Get to know our new graduate recruitment partner

I’m one of those people who was interested in being a lawyer from quite a young age—I even have the cliché of To Kill a Mockingbird being one of my favourite novels. I studied law at university and found the combination of working with people and analysing and applying the law really interesting.

I also have a typical answer to what led me to Russell-Cooke. I wanted to move to London after university and came across the firm when researching training contracts—I distinctly remember working my way through a thick hard copy of Chambers Student Guide (which makes me feel very old!). I was primarily attracted by the broad practice areas and the comments about the supportive and welcoming atmosphere at Russell-Cooke. I remember walking into the same reception area in Putney that our candidates walk into now (albeit updated of course!) and immediately liking it more than the big, empty receptions of other law firms where I had interviewed.

I think the key to a good training contract is the balance between responsibility and support. Ultimately at the end of the two years, you are a qualified solicitor, with all of the duties that come with advising clients and being part of our profession. You’ll never be properly ready if you spend two years in front of a photocopier and are not challenged by dealing with difficult cases or being out of your comfort zone. Equally being thrown in too much too quickly means that you don’t have time to learn and develop fully. A supervisor’s main role is to work with a trainee to find that balance; what one trainee needs is very different to another, and a trainee is fundamentally different when they get to their final seat than when they start out in their first. The training contract is a journey and it is lovely to see trainees develop as they progress through it.

At Russell-Cooke, your first seat has always been allocated by the graduate recruitment partner. I was very lucky to start in personal injury and medical negligence, working with Janice Gardner and sharing a tiny office in our old building with Sarah Towler (Janice and Sarah are both partners in the team). I absolutely loved it. Janice and Sarah have supported me in many ways throughout my career—which shows the long-term value of making the most out of every seat!

I then did a seat in real estate. I’ve never been shy of saying that it wasn’t for me, but I had some really interesting work and learned so much with that team about running a file, being a client’s main point of contact and drafting complex documents.

Family was my third seat and, unusually for Russell-Cooke, also my fourth. I arrived in the family team in the Bedford Row office just as an associate was leaving, so there was a lot of work and a big trial taking place at the end of my third seat. I had soon decided that family was what I wanted to qualify in and luckily the team quite liked me too! I ended up staying for my final six months because of the trial and the follow-up work needed, and I then qualified straight into the team. Despite that, I am a big advocate of training in four seats as I think that the experience you gain from different practice areas is invaluable throughout your career—I still use the Land Registry portal as I was taught in my real estate seat for my cases now.

The personal nature of family law is both the best and the hardest part of my work. I have never lost that feeling of responsibility that I am entrusted by my clients to help them to sort out their home, finances, and often their children. There is nothing more rewarding than seeing someone move forward with their life after the work I have done with them—whether it’s hearing about their wedding day after a pre-nuptial agreement, receiving a photo of their new house after a divorce, or hearing about their child’s impressive exam results after dealing with arrangements for their family post-separation.

The honest answer is a mixture of pride and overwhelming responsibility in equal measure! I still remember my own training contract interview (I have a flashback every time I use that meeting room!) and given that I found the firm where I have stayed for nearly 13 years (and counting), I will never underestimate how important this role is to both the firm and the applicants wishing to join us. It means a lot to me to now be sitting on the other side of the interview table and I can only hope that the training process and training contracts that I lead over the next few years will develop another round of future partners for our firm.

I would say client-focused, supportive and collaborative.

People truly are the core of Russell-Cooke—reflected in both our commitment to our clients, helping them with whatever life throws up, and the supportive culture for everyone who works here. There won’t be many other firms (if any!) where you can do a yoga session on a morning, go to book club at lunchtime, and then join in with a sports / film / theatre / board game club in the evening. What many people don’t see is the support that this gives in our client work—whatever problem arises for a client, there is usually a colleague who specialises in that area just a floor above or Teams call away who can help. The service that we can give to our clients by having a collaborative, solution-focused practice all ‘under one roof’ is second to none, and having a culture that genuinely supports that is something that I will always be most proud of.

Make the most of every opportunity you are given. There aren’t many jobs where you have the chance to take two years to learn from others, develop your skills and work out what you enjoy. Being offered a training contract is such a privilege—many never get that opportunity. It is a huge advantage to be able to try out different areas of law and build lasting relationships across the firm. For anyone starting out, relish every minute of the seats you enjoy, learn from the seats that aren’t the right fit for you, and take every opportunity to gain experience and make the most of your time as a trainee.

I use this one so often for these types of questions that I think everyone knows by now! Just before I started my training contract, I was on Location, Location, Location. Going on TV is really not me at all but as a Northerner moving down to London, I was completely baffled by the different areas and property market, so I thought it was worth a try! I’ve never regretted it—it was a truly interesting experience and I even bought my first flat through the show, so it was also very helpful!