Huge congratulations to Andrea who has completed her training contract with Winn Solicitors.

Starting in September 2018, Andrea has successfully completed her seats despite the uncertainty of Covid-19, particularly relishing the opportunity to attend trials when she could, finding this crucial to seeing how a case comes together before a judge. This direct contact also enabled her to put names to faces when meeting counsel and other legal professionals at court, a factor she found vital.

In fact, Andrea found aspects other than the global pandemic were actually more challenging to surmount;

"Balancing my workload with my other trainee commitments such as my seats, trainee diary, out of hours and any other trainee tasks I was asked to complete required dedication, a good work ethic and organisation.”

As well as drawing on self-motivation, Andrea was also grateful for the support from the very beginning from both past and present Winns trainees;

"To this day, we all give each other advice on how to organise university modules, information about training contract seats and diaries etc. It really is such an amazing group of people who rely on each other whilst completing their contracts.”   

Andrea received additional support and encouragement from each department she worked in, and an open door to ask questions proved an invaluable source of reassurance as well as aiding her learning. 

Reflecting on the learning journey resulting from her training contract, Andrea can identify particular and varied skills learnt from each department. Beginning in the Portal Department, she not only really enjoyed her time, but realised the importance of communicating well with clients commenting;

"You can box so many things off in one phone call to your client as well as building up a rapport.”

On moving to her Employee/Public Liability/Tech team seat and successfully applying for a role in the department she recalled that this was where she learnt the importance of a good medical report and the fact that is sometimes necessary to return to the expert for clarity.

Andrea’s next seat in the Costs Department was not only with a lovely team but cemented for Andrea the importance of billing time correctly and working in a cost-effective manner.

Andrea’s final seat in the Litigation Department, however, was the one she found the most interesting adding;

"The most important lesson I took away from that seat is to always speak to counsel before a court hearing, to ensure they understand how you want the case presented and to flag up any issues that may arise.”

On completion of her training contract, Andrea is delighted to have been offered a permanent role in Part 7, a department she wanted to continue to develop in due to her enjoyment of the litigation aspect and the varied caseload. Looking to her future career she added;

"I know that by continuing in Part 7 I will continue to learn and develop as a solicitor, which for me personally is very important. There is also a real sense of team spirit within the department. Everyone supports and encourages each other to do their best.”

With the benefit of hindsight, Andrea says she should have had more confidence in herself, advising others beginning training contracts that everyone makes mistakes, but it is important to learn from them. And her advice to anyone considering applying for a Winn Solicitors training contract?

"Go for it! I am delighted to be continuing within Winns and I am looking forward to my future as a Solicitor here, hopefully for many more years to come.”

David Dewar, Winn Solicitors’ Head of Commercial & Contested Litigation, praised Andrea’s hard work and representation of Winn Group values during testing times saying;

"Andrea has worked incredibly hard to complete her training contract, having to contend with the challenges presented by COVID-19. She demonstrates the Group’s core values in her utmost respect and integrity when dealing with clients and colleagues.  She has remained incredibly loyal, being a reliable and committed member of the Part 7 Team. Andrea has impressed me with her achievements since joining and I am delighted to have her aboard and look forward to seeing her career develop at Winn Solicitors.”

If you would like to know more about joining the Winns team, visit our Recruitment page for current vacancies and to apply.