The role of a solicitor is expansive, and for those new to the world of law, can perhaps be a little daunting. In this article, we’ve spoken with three qualified solicitors to clarify what their roles entail, picking up commonalities while sharing the variety in the daily work of a legal professional.
Thank you to Coralie McKeivor (Director, Real Estate team, Freeths LLP), Zafar Afsar, (Consultant Solicitor, & SQE Supervisor at the College) and Dan Abel (Supervising Solicitor, Cumbria Law Centre, LLM graduate) for sharing your insights with us.
What do each of you do in your role as a solicitor?
Zafar: “I work in financial litigation and have done since 2011. I followed the LPC route. A lot of my work is around missold Payment Protection Insurance and car payment plans. I’m also a supervisor with the College, as well as supporting firms setting up their first financial litigation departments.”
Dan: “I qualified in 2023 with the College through the SQE route, so while newer in my capacity as a solicitor, I’ve been working in the legal sphere since 2016. I work in a law centre focusing on legal aid for housing cases. I supervise caseworkers supporting individuals in debt and needing help with their welfare benefits, with a background working in Citizens Advice. I’m also chair of the Cumbrian Junior Lawyers Division.”
Coralie: “I’m a Director of Real Estate at Freeths, as well as President of Bristol Law Society in a voluntary capacity. I started from the bottom in various firms, working in the post room, administration, then as a paralegal, then qualified into real estate via the LPC route.”
What does your usual day to day work consist of?
Each of our solicitors have varied days structured around their area of work. Let’s explore a little more.
Zafar: “I usually get involved in a case at the litigation stage, where a claim is being sent off to defendants, or is ready for hearing with a barrister. I’ll also deal with medical agencies, such as a current case where defendants are making a claim against the Ministry of Defence for hearing loss. I might be involved trying to settle a case out of court, or dealing directly with a barrister once it does reach court. As a supervisor with the College, I work mainly in dispute resolution where I’ll act as a judge for students to present their cases to.”
Dan: “For me all my work focuses around housing and legal aid for those in a housing crisis. We’ll defend in possession hearings for a tenant or occupier, work on disrepair issues, or try and support an individual at risk of homelessness. I’ll often be on our triage desk, picking up core calls for people facing repossession - I’ll act like an a&e triage for those that need legal advice or support. I’ll usually pick up cases at the court stage, where a traditional caseworker can’t help.”
Coralie: “My work covers anything to do with lands and infrastructure. I’ll be working with developer clients, energy clients, solar farms - this sort of thing. It’s really relevant for government with net zero targets. My work is very inter-departmental, so I’ll do lots of collaborative contract drafting and investigations into property titles. I’ll also work on due diligence, for example if a farmer wants to make more profit on some land by selling it or leasing it to an energy company for solar farming. I’ll work on ensuring the land is workable, has an electricity grid connection, that sort of thing.”
What brought you to your area of law?
Dan: “For me, it all happened kind of by accident. I worked at Citizen’s Advice after university, and that always naturally connected with social welfare law. As I was working closely on legal cases before qualifying, when the SQE route came about, I already had my QWE, so I naturally went into qualification quite quickly in this area.”
Zafar: “I wouldn’t have expected to go into financial litigation - as I really didn’t enjoy it when I was at university. I went for it as any graduate does - it’s the best job I could get out of training. But when I went into my first job, I was sent to trials a lot and realised I actually really enjoyed it. So much so that I’ve stayed in this area!”
Coralie: “Like with Zafar I found my area of law quite dry to begin with at university when learning the theory. But when I started working on real estate in practice, first as a paralegal, I realised I love the practical problem solving involved with supporting land clients. For me this meant that as soon as I started my formal legal training, I wanted to go down this route. I find it really naturally aligns with my skills, too.”
Thank you to Coralie, Dan and Zafar for insights into your daily work as a solicitor. It’s clear that this line of work varies, but holds common themes of delivering law and legal support to clients - however big or small.
Interested in learning more?