentious or non-contentious or private or commercial which is typically the hardest thing for every trainee to decide!

Everyone who I work with has been very approachable and the partners very much operate an open-door policy. Time really does fly by and it won’t be long before qualification. The exposure has meant that I am very well-equipped for this and cannot wait for that day to come, although every day is still a school day and there is so much still to learn! I cannot wait for my journey to continue and I have loved every part of it!

Today we celebrate #NeverGiveUpDay This day is all about cultivating a mindset of determination and it is the perfect day for taking pride in everything you’ve overcome and defeated. As lots of students receive their A Levels results today Ellie Tait in the Commercial Property team reflects on her journey to becoming a Solicitor

Law has always been of interest to me although when I started out on my legal journey I did not necessarily know at that point I wanted to be a solicitor. As a student going to university for the first time, the legal sector can be a minefield. It wasn’t until I was at university learning about the different areas of law and opportunities within those areas that I decided I wanted to become a solicitor.

For anyone not within the legal world, becoming a solicitor can appear to involve going to university, working hard and getting a job. That is however only part of the journey. Becoming a solicitor involves an undergraduate degree, a post graduate degree and a two year training contract all amongst trying to obtain valuable work experience within a competitive field. The journey to becoming a solicitor can at times seem unachievable but it’s important to take things one step at a time and always have the end goal in sight.

During my journey I found it important to keep reflecting on what I had already achieved and overcome rather than focusing on what I had not yet achieved. It can become easy to feel like you are stuck without acknowledging all the hard work and effort you have put in to be where you are currently. It’s important to remember that no two people’s journeys are the same and as long as you know where you want to end up, you will get there in the end!

I have recently just finished the first seat of my training contract and I think that it is important to reflect back on the past 6 months when it comes to these milestones as you can really see the progress you have made over this time and how far you have come since the start of the seat.

Clinical Negligence

I was both excited and nervous to begin the first seat of my training contract. Clinical negligence was a whole new area of law for me and so I was excited to get started. Although I had been working within a litigation team already as a paralegal, it was interesting to work on cases from a different litigation aspect. This was both in the case of moving from working with commercial clients to individuals and also taking the step from paralegal to trainee.

It was fairly daunting to start in a new team and new office but everyone around me made the transition so positive and comfortable for me. I was lucky enough to have a week’s handover with the trainee already in the team which was really helpful. I have found the other trainees’ advice extremely invaluable since starting my training contract and I think it’s great to be able to learn from each other’s experiences. It’s also a great motivation to be able to watch as other trainee’s qualify into teams within the firm!

Being a trainee in the clinical negligence team meant that I was responsible for the new enquiries that came in to the team. I really enjoyed this aspect of my time in the team as it meant I was the first point of contact for the clients and it was great to be able to advise clients that we were able to take on their case for them and provide them with that hope that we felt there were sufficient prospects of success.

Commercial Property

My second seat brings with it change again with moving back to working on commercial matters and this time in a non-contentious area. I am looking forward to seeing what the next 6 months brings.