A Trainee Solicitor's Journey: My route into law

Trainee Blog – August 2021

My route into law

Hi everyone! My name is Matt Harcourt-Poole and I’m a Trainee Solicitor at Nowell Meller Solicitors in Stafford.

Whilst preparing for my training I spent hours scouring the internet for blogs, articles and social media posts written by current Trainees, to prepare myself for the challenges and exciting times that lie ahead. So, I thought over the coming months it would be useful to give my story and I pledge to try to give an honest account of my journey.

I’d like to start by telling you all a little bit about how my journey started. In January 2016, I decided to leave my career as a manager and enrol at university to study law. I must have been feeling brave, as I left school with 11 GCSEs of varying standard and studied a vocational subject (namely plumbing) at college leaving me without the “normal” qualifications that are expected of lawyers today. When I say normal, I mean A-levels, which are traditionally required to make an application to some firms. In hindsight, this hasn’t been a barrier to my success, and I would urge anyone from a different background not to be put off by a lack of “traditional” qualifications – life experience is equally, if not more, important! Anyway, eventually, I enrolled at the University of Wolverhampton and embarked on a journey I would never look back on.

University was a great experience, and fortunately, I performed well academically. I secured some work experience at a midlands firm during my final year, and to my delight, I was offered a job before graduating. I worked as a Paralegal in the Family Department during my time with the firm, however, at the beginning of 2020 I felt as though it was time for a change – which is where my Nowell Meller journey begins!

Come back next week to find out about my Nowell Meller journey so far!

Matt