“I'm a bit rebellious – whenever someone told me I was wasting my time in law, I tried harder”

I deeply care about law – I live and breathe it. I think the legal world is misunderstood as stuffy, and that the people who are part of it charge high fees and don’t care about clients, colleagues and the wider profession. It's important to me that people understand that solicitors do care. This passion gets me up in the morning.

I was told by everyone and their dog that I shouldn't bother pursuing law. I didn't have the best A-level results in the world. But I'm a bit rebellious, so whenever someone told me I was wasting my time, I tried harder.

When I finally made it as a solicitor, I decided I wanted to help others in a similar position to me. Many people who are told something's impossible or unattainable are not going to end up doing it. Once I qualified, I started doing one-to-one mentoring with aspiring lawyers. But I soon realised that this approach limited how many people I could help.

I founded Law and Broader – my YouTube channel – to share career advice and support for aspiring lawyers. It gave me an opportunity to reach many more people in a way that was accessible to anyone for free. It was – and still is – important to me to share content that’s real, raw and relatable to show what really goes on in law.

My interests in law are broad, so my content covers everything from legal tech to commercial awareness and diversity. Every time I learn something new, I make a video about it so I can share that insight with my audience.

Balancing social media with 50-hour weeks in private practice was challenging. I’d trained and qualified at my dream firm – Irwin Mitchell. Working for them had always been my goal as they’re one of best firms in the country for medical negligence. During my eight years there, I discovered my love of litigation when working on high profile cases.

I reached a point where there weren't enough hours in the day – so I decided to leave Irwin Mitchell. I became a self-employed consultant so I could scale down some of the aspects of private practice which didn’t play to my strengths and focus more on the things that really fulfilled me.

In a consultancy role I was able to earn the same amount of money in around a third of the hours – freeing up time for my other interests and projects. For example, I initially worked with the Digital Legal Exchange part-time as their Director of Operations. Here I was able to build my knowledge around digital transformation and the applications of technology across various aspects of legal practice.

Working fewer hours meant I was able to grow my online community across platforms to more than 100,000 followers. Additionally, I had more time to pursue public speaking and media opportunities which helped to strengthen my personal brand.

I’ve also been able to create a career which works in harmony with my ADHD. It's so much better for me to play to my strengths rather than try to fit within an employment framework. Now, I can do the things I'm good at and outsource the rest.

It really is a great time to be a lawyer because you can design your own career to an extent. There are more options than ever with boutique firms, alternative legal service providers and different remuneration models. I’m always seeing new things pop up.

More people will stay in law because of the options available now. I know solicitors who didn't get on with traditional practise that left the profession. We need great lawyers – and having different models is an effective way to retain people.

Not everybody wants the billing targets, business development and management responsibilities that come with working in a firm. Now, I’ve got the freedom to concentrate on as much litigation as I choose. There's obviously less scope to do that when you're employed by a big company.

Universities push students towards traditional career paths – but across my social media I share the alternatives. Working for 10 to 12 years to become a partner is not always attractive to Gen Z lawyers. They want to progress quickly, and that becomes achievable when you step outside the rigid structures of legal practice.

In the past year I’ve upped my litigation work by joining Nexa. Nexa is a consulting platform that allows self-employed solicitors to build their own practice whilst Nexa manages a lot of the regulatory, compliance and administrative aspects. I bring in my own cases, run them as I want, take on as many clients as I wish and can hire who I need. It is essentially like running my own firm but with someone else taking care of the paperwork so I can focus my energy on the clients.

Of course, there are downsides to being self-employed. You lose the stability of a monthly salary alongside benefits like maternity leave and sick pay. There is a lot to consider before you decide to go it alone. Being self-employed isn’t for everyone. There’s always the worry of where your next fees will come from.

One of my concerns when I left Irwin Mitchell was that I wouldn’t get the same exposure to good quality cases, but I wouldn't say that the calibre of my work has dropped at all. I am regularly in national news and media representing clients in high profile cases. From my experience, clients value human connection as much as the name above the door. I talk a lot about what I do publicly and, because of that, I’ve picked up lots of great clients due to my social media presence.

There are downsides to putting yourself out there online, but the positives outweigh the negatives. I enjoy the conversations that come off the back of my social media content. I love being responsible for creating that discussion. It's so rewarding when you pull people together – I get a lot of joy from it.

The first time I got negative comments online I fell apart. I didn't post for a week, and I thought it was a disaster. Now, it's kind of part and parcel of it.

As your profile grows not everyone will agree with you – and that's a struggle for lawyers. We're used to being right and making compelling arguments to win cases. But that's not how social media works – you might have to ruffle some feathers.

I still upload a lot of content, but I make it efficient! TikTok favours a ‘rough and ready’ style, so those posts take three minutes to film and the same to edit. I’ll often share ‘get ready with me’ videos where I talk about legal issues – these are great as they kill two birds with one stone. I even write my LinkedIn posts as I’m walking to the gym. I’ve got my ADHD brain to thank for my multitasking skills.

I enjoy my work in the wider legal world, but I am happiest when I’m litigating. Once I’d been self-employed – and in charge of my own time – I didn't want to go back to targets and long hours. I value being able to do it on my own terms rather than working within a firm.