Paralegal Apprentice Review

Working in the Court of Protection team as a paralegal apprentice, assisting other paralegals and solicitors with the day to day management of clients files. I also take part in completing applications to the court for things such as deputyship orders. Another major part of my job is to manage the finances of clients through things such as reviewing, approving and paying invoices or send requests and applications to investment companies for the deposit or withdrawal of funds.

I have learnt many new skills about the specifics of the job role but also about how to work in an office and corporate environment effectively. Some of the main skills that I have developed are with my written communication as I have learned how to communicate effectively and professionally through letters and emails. Another major skill that I have learned is how to manage clients funds effectively as I am given responsibility for the withdrawals and deposits of investments.

I am enjoying my programme very much and the work very rewarding. However, it can be challenging and stressful at times due to the nature of the work that I do. One of the most enjoyable part of my job is when I get to meet clients at meetings or events as this puts a face to all of the work I am doing and makes it clear the positive impact I have on their lives through the work I do.

My programme is very well structure and I have a clear understanding of what I need to learn throughout my course to gain my qualification. I have a set day each week in which I complete my course and I have a planner of all of the work that I have to do for the course which outlines what tasks must be completed each week.

My employer gives me all the support I need to complete my programme. I am allowed to work 1 day from home in order to focus on and complete my course which is very helpful. Additionally, whenever I have a task to complete as part of my course that requires input from my colleagues any of them are happy to help me.

My training provider provides all of the support I need for getting my qualifications. They provide me with; a detailed plan of what I need to learn, textbooks and online textbooks to do all my learning from, weekly lessons to help reinforce my learning and regular tasks and practice exams where I can show what I have learned.

Currently I have had little chance to use what I have learned on my course in my role as the team that I work in (Court of Protection) is not a traditional law team and therefore do not do things such as go to court, which is a lot of what I have been leaning about so far. However, the things I have learned on my course have provided some interesting background to what I do as I learned about how the laws I use on a day to day basis are made.

There is a wide range of activities that I can get involved in such as work nights out over Christmas and new year and quiz nights throughout the year as well as a huge variety of charity events which take place in order to raise money for our offices chose Charity of the Year.

Yes

It is a great environment to work in and everyone that I work with clearly wants me to succeed in my education and show this by how much they are willing to go out of their way in order to achieve this. Additionally, the firm itself is a very positive company to work for with lots of focus on wellbeing of its staff.

If you want to get into the Law profession and university doesn't seem like the right path, like it wasn't for me, then working at Irwin Mitchell and doing a course through Cilex Law School is perfect.