Training as a Solicitor Apprentice in an area of law with huge impact
They are an extraordinarily caring team, dedicated to ensuring that their clients receive adequate compensation to fund vital support to recover from often catastrophic injuries. But beyond their clients, the team are also dedicated to their staff and, in particular, younger fee-earners, pushing them to reach their full potential.
I became a Solicitor Apprentice at Fieldfisher in January 2020. I came to the firm with a psychology degree and also some secretarial and paralegal experience. I had not yet secured a training contract or completed my GDL or LPC, but had always been sure that law would be my career path. The idea of supporting people who have been injured seemed a very interesting area of law.
My role consists of assisting partner Jonathan Zimmern with all of his cases. Jonathan has more than 16 years' experience dealing with complex, high-value medical negligence cases. My day to day work includes drafting letters of claim, letters of instruction to experts, liability and quantum witness statements and a lot of communicating with clients. While I do inevitably still have to complete more junior tasks such as sorting medical records and drafting court forms, Jonathan is fantastic at ensuring I get a wide variety of work that helps me develop high level legal skills too.
Jonathan and the rest of the team have been excellent at providing me with not only work that has developed my legal skills but is also highly rewarding. This has given me the opportunity to see first-hand the difference this firm can make for clients. Since I began at Fieldfisher a little over a year ago, Jonathan and I have recovered more than £13m in compensation for our injured clients to improve their quality of life and to help secure their financial futures.
Most aspiring trainee solicitors join a firm with little idea which area of law they want to qualify into or what impact an area of law can have on clients, but the programme I am following offers a rewarding six years of valuable experience in medical negligence claims.
If you are an ambitious, aspiring lawyer with a particular interest in making a difference in a rewarding area of law, then I would not hesitate to suggest applying for a Solicitor Apprenticeship in medical negligence.