My legal life: Richard Port MBE, George Green

I was able to carry out work experience at the age of 14 at Wykes O’Donnell Williams in Derby. Kevin O’Donnell and the late John O’Donnell took me under their wings and inspired me to follow my ambitions to be a lawyer. I kept being invited back to the firm each year for the summer, as a legal assistant at school and as a paralegal during my time reading law at Nottingham Trent University. Client service is their priority and that value has always stuck with me throughout my career. 

I focused on mooting at Nottingham Trent University and competed in competitions. I was then awarded an Inner Temple Exhibition Scholarship and completed my Bar Professional Training Course at the University of the West of England in Bristol.

I attempted to find a pupillage for a few months, but I soon realised that the whole reason I wanted to become a lawyer was to help clients. Being a barrister, I felt, would only allow me to drop in and out of a client’s case. However, the technical and advocacy skills learned on the BPTC have helped me become a better lawyer and have allowed me to represent my clients from beginning to end. Continuity is key for a client.

On my return to Derby, I started my training contract at Wykes and I could not have asked for a better place to begin my career. I owe Wykes, and particularly Kevin O’Donnell and his brother, many thanks. Without their support and guidance I would not, as a first-generation solicitor, be where I am today.

'I have had a tracking device on my car; been called every name under the sun by the opposing party before walking into court; and have been chased with my client from court by her violent ex-partner'

I enjoyed my seat doing family law – and felt pride helping others. After bar school, I was keen to advocate in court and that first opportunity was given to me in the form of a non-molestation application in a district judge’s chambers. The client was a service user at a refuge and I got talking to her support worker. She opened my eyes to the fact that many victims she supported had to face family court proceedings. But no one in her organisation was trained to understand how family law worked and the court’s process. I thought I was doing what many lawyers were doing but I soon realised that no other firms took the initiative to help these organisations and victims.

I had a baptism of fire. On the day of my qualification, I was cross-examining a father in the magistrates’ court in relation to Children Act proceedings. Over the years, I have absorbed the training I have had from different lawyers. I base my practice and client approach on the best that I have seen. My sole purpose is to guide clients through difficult situations.

I have learned to stand my ground and defend my clients’ positions, even when faced by brash opposition. Nothing fazes me anymore. I have had a tracking device on my car; been called every name under the sun by the opposing party before walking into court; and have been chased with my client from court by her violent ex-partner before getting her safely into the taxi which took her home.

I am honoured and humbled to have been made an MBE in the new year honours list 2022 for legal services to domestic abuse victims. I had no expectation of receiving such recognition when I started supporting and helping victims and domestic abuse organisations. I intend to use this honour to campaign and fight for change in the legal sector and courts to make sure victims, men and women, are given better treatment and better service.

With Covid showing the true figure of domestic abuse victims in the UK – not an increase as many falsely report – a change is needed more than ever. I have seen first hand how a stretched court system adds extra pressure on to victims, with delayed hearings, lack of continuity in handling domestic abuse cases, as well as a one-size-fits-all approach as to what does and does not constitute domestic abuse. Hopefully, with the changes to domestic abuse law, for many this situation will ease.