There has been solicitor success to enjoy at Winn Group, as Tim Wilson achieved a notable milestone.

Working in the Personal Injury department, he completed a training contract that started in August 2021.

Naveen Sandhu, Serious and Technical Injury Claims Manager, said: “It is a great personal achievement for Tim.

“It is a result of all his hard work both before and during his training contract. He should be extremely proud of all his efforts and will no doubt excel as a solicitor both now and in the future.”

After taking the next step in his legal career, we caught up with Tim to find out how this milestone achievement:

How did you feel reaching the point of qualifying as a solicitor?

Honestly, by the time I qualified it didn’t quite feel real. It’s the same job I’ve been doing for the past few years but has a different air now. It’s nice to be able to answer ‘yes’ when a client asks if I’m a solicitor, much simpler than having to explain everything surrounding it!

But it’s hard to describe how it felt exactly, partially because it had been so long in the making, but my team did a lovely job of making it feel special even when I was starting to feel a little over-exposed.

How much has gone into achieving this solicitor success?

A frankly ridiculous amount! I’ve been working toward this since I was 12, 13ish? So that’s GCSEs, A-levels, law undergraduate degree, then starting in FRT, part-time LPC and Masters, then working through COVID, training contract applications, then the contract itself, all working toward this one goal.

It’s over a decade of effort and it’s not been easy, but despite sometimes feeling I should’ve gone a different route, it’s definitely been worth it.

There’s something tangible in the title and I’ve had a lot of help along the way, so it feels like I’ve lived up to those expectations too.

Do you feel Winns has helped you to achieve this?

Absolutely. I remember coming in for an interview for a Legal Clerk some seven years ago, but I wasn’t quite qualified, so the interviewers said I might be suited for FRT and could work my way up.

In a lot of places that would’ve been just talk, but within a year I had been offered a role as a Legal Clerk in EL/PL and it went from there.

Winns let me study for my LPC part-time with a day off a week and I can honestly say I’ve had nothing but support from my supervisor Naveen, the rest of my team, Heads of Department David Dewar and Amy Graham, and from others in the business like Training Principal Jo Amos.

There are too many others to mention. I’ve been given a lot of opportunities to try new things in my contract and afterward, which I really appreciate. It has helped me feel confident in myself now that I’m qualified.

What do you hope to achieve in the future?

I’d like to move into doing more challenging, complex and high value cases and injuries. Especially working in the Serious and Technical Injury Claims Team, I’ve had a lot of exposure to things far outside my current experience, so I know there’s still a lot to learn and a lot of ways to improve.

Maybe one day I’d like to apply to the Legal 500 or a Judicial role, or something more senior at Winns, but for now I’m just happy growing my skills and confidence for the days ahead.