IRENNA PIETRUSZKA Partner, Head of Conveyancing, Newcastle Office, Sweeney Miller Law
What were your career ambitions growing up?
When I was little, I wanted to be a librarian because I loved reading. My mum told me that she once caught me reading the dictionary because I’d read everything else! I didn’t decide to get into law until I was in my early twenties. I did a day’s clerking helping a barrister friend and thoroughly enjoyed it. I found the whole justice system fascinating and knew from then that I wanted to be a part of the legal industry.
Tell us about your current role?
I am a solicitor, and more recently Partner at Sweeney Miller Law. I head up the Residential Conveyancing team at our Newcastle office in Gosforth. Whilst I have my own caseload dealing with a mix of sales, purchases, freehold, leaseholds, new builds, right to buys and more complex property matters, I also supervise the rest of the residential team in Newcastle. This means a lot of answering questions, and generally helping to develop my colleagues, which I find very rewarding.
What is your proudest business achievement?
It’s definitely being promoted to Partner. When you qualify as a solicitor, becoming a Partner at a law firm is the ultimate goal for most people. I’ve never felt like it was something that I would be able to achieve until I worked at Sweeney Miller. The support that I’ve had to grow my career at the firm has been amazing. There are definitely no ‘glass ceilings’ at the firm where people are rewarded for the work they put in. A clear example of this is Jess Fenwick and Damien Todd who both started at the firm as paralegals, then after qualifying as solicitors, within a few years they too became Partners.
The firm is very family orientated, with a young family myself, I have always felt there were no limitations on what I could achieve or do at the firm. If I say to them something like, “I need some time to attend a school event or to study, or learn something new”, then I know that they’d support me in that. Something else I am very proud of, is our team being finalists in the 2022 Northern Law Awards for the Residential Property category.
How has your industry changed in the last decade?
Residential conveyancing has become more intense and fast-paced, which the team and I thrive on. In the past, much of the work was done by post, now it is mainly by email. We aim to always exceed our clients’ expectations and there is understandably a lot of pressure to proceed with conveyancing transactions as quickly as possible. The team also know how important it is to keep our clients fully up to date about the progress of their sale or purchase or to explain things that they may be unclear on. Sweeney Miller has developed a specialist App that helps speed up communications with clients, enabling them to track the progress of their sale/purchase, provide documentation etc.
Tell us about the team you work with?
Day to day, I work closely with a team who assist with my own caseload, they are absolutely amazing. In addition, I supervise and manage the wider Newcastle Residential Conveyancing team comprising of other solicitors and fee-earners, each with their own support teams. This is also about to expand as budding members of existing teams break off into their own teams. Due to the heavy focus the firm has on training and development of staff, much of my working day is involved in answering a lot of questions and generally ensuring the professional growth of the whole Newcastle team.
What is the best piece of business advice you have been given?
Whilst I cannot think of a specific piece of business advice, I know a lot of people say that it’s important to enjoy your work, so that it doesn’t feel like work. I feel very fortunate to actually be in that position. Many firms claim to be ‘family friendly’, and I’ve worked at lots of places before that have done their best to achieve this. However, when it comes down to it, they’ve often missed the mark a bit, because there isn’t that flexibility you need when you have small children, and the support structure isn’t in place. Sweeney Miller is genuinely family friendly. Managing Partner, Surbhi has a young family herself, so understands the needs outside as well as inside of work. When I look at what Surbhi has accomplished, it really does show that women, especially those with a family, can achieve anything – you don’t have to sacrifice either your career or your family.
What has been your biggest challenge?
My biggest challenge was getting my degree as a first step to entering a career in the law. At 23, I was a mature student when I started at university. I had a full-time job as an assistant manager in a bookmakers, so had to study part time. I studied and went to university on my day off. I worked around 45 hours in the bookmakers, so juggling both was exhausting and there were times when I didn’t think I would get here.
How do you unwind outside of work?
I enjoy keeping fit and find running a great way to de-stress. Running is my ‘chill out’ time when I can just switch off from any stresses and clear my head. I’m taking part in a few half marathons this year, including the Great North Run again.
Your favourite Book/CD/DVD?
I read a lot and always enjoy a good thriller. At the moment, I’m hooked on Peter James’ long series about a police officer who solves murders. I’m about nine or ten books in at the minute and I can’t put them down!
