Diving Back Into The Legal World

I qualified as a Solicitor in 2013. Having spent most of my training contract within the family department, I realised early on that I wanted to specialise in family law. I enjoyed building a relationship with clients and enjoyed helping and guiding them through what may be considered, one of the most difficult times in their lives. Throughout the years, I believe I have developed the necessary qualities required in a family lawyer – empathy, understanding, commitment and passion to achieve the best possible outcome for my client. I developed a particular interest in private children law issues and a desire to help parents and grandparents.

In 2016, I took a year out whilst on maternity leave. When I returned to the legal profession in 2017, I found myself starting a new position at part of one of the most prestigious niche family law firms in Leicester, Glynis Wright & Co. I was able to heighten my expertise to a level that I had not imagined and became known as the designated specialist private child law solicitor. The year 2020, marked the year of Covid-19 and came with it was a lot of change, which to some extent has affected us all. This led to adopting a new approach of working from home. For me, this meant that I was able to work from home when my eldest child started school and which became very close to my heart. Being involved in ‘school runs’ which otherwise would have proven difficult had I have been office-bound, was now something I was able to do on a daily basis.

In 2021, I took a further year out after falling pregnant with my second baby. Just before my maternity leave started, Glynis Wright & Co integrated with Nelsons. Due to the timing of my maternity leave, it meant that I was only part of Nelsons for a week. Returning to any type of work after a year is difficult, especially after spending so much time with your newborn, but returning to work after having a baby and after a pandemic is indescribable. There is a sense of feeling lost and having to redevelop social skills, however, being reunited with the Leicester family team at Nelsons has made me feel far more grounded than I had expected.

Before returning, a plan was devised with my line manager to ease me back into the profession has been working from home, conducting indirect meetings and Court hearings and having a baby. Glynis has provided the most amazing support, something which I never questioned even when nerves kicked in at the beginning of the year! She immediately understood how hard it would be to leave my children, having spent so much quality time with them through lockdown and maternity leave. The team in Leicester, and in particular the family team, have made me feel supported and settled and there is a real sense of togetherness being back in the office. A month since I returned, I am already dealing with exciting cases and feeling like I am diving back into the legal world from exactly where I left off. Nelsons have provided immense support to ensure that I have been able to settle back with ease. There were no questions raised when I requested to keep my existing part-time hours, working four days a week with a slightly late start to ensure that I could drop my eldest child at school, which was very important to me. As an added bonus, Nelsons have adopted a hybrid working as a consequence of the pandemic, and therefore I now have the flexibility of working from home as well. This is an element that is very important to any parent, and although at times it is difficult to get full flexibility whilst being such a dedicated and passionate lawyer, this amount of flexibility helps when being a mum.