Celebrations for two of the Harding Evans team

We sat down with Holly and Cat (virtually!) to find out more about their journey to qualified solicitors.

First class service…

Catherine’s journey to qualification started at the London Southbank University, where she completed her Law LLB. After graduating with First Class Honours, Catherine swapped one capital for another, heading to Cardiff Law School to complete her Legal Practice Course (LPC).

After a few years working for a large insurance firm defending personal injury claims, Catherine set her sights on joining the thirteen-strong, highly specialist team here at Harding Evans. In January 2018, she kick-started her career as a paralegal, before securing a training contract with the firm.

On the road to qualification, Catherine has gone from strength-to-strength. In addition to developing her own varied workload, Catherine has contributed to increasingly complex coroner’s court inquest and medical matters, as well as assisting Partner and Head of Department, Ken Thomas, with a range of high value cases.

When asked what the qualification meant to her, Catherine said –

“To secure a permanent position as a solicitor within such a well-respected department and being offered the opportunity to develop my career within a team who make you feel like family is a dream come true for me. Thank you to everyone at Harding Evans who has supported me”.

From work experience to the Welsh Legal Awards.

After securing a 2:1 in Law LLB from the University of Bristol, Holly applied for a week’s work experience with the Personal Injury team at Harding Evans. Fast-forward 5 years and the varied and challenging workload (as well as the fantastic people she’s met along the way!) means she’s never left.

Following a short stint working as a paralegal with the Personal Injury team, Holly accepted a permanent role within the rapidly-growing Dispute Resolution team in June 2017.

After achieving a Distinction in her LPC (which she studied for part-time alongside her role as a paralegal) Holly was offered a training contract with the firm in August 2019. Over the next 18 months, Holly would become an integral part of the team as she took on an increasingly complex caseload, including assisting on a variety of public law instructions. A reflection of Holly’s incredible work ethic was evidenced on the final day of her training contract, in which the Public Law team were granted permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal. Holly had been assisting Head of Department, Craig Court, throughout the process.

Other notable moments include department nominations in the 2020 Welsh Legal Awards and recognition for the team in both Chamber and Partners and Legal 500, two of the largest legal directories in the UK.

Reflecting on her achievement, Holly stated –

“After what feels like an eternity of studying, exams and training I am over the moon to have finally leaped over the final hurdle to qualify as a solicitor. I certainly did not anticipate that I would qualify during a global pandemic when I initially started! I am grateful to Harding Evans for the opportunity to be able to accomplish this goal and look forward to what the future holds for me at the firm.”

A huge congratulations to both Catherine and Holly on such a fantastic achievement – we look forward to seeing the next stage of your Harding Evans journey.

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