Richard K

Profile:

My legal career began with a comprehensive school education. I underachieved in my GCSEs and, while it was my dream to become a lawyer, I believed my GCSE results would hinder my pursuit to make it in the legal profession. I initially struggled at college too, and was told by my personal tutor to ‘not bother applying’ to a Russell Group University because I would be rejected. Despite this, I worked hard to improve my grades and was accepted to study at the University of Manchester, where I graduated with a 2:1 in Law.

In my final year at university, I suffered a serious back injury which forced me to quit playing football and tennis, which were my two main hobbies. The injury had a detrimental impact to my mental health as well – at a time when I was applying for legal jobs and needed confidence to perform well in applications, interviews and assessments. Despite this, I secured a paralegal job at HMRC, representing the department in Tribunals. With this experience behind me, I was accepted onto the PwC Summer Vacation Scheme and was offered a training contract with the firm. I am now in the first seat of my training contract in the Pensions team.

Diversity is important to me because I faced a number of hurdles during my journey to become a lawyer, and I want to help anyone who faces similar difficulties – whether it be not achieving the grades you wanted, lacking in confidence, difficulties with mental health or even if you’re apprehensive because you don’t have a training contract secured when you leave university.

If you have any questions about PwC, legal work experience, applications or the legal industry in general, please get in touch.