Independent firm’s new starters comment on “friendly and welcoming atmosphere” amongst solicitors who are “going places”.
AN 18-YEAR-OLD apprentice, a newly qualified solicitor and an experienced solicitor are amongst the new starts at Jacksons, demonstrating the law firm’s plans for growth and retained independence in the North East.
Stephanie Craddock, Yasir Hussain, Louis Dinsdale and Evie Jones have all commented on the “friendliness” of their teams at Jacksons, since their recent starts across various departments across Teesside and Newcastle.
Evie Jones, 18, is pleased to be earning while she’s learning in the firm’s residential conveyancing team – and is looking ahead to becoming a qualified solicitor with no student loan debt by the age of 24.
Evie, who attends Teesside University every Wednesday as part of the educational side of her apprenticeship, which will see her awarded a law degree at the end of six years, said she is “very grateful” Jacksons offers this route to becoming a solicitor.
She said: “It’s great that Jacksons offers a scheme like this and they are so welcoming of local people.
“It’s a fantastic opportunity for anyone who, like me, might feel that being full-time at university is not 100% for them.
“Having the opportunity to earn while you learn and being able to be in a friendly workplace environment is fantastic.”
She added: “If you have the chance to take this route, I would say ‘go for it’ because it gives you six years of work experience ahead of qualifying as a solicitor which you might not get following the university path.
“From what I’ve heard from the course leader at University, the apprentices from last year picked things up much faster because they were also spending time learning on the job, which is exciting me to want to dive deeper into the course.”
Evie also described everyone at Jacksons as “kind and helpful”.
“Even when I am asking a lot of questions I am always greeted with a smiley face and I don’t feel worried about asking for help, because everyone is so welcoming,” she said.
Evie will move around different departments during her apprenticeship to find out what she is best at and what she enjoys the most.
Her comments about the friendliness of staff were echoed by Stephanie Craddock, 34, who has recently started at Jacksons as a trainee legal executive in the conveyancing team.
“It’s a friendly team,” says Stephanie, who completed a Criminology with Law degree at Teesside University, before embarking on work experience at a local law firm where she lives in Spennymoor – where she remained for 11 years.
“I started on reception and made my way up to fee earning in the conveyancing team and after 11 years I decided I needed a change of scenery, so I started at Jacksons,” Stephanie explained.
“Jacksons is a bit bigger than the firm I was at previously and it has a good offering in terms of staff benefits – it’s focused on looking after its people.
“Being at a fresh new place with different personnel and having a new environment has been good.”
Stephanie admitted it was “daunting” coming into a new place, but because everyone has been very friendly and welcoming, it has made changing firms after the first 11 years of her career at the same place much easier.
“Everyone gets on with their job – but they are still there if you need any help,” she says.
Asked what advice she would give to others thinking about pursuing a career in law, her simple advice was to just go for it!
“There are many routes into the profession now,” she says.
“I would say that people do have that idealised idea of what it’s like to be a lawyer from television and the reality is a lot different, but whatever reason you have your heart set on such a career just try it.
“Find what you enjoy and what you really want to stick with and go with it.”
Yasir Hussain, 26, a solicitor in commercial property, has also just started at Jacksons and echoes his new colleagues’ points about “getting a lot of support”.
“I’m enjoying working here,” he said.
“The environment at Jacksons is very positive – there is always help available if you need it at any point.
“Some people I am working with have been qualified for 10 or more years, so there is a lot I can learn from people.
“I would like to stay at Jacksons for as long as possible, as I was raised in Teesside and live in Thornaby and I can see opportunities for progression here at Jacksons in the future.”
Yasir particularly enjoys the problem-solving aspects of working in commercial property and dealing with day-to-day transactions.
“For example, if people have issues with Land Registry boundaries or plans, I enjoy picking that up and helping the landlords and tenants,” said the Teesside University graduate, who also did his Legal Practice Course (LPC) at Sunderland University and has been qualified for one year.
“There’s more to it and clients seem to understand all the different elements we need to cover to complete a transaction.
“Commercial clients understand the processes we need to go through and how long things take.”
Louis Dinsdale, 27, recently started in the firm’s Stockton office as a solicitor in the corporate and commercial team.
The newly qualified solicitor, said he wanted to work in corporate, so he spoke to Jacksons partner Dan Flounders, who heads up the corporate and commercial team at Jacksons – and “really liked his ideas for where he wants to take the department within the firm”.
“It’s quite a young team and he wants to grow and expand over the coming years, so it is quite an exciting time to be joining this department within Jacksons,” said Louis.
“The firm’s culture also seemed like a really good fit for me.
“It’s really friendly with great people and the emphasis is on the North East and having the community in the region at the heart of everything they do.”
Louis came through a non-traditional route, having done a History and Politics degree before doing a graduate diploma in Law (GDL) and his Legal Practice Course (LPC).
He got “two years’ good experience” with Ward Hadaway, which helped him to narrow down what area of law he wanted to qualify in.
“Now, I want to keep developing and growing and getting better, alongside the rest of the team and department,” says Louis.
“I really love working with local businesses and seeing what they do, working really closely with them to achieve their aims.
“You feel like – you’re not quite a partner in it – but you’re really closely aligned with them and I really enjoy that collaboration and getting to know clients – getting embedded in their day-to-day.”
Erica Turner, head of legal and partner at Jacksons, said: “Our recent new appointments reflect our ambition to, not only provide legal services of the highest quality across the North East, but also to become an employer of choice.
“We offer a wide variety of training opportunities and routes into the legal profession for our people, who are the bedrock of our growth plans and determination to retain our status as a first-choice independent law firm.
“I am pleased to hear the new starters have all received a warm welcome from their teams, which is something I also wish to extend to them, as well as my best wishes for their future careers.”