I joined Butcher & Barlow LLP in April 2018 as a paralegal, working within the Family Law team at the Runcorn office.
At the outset, I was provided with a great amount of responsibility and a varied workload. I assisted two experienced fee earners who provided me with a good balance of supervision and freedom, in order to afford me the opportunity to develop my legal skills independently.
My main tasks on a day-to-day basis included attending clients in order to obtain initial instructions, drafting instructions to Counsel, preparing court documents relating to divorce proceedings and preparing witness statements.
At the beginning of 2019, I was trusted to attend Manchester Civil Justice Centre on a daily basis for four months to support a Client who was subject to Care Proceedings. I was supporting a Junior Barrister and Queen’s Counsel Barrister. This experience enabled me to develop essential client facing skills and gave me an insight in the Court process and the preparation needed to in Family Litigation cases.
One benefit of working at Butcher & Barlow is that I was, when needed, able to assist other fee earners within the office which meant that I gained experience in Private Client and Commercial litigation matters whilst at Runcorn.
In June 2019, I moved to the Conveyancing department working from both Sandbach and Bramhall.
Experiencing the differing approach of two fee earner was interesting and gave me insights to use in my career.
I began my Training Contract in September 2019. My first seat was in the Commercial Property department at Gadbrook Park, a seat that I had been excited to begin.
During my time working within the Commercial Property department, I was given tasks such as:
- Reviewing leases and providing summary reports to be used by fee earners and clients;
- Dealing with registrations of leases;
- Deducing property titles; and
- Preparing reports on title.
I was pleased to assist with a high value transfer of an estate sized in excess of 1000 acres.
In March 2020, I moved seat to the Commercial Litigation department. From the start of my seat in Commercial Litigation I was provided with my own cases to run on a daily basis. I am afforded a great amount of trust in order to independently research the relevant cause of action in each new matter we receive. My supervising partner, Alex Sandland, provides me with support and guidance which has developed my legal skills to a great extent and has allowed me to appreciate the day-to-day role of a solicitor.
Throughout my time at Butcher & Barlow I have been provided with hands on experience and responsibility. The close working relationship between the trainees and the supervising partners allows the maximum level of opportunity to learn and develop.
The benefit of working at a regional firm is that you are completely involved in every element of a matter from start to finish as opposed to being limited to one particular element, thereby gaining a thorough overview.
