Student profile

It would be fair to say that, for a young man, I have endured my fair share of trials and tribulations. I was born with a congenital form of muscular dystrophy which presents me with significant disability. The salient facts being limited mobility; muscle weakness/wasting; and chronic fatigue.

However, I have not allowed this to daunt me or quell my spirit to achieve my ambition of one day becoming a Chartered Legal Executive. Despite my various maladies, I have been fortunate to attain various work experience placements and believe in public service. With that ethos, I attained a placement at Bury Law Centre® and assisted in an administrative capacity.

Through education I wish to transcend my situation and prove myself as an asset and not a liability. I have an indomitable spirit and refuse to be defined by my disability. I, like many law students both disabled and non-disabled , am looking for the opportunity to break into the legal environment on individual merit and to have a prolific career.

My disability has not precluded me from academic success mainly because of ‘reasonable adjustments’ like the use of a computer and invaluable extra time during examinations. I never really reached my true potential in high school, but despite my mediocre academic performance due to chronic absenteeism caused by a plethora of hospital appointments, respiratory infections and general ill health, I undertook a CILEx Level 2 paralegal qualification when I was 15 at my local college, and I discovered an enticing, challenging and a rewarding vocation.

Through sheer grit and determination, I applied myself to my studies and achieved a number of distinctions. I completed the course with a merit overall and a resolve to embark on Part 1 of the then ILEX route. During the summer vacation period, I was successful in shadowing a number of solicitors and Chartered Legal Executives, which proved instrumental in helping me to decide which area of law I wished to take on. My father was a police officer , and consequently I have always found myself drawn to criminal litigation and to, one day, being a cog in the mechanism of justice.

With regard to the daily rigours of working in the office environment, computer use has become ubiquitous. I have gained typing proficiency thanks mainly to undertaking a Level 2 certificate for legal secretaries, which helped to improve my word processing skills. Owing to the nature of my disability, I am incapable of writing shorthand and would, therefore, require either a Dictaphone or a colleague who was willing to act as a scribe; I would also need assistance transporting heavy case files.

Having successfully attained my Level 3 diploma, I am now looking to the future and wish to embark on the more intense, and intellectually stimulating, CILEx Level 6 law with professional and vocational law training based in Oldham. I have been on sabbatical for some time, but am genuinely looking to emerge and begin what I hope to be a rewarding career.

I suppose that my main advice to anyone contemplating a legal career would be that there are no impossibilities. I know it may sound trite and a little clichéd , but where there is a will there is a way. I sincerely believe that the legal profession is a meritocracy, and therefore achievement is recognised regardless: you reap what you sow. I myself wanted to get into the law not for financial gain, but for the opportunity to help my fellow man and make a real difference to people’s lives.