The surprise of the High Street Firm – Gulnaz Raja

As I was drawing closer to the end of my Training Contract I was pleased to be approached by Emily to write a piece on my legal journey from embarking on a Law degree at City in September 2004 to qualifying as a Solicitor in November 2010.

After obtaining average A-Level results I was elated to receive a call from Lynn Childs to confirm my place on the Law LLB programme was secure. As I went through the degree I was keen to explore what kind of law firm I wanted to work for. Initially I was drawn to working for a commercial law firm which seemed glamorous but I quickly realised this was not the path I wanted to follow. After undertaking some voluntary placements at local high street firms at the end of my second year I quickly realised I wanted to act for people and not commercial entities!

On completing the degree in 2007 I began the Legal Practice Course at the College of Law. I had decided that the Solicitor route would be best for me as I didn’t want to undertake Court work day in day out.

After the LPC I worked as a paralegal for the in-house legal department of Whitbread plc. At this point I was slightly disillusioned as drawing up legal contracts and franchise agreements was not the most exciting work in the world! I was therefore happy to leave and work as a paralegal for a local high street firm, Indus Solicitors.

My experience of working as a paralegal at Whitbread and Indus was very different. Before securing the training contract or indeed a pupillage, it is often necessary to work as a paralegal to build up legal experience as ‘evidence’ that you are interested in working in a particular area of the law. Even barristers will need to undertake paralegal work within a solicitor’s firm to build up their experience in securing a pupillage. Working as a paralegal involves undertaking legal research, drafting letters and forms, communicating with clients and other solicitors and the general administrative tasks.

Place of dreams;-) Thanks to bulibraries for this image via CC licence on flickr.com

Whilst working as a paralegal, although there were a lot of administrative duties to begin with (such as photocopying and preparing bundles), I was also required to work on cases and had lots of responsibility. This was particularly the case at Indus and I found on embarking on the training contract the work was very similar and was a continuation of my work as a paralegal.

Six months into the paralegal position at Indus, the firm decided to apply for permission to take on trainee solicitors which was approved by the Law Society and I began my training contract in April 2009.

As a small growing firm it was an exciting time to begin the training contract. With an established Immigration department, the firm wanted to branch out into other areas including private Family law and Wills and Probate. From the beginning I was given lots of responsibility and, unlike other firms, I was asked to take on cases such as divorces, ancillary relief cases and child contact from the very outset and continue with them. I was taking instructions, conducting client consultations and managing my own caseload with lots of help from fellow staff. One of my first memorable cases involved a young illiterate woman with a child who had been left by her husband who refused to provide any support. To cut a long story short after two years of going through the Court process she was awarded with 75% of the sale proceeds...it was a great result and an amazing moment as a trainee being able to help and change somebody’s life. She’s now looking to re-marry and start her fresh life with lots of money in the bank!

My experience of working at a small high street firm such as Indus compared to a large firm such as Whitbread was very different. Working within a high street practice has offered me with a chance to work on cases, go to Court and meet with clients and build relationships with them. I had greater responsibility over my work at Indus and had to use initiative to solve problems and get results. I have also benefitted from learning about how a small business entity operates and have attained vast experience in marketing, advertising, accounts and recruitment. Within a small firm you have the opportunity to get involved in all areas, not just the law, and this provides you with a competitive edge whereas a larger organisation may not provide you with the broad transferable skills set required to secure good working positions.

As a newly qualified Solicitor I can truly say that all the exams, hard work and effort has been worth it. I’m not sure what my future will hold but I feel no different now from beginning the Law degree at City: I'm looking forward to it!

Thanks to Gulnaz Raja for this insightful piece. Gulnaz studied her LLB at The City Law School between 2004-2007.