Helping hand

Much attention is paid these days to broadening access to the legal profession to people from non-professional backgrounds. Concerted efforts are made by some employers, and by the professional bodies, to offer opportunities from work experience through to supported degrees and training contracts.

But what is the level of awareness among the pool of potential candidates? What barriers, visible or otherwise, do they still face that others may not? And what support is there for them in moments of crisis?

One person who has made it into the profession the hard way, and who now wants to provide others with the vital information she lacked at the time, is Nadia Cook, whose social media channels, particularly thescottishlawyer.info website, she created with the avowed goal of improving social mobility and making a legal career more accessible to all. Qualified in 2020, her story is a classic one of not giving up in the face of adversity.

Raised by her mother after her father’s early death, Cook’s first experience of university came when her mother began a degree course as Cook was taking her Highers. She liked the look of it; her desire to do law was born from “wanting to do something for society in general and I thought that law was probably the best way I can do that”.

She had to find her own way. Her North Ayrshire school was one from which few people went on to university, and teachers couldn’t offer much in the way of advice; nor was there any awareness of mock court competitions and the like. A combination of caring roles and a debilitating sleep disorder affected her grades; she made it on to a law degree course through UCAS clearing.

“But the main barrier was not having any contacts”, she relates. “It was such a struggle if you don’t have even one, because one contact leads to another so you have to have that network initially, and at that time there really wasn’t the kind of online presence of law influencers for students that you have now.”

Funding was always an issue as well. Studying at Abertay meant using her child bank account for the student halls deposit, and taking one or more part time jobs towards her support. Timewise, that reduced her chances of building connections – and in due course her capacity to apply for work experience places and traineeships. When it came to the Diploma, Cook almost left it for a year, due to the need to fund part of the fees, but with some additional “side hustling”, as she puts it, she got the money together just in time, though had to move back home and take the course at Strathclyde to economise.

At every turn she felt disadvantaged compared to those with contacts able to help, and a financial cushion: when offered a summer scheme place with a London firm she had to turn it down because she couldn’t afford to go.

Shared knowledge

All of this explains the motivation for thescottishlawyer. “I set it up because it’s essentially what I was looking for, and what I didn’t have: the knowledge that is there but wasn’t shared, essentially. It’s the resource that I was looking for and hoped to find, the knowledge I needed to be successful and route my way through university and get a traineeship. Especially knowledge from a Scottish angle.”

Probably the core feature of the site is the blog section, with its personal stories of people setting out in the profession: LLB and Diploma students, alternative routes to qualifying, those at trainee or devil stage, plus contributions on networking, wellbeing, recruitment and more. It’s what Cook thinks is the most vital: “Storytelling is such an important way for knowledge to be shared, because no matter what journey someone’s had, there’s always going to be someone who reads that and thinks, that’s the sort of barrier I’m facing, or that’s the route I want to take, and if they can see how someone’s done that already, that gives them hope for the future. Because at a lot of stages I did feel like giving up, when I couldn’t just go online and read it. You had to have a contact to gain that information.”

There is more. As well as her own story, she has posted various resources – from a basic template for a case note (another thing she didn’t know how to tackle as a new undergraduate), to how to conduct and structure client interviews (a big part of the Diploma). It’s all done with the aim of providing free information to those who need it; Cook intends to add to it as her busy schedule permits, and welcomes further personal experiences.

She is certain there is an audience out there for her material. “I have people reach out to me on a weekly basis privately on Instagram – that’s my other main platform. They message me because they are facing so many barriers they feel they can’t even voice it. They almost can’t believe they can reach out to me and find someone in the profession who is from a similar background. They’ll give me a little introduction, and from that I’ll set up a chat with them or meet them in my lunchtime.

“I don’t leave a message unanswered. It’s quite difficult along with running the platform, but I just have so much passion to do it and I just feel it’s so needed – it wasn’t there, and if someone else isn’t going to do it, I will.”

Wellbeing impact

Cook sees lack of social mobility also feeding into wellbeing and mental health issues. “Because if you get to the stage where you really feel you’re struggling, you don’t have the contacts you need, or the network or support, that’s going to have a real detriment on your wellbeing and on what you think about yourself as a person. I’ve had people reach out to me saying, ‘I’ve been rejected so many times I just think I’m not good enough. I might just give up’; ‘I don’t have anyone I can speak to about this; no one is like me in the profession’, etc. To feel like that because of the difficulties they are facing from a social mobility point of view, when they’ve already done so much, they have a degree, they’ve worked for years, that has an enormous effect on their mental health.”

