Paramedic to trainee solicitor: “I had to convince myself that I had a shot at being a lawyer”

I had to convince myself that I had a shot at being a lawyer. Before I became a trainee, I worked as a paramedic for nearly 15 years. I had got myself into the mindset that if you weren’t from Oxbridge or a Russell Group university, law wasn't for you. It took me a long time to overcome that obstacle.

Law is incredibly competitive, and I couldn’t see how my career in health could be an asset. If anything, I spent a long time thinking it was a hindrance. If I’m honest, I think I was also scared to fail. My career mentors in the NHS gave me the encouragement and the push to make those law firm applications. They focused on my strengths and what set me apart from other applicants, rather than what university I went to.

Moving from the public sector into a corporate world is challenging – but you build so many strengths from working in healthcare. Your interpersonal skills are well-developed because of the type of interactions you have with the patients and colleagues in really challenging situations. You support people through some of their darkest moments – but also share in the excitement of new life. I’ve delivered many babies over my career!

It’s hard to describe the privilege of having worked as a paramedic, and the vast range of human emotions that you confront on a daily basis. Not everyone goes to work knowing they may potentially have to deal with the worst that life can throw at them. When you embark on a career in pre-hospital emergency care, you know that you will need to support people saying goodbye to a loved one for the last time, or battle to save life and limb at the roadside. All these experiences give you a gentle, caring, guiding objectivity in your approach to your work – and most importantly, you learn to improvise in tough situations which aren’t in a textbook.

When you attend a patient in crisis, their health condition could be complicated – but they want to know in simple terms what the problem is and what their choices are. In some ways, the law can be similar. There may be a complicated legal basis for a dispute or issue. But the client probably wants simple, understandable advice – and to know their options on the way to move forward. Some of the best solicitors supervising me can distill legal complexity into very clear choices for the client to consider. 

I tumbled into joining the NHS as a paramedic, aged 18 or 19, through a three-year training programme. At the time, in the lead up to the London 2012 Olympics, there was a drive to increase the number of paramedics across the city. I spent a lot of time working on the road in west London, on ambulances, solo response cars and the cycle response unit.

The world of emergency services is full of incredible, dedicated people. But it’s a tough environment. You have no control over what's coming next. You could start your day, have your breakfast, jump onto an ambulance – and your first job may just be helping someone who needs a little support after falling over. But it could be a central London stabbing or major road traffic collision. At the same time, as you’d expect, the work is incredibly rewarding.

I didn’t start my law degree with the aspiration of being a lawyer. I had taken a vocational training route and wanted to get graduate-level education. My wife at the time was studying law and I remember sitting on her bed one day, reading her textbook. I found it fascinating, and made a rather random application to study law at the Birkbeck College, University of London. I studied part-time for four years – and ended up being top of my year with first class honours for my undergraduate law degree. I went on to do a part-time master’s.

It was tough balancing studying and work. I’d moved from a frontline role into a managerial role in the emergency services. I remember sometimes finishing a shift somewhere in west London, jumping on a train and whizzing up to central London for classes in the evenings. At one point I was up there about four evenings a week, so I had no social life.

At times, it felt like I spent more time on the train than in my own home. I moved NHS trusts, from London to Hampshire to Berkshire. When I look back, I don’t know how I did it. It’s a bit like working night shifts – you only realise you’re exhausted when you stop doing them and work normal hours. I guess the motivation was simply in not giving up. I knew one day the studying would pay dividends.

I started to have this ‘end of the road’ feeling about my work in emergency care services. That shouldn't be taken as a negative about the services – it was just personally I felt like I'd achieved what I had wanted to. I’d gained loads of experience working in senior operational management and managed a big team. I was looking for my next challenge.

I made targeted applications to law firms that I thought would appreciate the diversity and skills a career changer would bring. I came across Russell-Cooke‘s recruitment website. I could see diverse backgrounds in their trainee profiles, and that people had career-changed or joined a slightly older age. It all seemed to match my bio – I’m working there today, so the rest is history. 

I joined the firm with some anxiety about leaving one career behind and embarking on a totally new one. I worried that, six weeks in, I might think, “what have I done?”. But I decided to throw myself into it, in the same way I’d approached studying law in the first place. My first seat in real estate turned out to be thoroughly enjoyable – there is technical law and it's about getting the deal done. You also work with commercial clients who you get to speak to regularly. 

The firm is very friendly and it's not too hierarchical. Our cohort of 12 trainees is close. It's quite common that we have lunch and go out socially together. It’s a good community. I’m also involved in sports at Russell-Cooke – I’ve taken part in the Weybridge rowing regatta and the Legal 5k. Those events are always an opportunity to meet people from all sorts of different professions. 

I've acted on matters where people are in life-changing situations. In one case, our client’s treatment by their employer was wholly unsatisfactory – to the point where the client is not only battling with an early onset of a debilitating disease, but they’ve also now lost their career and their income. Being part of trying to rebuild that person's life and securing them something for the future – knowing that they're likely to need lifelong care – was a very important moment for me as a trainee lawyer.

There are positives and negatives to the way working as a paramedic has impacted how I view pressure. It's sometimes hard to translate urgency to the legal world because it doesn't feel the same. There’s a rush of adrenaline that kicks in when you are trying to save someone’s life – it’s different to thinking about urgently turning around documents. But, overall, I think having the experience does help. In both sectors, you need to take a procedural approach to challenges. You work through things in a logical manner, dealing with the serious things first. 

As we all know, getting a training contract is super competitive, and there's a lot of emphasis on academia and grades. But I think there's a lot to be said for skills that people have developed from being in another type of workplace, whatever that workplace may be. There's lots of good advice which can come from that life experience.

I'm not entirely sure what the future holds. What I can say to anyone embarking on a training contract is take every opportunity which comes your way and learn from them. That puts you in the best possible position for whatever you decide to do, once you qualify.

People often ask if the change was worth all the long nights, racing between work and university. The short answer is yes. The long answer is that I will forever have extremely fond memories of the NHS, the managers who supported me through the career change, and the amazing team that I had the pleasure of leading in Berkshire. At the same time, I have always felt it is important not to let the grass grow under your feet. The change has given me a raft of experiences, a career full of new challenges, and an equally brilliant team of colleagues who are supporting my development as a lawyer. Of course it was worth it!

Pictured above: Ben at community training with colleagues Kirsten and Ben. Ben with other members of the Russell-Cooke running club. Ben takes part in a rowing regatta. Ben with Russell-Cooke colleagues!