Head of law at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge

Alicia Virtue

While at university I worked as a solicitor’s clerk for a small legal aid firm specialising in public child law and crime. I cried a lot because family cases were so emotional. And I could not help thinking ‘no smoke without fire’ for my criminal clients, so I knew these areas of law were not for me.

At 23, I was living in London and having the best time. My job at a local estate agency included negotiating contract terms and resolving landlord and tenant disputes. I liked these aspects of the job and decided I should go to law school.

That came with a £15k price tag, so life had to change. I moved home to Cambridge where I shared a room with my mum. To save money, I got up at 5am and took the coach to London, working full-time as a legal assistant secretary in a construction law firm. I went to law school two evenings a week, catching the coach and getting home at 11.30pm.

I secured a training contract at a Hertfordshire firm. But I did not stay on after training as the only position was personal injury – I wanted to be an employment lawyer.

The biggest takeaway from my training was the opportunity to work in a wide range of firms, from small high street outfits to big City firms. Each offers a completely different culture, skillset and personality. You are more likely to gain hands-on experience, be given more responsibility and meet clients in a smaller firm. The more corporate the firm, the more transactional it was.

After a time working as an employment and dispute resolution lawyer, I went travelling. I then worked as an HR adviser. I wanted to keep using my knowledge and skills as an employment lawyer, but help people before the employment relationship went awry.  

I was headhunted to teach law due to my legal background. This was a surprise career shift I had not previously considered. Having just had a baby and planning to resume working in London, I opted to work locally to best accommodate my family. Here, I designed and taught all the modules for Anglia Ruskin University’s foundation law programme.

'The SQE reinforces the idea of the ‘standard’ lawyer. Adding in the unregulated qualifying work experience, there is potential for an uneven playing field'

Legal education should be practical and give you the skills to navigate a job, but also life in general. When you study law, you become a critical thinker and willing to find solutions to challenges. You have to understand the system to be able to identify the issue. An inquisitive mind helps you to find the rules you need to apply to the situation and make an informed choice on how to overcome it. You can only do this properly by going out into the world with real people and dealing with real issues.

There is an attitude that succeeding in law is about being the smartest in the room. This was underlined by the introduction of the SQE and its multiple choice-based standardised assessments. Problems, issues and challenges are not standard and often come with a human element such as stress and anxiety. Dealing with clients requires collaboration and relationship building. I think the SQE has just reinforced the existing problem with legal education. The cost is no different. The test reinforces the idea of the ‘standard’ lawyer. Adding in the unregulated qualifying work experience, there is potential for an uneven playing field regarding the type of experience gained.

The solicitor apprenticeship is a great idea but there have to be enough of them to make a difference. More emphasis needs to be put on school outreach, career planning and gaining practical work experience that benefits everyone.

What I miss most about private practice is helping people find solutions to their situations – making a difference to someone’s life. I do not miss the time recording, billable hours and breakfast meetings. I always found these things took away the time for me to be ‘human’ with my clients, especially in the more emotional matters. I do not miss working with people who were lawyers first and ‘people’ second.

What do I love most about teaching? Working with young people. It is fun. They have come to university for a reason and are trying to make it in the world like everyone else. I love it when students come up to me, expressing the value they have found in my teaching and guidance. Often, they don’t see it at the time, but later they see how the skills they have acquired have helped them progress.

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