What can she say to them? “A lot! Obviously it depends on people’s individual circumstances, but I want to put it out there that I’ve faced a lot of barriers and a lot of rejection and I still face it now. But I’m still here and I’ll continue to be here; I’ve qualified as a solicitor despite it all and for people who may be struggling in their position, there’s always me or someone else who will listen to their concerns and be able to offer help. I do find that a lot of people in the profession are quite generous with their time, so it’s about having the confidence that people need to reach out, to connect.”

What sort of barriers does she still face? “Like when I was applying for NQ roles, I realised that a lot of these roles were being accessed and not advertised. Again it was all through contacts and people you knew and the sort of network you build. How on earth can you get into something if you don’t even know it exists? It’s different from rejections. It’s another barrier on its own.”

Getting the message across

Cook does wish there had been more schemes when she set out such as exist today, to bring more people with her sort of background into the profession. But she isn’t convinced that it’s easier to qualify now. “I don’t know if I would say that, because these sort of schemes all depend on people knowing about them. And that they haven’t left it too late. And even knowing they are good enough to apply for them. Some people reach out to me, asking are these for me; do you think I’m good enough; are my circumstances something they would consider? They won’t even go to the application stage because they feel so disconnected that they can’t make that first step. So there’s still a lot to do.”

She also feels there could be more Scottish based schemes. “A lot of them only apply to England or are only the big firms, the corporates, so if you’ve decided that corporate isn’t for you, and it’s not for a lot of people, there really is nothing else out there. Maybe people want to work in a high street firm, a medium sized firm, that suits them better; how are they supposed to access that without any funds and resources?”

Try before goodbye

She is a firm believer that people should experience different sides of the profession before giving up on the law. “I think a lot of people are deciding at a very early stage that law is not for them, even during their traineeship or just after; I know a few people in my close network who have done that because they feel they just don’t fit, but they’ve not really experienced other areas.”

She doesn’t believe in sticking around in a job where you are unhappy, however. “It’s so important because life is so short – I know people say this all the time, but it is – and there’s just no point in being in that position.”

Though Cook doesn’t favour job hopping, her own goal “was to experience as many areas of the profession as I could”. During her traineeship she secured a secondment to the UK Law Societies’ Brussels office (since then sadly a victim of Brexit), where she learned about the regulatory side. Since qualifying she has spent a year in the travel and tourism section at international firm DAC Beachcroft, taken a short term contract at the UK Government to experience in-house work (“another thing I had never heard of until I was actually in the profession… it’s a very different learning experience”), until her perfect role came up, “that I intend to stay in for ever!” – business development solicitor with Harper Macleod.

For Cook, it combines all her previous roles, and positively requires her to make new contacts, both within and outside the profession, while working alongside colleagues in marketing, PR, education and development, graduate recruitment and more. “You don’t always feel like you’re in a law firm; you’re not surrounded by solicitors. I like that because it’s quite a refreshing environment”.

She adds: “But I don’t think I would have found it or known the role was for me if I hadn’t experienced all those other areas.”

Along the way also, after her traineeship she undertook an LLM in law and economics through Erasmus University, studying in three different countries over a year. Strangely (is an LLM so unusual nowadays?), there were those who advised her against it. “They said things like, ‘That will be frowned on when you then apply for NQ roles.’ Though I was increasing my skillset. Someone told me that it would look as if I wanted to be an academic and wasn’t interested in being a solicitor.” It all caused a bit of soul searching and anxious googling, but she silenced the inner voices of doubt and went for it.

“I thought it was right for me; I wanted to make sure I had a broader knowledge. I did it because being a lawyer is not enough now, you also have to be able to lean on a different perspective and see things from a different angle. I did economics for especially that reason. And it shocked me to find how differently economists thought; it was unbelievable how they thought in comparison to lawyers. But again it’s helped with what I’m doing now.”

Persevere!

It feels like a lot of experiences to have taken up over a short time, but Cook doesn’t believe she is unusual. “I know a lot of other people my age who have done a lot. I compare myself to people I’ve seen on LinkedIn and wonder how they fitted in everything they’ve done. I think it’s almost expected to have all these other things you do, and skillsets, because that’s what law firms look for now. It’s not enough to be a lawyer: you have to be involved in everything and have these different ideas and perspectives.”

What would she highlight from all the advice she has offered to those starting out now? “I think put yourself out there and try not to listen to the voice inside, the self doubts. Make as many contacts as you can, as early as you can. And just persevere. There will be barriers, just know that, and rejections, but it’s all part of the learning process. I feel that I wouldn’t be the person I am today if it wasn’t for the rejections. I’ve learned a lot from that. It’s being able to step back and learn from it that’s important and will take you on to a successful journey.”