Essex lawyer's journey from secretary to solicitor

Tracy England has been admitted to the Roll of Solicitors of England and Wales. It is extra special for Birkett Long because of the journey that Tracy has taken to achieve this.

Tracy joined Smith Morton and Long on 23 January 1989 working first as a secretary, then in litigation, before going on to the personal injury team as a litigation executive after maternity leave. Tracy took to role of a paralegal well and started advising clients on smaller personal injury claims and pursuing their claims through the courts.

Having been successful at this Tracy decided she wanted to obtain some formal qualifications and so began on the road to qualifying as a solicitor. She first undertook her Legal Executive examinations starting in 2007 and passing the last of these in January 2012. Following this, Tracy became a Chartered Legal Executive.

Tracy decided that after being involved in delivering legal advice for nearly 20 years she would like to qualify as a solicitor. First, however, Tracy had to pass the two-year Graduate Diploma in Law and then the Legal Practice Course - the final exams that she needed to pass to be able to be admitted to the Roll of Solicitors. This involved studying and passing exams in about 14 different areas of legal practice.

Tracy undertook all the study required on a part time basis, whilst still working full time at Birkett Long. It meant spending many evenings and weekends attending the lectures and completing the course work which would enable her to pass the exams.

Her studies finally concluded on the 18 July this year, when Tracy received confirmation that she had passed her final exams and she could be admitted as a Solicitor.

Tracy said: “I am delighted to qualify as a solicitor, as balancing studying with working over a long period of time is never easy. However, I enjoyed learning about the theory in the practice that I was so familiar with having worked at Birkett Long for over 30 years! I could not have achieved the qualification without the support and encouragement of the firm, which gave me the opportunity to do the qualification and they also allowed me study time for exams.”

Peter Allen, Partner and Head of the firm’s Commercial Department said: “This is an inspiring story of commitment, determination and intelligence which has enabled Tracy to achieve her goal of becoming a Solicitor. It is an achievement of which we at Birkett Long are proud and we have been very pleased to support Tracy throughout all the stages of her career.”